Ruby, Luz, and Zwei have been strutting about the market for a while now, each carrying one half-full bag while Zwei specifically has a smaller one tied around his neck and mounted to his back filled with the lighter stuff like paper and stationery. This is the second time Ruby's been here, and while she still finds the scenery eye-catching, the alluring effect is diminished with her focus on finding her teammates.

However…

Ruby asks a store clerk, "Excuse me, have you seen a big girl with long yellow hair and leather boots?"
"Nope!"

"How much for the griffins eggs?"
"That'll be fifteen snails with how much you're carrying."
Luz hands over the payment to the seller, "here!"
"By the way, did a girl wearing a white and pale-blue dress with a rapier pass by yesterday? She's a friend of mine," Ruby tries again to another witch.
"Nuh-uh. Sorry."

"Did anything weird happen last night? Like, new people just suddenly popping up and gaining attention?" Luz tries asking this time to a third person as Ruby deposits a box of empty potion bottles.
"Only the girl with the red hood beside you right now, other than that, nobody."

Yikes…

Ruby starts scratching her head, garnering a concerned look from Luz. She notices it and reassures Luz by taking a deep breath and straightening her back, "we're not yet done with our list, right? Lead the way, witch-in-training!"

Luz likes her spirit and struts forward. Heading into Grimgrub's Pub (As Ruby noticed with the sign mounted onto the building's wall) with its dirty white and cream walls, Luz swings the saloon doors confidently and walks straight in with Ruby and Zwei casually close by. The candle-lit chandeliers and wall lamps being the primary lighting to this surprisingly dim place aside from the shut front windows.

Heading towards the counter, Ruby sees the person manning it looking like a regular human person with pale-brown sleeves under his yellow-brownish vest, almost like leather. Though she can't see his pointy ears, she can tell they're there from the light brown hood framing his golden brown hair.

That's a lot of brown…

"Excuse me, Kevin!" Luz calls out, "have you seen anything weird or unusual lately?"

Please say yes, please say yes, please say yes! Ruby mentally wished.

"Nope!"

Dangit!

"But, I have heard that the master librarian had an encounter with a ghost last night. Some folks are making it a bigger deal than usual, as unusual as that sounds…"

Luz turns to Ruby, who looks with slight intrigue and hope in her silver eyes. Luz shrugs but answers, "hey, maybe it could be something worth looking into."

"Anyway… Just here to ask a question or…?" Kevin cuts in.

"One order of apple blood for Eda, her usual size," Luz recites. And as if on cue or by sheer preparedness, Kevin pulls out an entire green glass jug of bright red liquid. Luz hands it to Ruby as she pulls out a bunch of coins, most likely the snails they mention.

Apple blood? Is this what they call apple juice here? Ruby asks herself as she leans into the whiff of the jug containing the chili-red juice in front of her.

Fragrant but… Sharper? Almost like the weirdly brewed juice Yang orders from time to time. Strawberry Sunrise, right?

Luz glances at Ruby inspecting the item on their list and informs her, "uh… That's Eda's favorite drink. She usually doesn't share it."

Ruby stares back to Luz rather curiously, almost surprised, "wait, really?"

"Yeah, she says it's too strong for me, which is weird since I see students at Hexside drink it in juice boxes…" Luz shrugs before leaning closer with a smug smirk on her face, "… Or maybe Eda doesn't want anyone hogging it. Try it for both of us, maybe you can handle it, you're a huntress, right?"

"Uh… I'm just a year older than you," Ruby slowly looks back on it and carefully places the drink to her lips, "but I am curious as well anyway."

Hmm… It's kinda sweet, actually. Slightly sharp and sour when you go on. Tart? and-! Ogulf!

As soon as Ruby lets it flow to the back of her mouth and tries to swallow it, a slight burning sensation makes itself known on her throat and she can immediately detect the bitter 'medicine-like' taste on her tongue.

Ohwhattheheck?!

Snapping the apple blood away from her immediately, she wants to return whatever it is to its rightful owner right away, but she can't find a good spot and she doesn't want to put it back into the jug.

So she just forcefully chugs what's in her mouth down and then exhales very loudly, disguising her gagging with a cough before handing the container to Luz followed by a crumbling chuckle.

Now her throat feels slightly itchy. Even her breath no longer smells like dry air.

Is this the kind of drink Dad was warning me about?

"Okay, yeah, it's a grown-up drink, I see why she doesn't want you to have it," Ruby declares, making Luz widen her eyes in fear for a moment before bursting into laughter at the discovery.

"Hey! That's for Eda, right? Or are you kids just being sneaky?" Kevin narrows his gaze onto the two of them as he walks back to their spot.

"Y-Yeah! It is for Eda! Don't worry," Luz answers and shoves the apple blood into Ruby's bag before shoving Ruby and Zwei out of the pub, "thanks!"

Luz sighs in relief before pointing towards the store across from them, "one more person, Morton!"

Ruby maintains a steady stride as she approaches this decaying but humble little place with a fancy green 'Mr. Elixir' sign stuck on the top of the storefront. Meeting the worker there, Ruby sees a guy with a gray funnel for a funny hat resting atop his short brown hair while his mint-green long sleeves reach out from his lanky frame all the way to his hands, cut short at the fingers, almost like gloves. Beyond that though, all the things Ruby needs to take note of is a dead frog worn as a necklace around his brown overlay dress.

"Eda's elixirs, please!"

"Alrighty," the clerk, presumably Morton, obliges, walking to the back to rummage through a few boxes before bringing out a small one. Upon bringing it to the front and opening it, they count a dozen round potions in there with a suspiciously bright orange liquid, its luminosity nearing neon.

As Luz pays up and takes them from the box into the bag, Ruby comes forward and struggles to ask, "so, uh, did something interesting happen around, say, here? Maybe, like, you know, last night?"

That Apple Blood must be stronger than Luz thought… But then again it was a whole mouthful so…

Whoops… I'm so sorry, Ruby… Luz's guilt starts to rise within her.

His face lights up and he starts bending down to grab something, "I did come across something interesting for a while now, actually, elemental spices!"

"Elemental… Spices?" Luz and Ruby ask in unison.

"They've been popping out in metal and plastic boxes for the past few months, alongside a bunch of intricate furniture and some funky junk that looks like something Eda would sell."

"Go on," Ruby urges as Morton pulls out a suspicious dark gray box case.

"They have immense effect and can help in things like lighting fires or creating ice cubes. The night market's hogging the crystals, however, I managed to keep a few powdered ones to myself."

Opening the locks, he reveals vials and canisters filled with colorful sand, each container holding a single different color. Red, blue, light blue, white, yellow, bright orange, and so many more.

But what caught Ruby's eyes the most were…

"Weird about these spice shakers, whoever made these didn't bother poking holes…" Morton complains as he pulls out a white suitcase filled with alarmingly similar bullets that also encased the powder.

Wait a second… Aren't those-!

"Luz!" Two distinct voices call out to the girl. Her friends.

"No success on either arm…" King recounts as he adjusts his seating on Owlbert mid-flight.

Eda groans, "and it's already time to eat too, either they aren't on the limbs at all or they're surprisingly good at hiding their outstanding colors."

"Maybe they're on the other side of the world. What do you think?" King asks.

"Honestly? I don't know what is worse. I just hope Luz and Ruby are doing better on their end."

"Wait! Eda! What's that over there?"

Somebody help shake this thing off me! Anybody! It's bigger and faster than I thought!

CCCRRRUUUUNCH!

Blake's cat ears perk up at groaning wood being split open followed by the shuffling soil and snow, without needing to check the source of those sounds, she speeds up her reckless sprinting through the snow. As soon as a growing shadow of unknown shape starts chasing her, she barrel rolls to her right, barely avoiding a thrown tree log. Blake steadies her breathing as the tree bounces across the snowy ground at least three times.

Behind her, a Slitherbeast roars, hunting with a ravenous appetite using a height comparable to the prototype Paladin that Roman used against her and her friends (this isn't even considering how tall it can reach standing on twos and how long the armspan is).

It seems that our catgirl huntress is an ideal breakfast to start the day.

Blake looks back to see it gaining on her, the creature's movement unencumbered by the snow in contrast to her. Unsheathing her Gambol Shroud to its pistol-kusarigama mode,

BANG! BANG! BANG!

She fires three rounds straight to the monster's forehead to deter it. The rounds do hurt it and the Slitherbeast staggers back a bit…

KRIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEE!

Only for it to end up more agitated, roar louder, and scratch the ground to prepare for a huge leap. Noticing the change in behavior, Blake quickly glances around and spots a jutting boulder to her left. She winds up her arm and hurls her weapon, holding it by the ribbon as the blade digs into the rock.

The Slitherbeast pounces ahead of her, its body soaring through the skies and even going some distance further than in front of Blake.

What in the world is that leap?!

As the Slitherbeast makes a thunderous landing, Blake feels her heels bounce a bit and makes a fake break to her right as the beast stretches out its left claw in an attempt to catch her with a single swipe.

Whoosh!

Blake's image is whisked away, but the beast fails to grab the real deal. Blake has used her semblance just in time to trick the beast and launch herself towards the boulder. After regaining her footing and breathing, she doesn't see any viable hiding place and the ravine below her isn't exactly a comfortable place to land on.

I don't want to resort to bleeding it, but if I have no choice in chasing it away.

The beast slowly and cautiously corners Blake, circling around any potential escape routes in front of it. As the beast snarls and charges towards her, Blake readies her sharp sheath on her one hand while her katana is poised up on her other.

But before Blake has a chance to attack, a feminine figure drops down from the literal sky and lends her an ivory hand with orange nails. The next most striking feature of this mysterious woman is the gray hair that's thicker than Blake's, Yang's, or even Pyrrha's.

"Come on, catkid! Let's hightail it out of here!"

With no time to debate on the intentions of this person, Blake grabs her hand and hoists herself up on… A wooden pole?

The woman rears up and Blake is immediately taken up into the air. Blake makes the rookie mistake of looking down…

"Whoahoaoaho-AAAAAAA!" Blake screams as her instincts kick in, she bends down and hugs the pole tightly. The Slitherbeast runs some more and leaps up towards the group, both front limbs out to grab them.

Blake regains the focus to aim her gun and fires one more time straight to the mouth, finally hurting it mid-air and stopping the advance.

Upon gaining a steady speed and altitude, Blake calms down and heaves out a heavy sigh of immense relief as she readjusted herself, "thank you for saving me back there. If I may ask, who are you?"

The woman chuckles triumphantly, "I am Eda. The Owl Lady. Cunning, wise, and quick on her feet, you may remember me as the most powerful witch on the Boiling Isles!"

"And I am King! The king of demons!" Another voice chimes in, a child. Popping out from the hair of Eda is King himself, in all his canine glory and horned skull.

Upon seeing King, Blake nearly lost her grip on the pole by shock, cat-dog instinct, and… Well, "Uh… Are you a Beowolf that can talk by any chance?"

"I might be according to Ruby!" King responds with excitement.

"Wait… Ruby? As in Ruby Rose? Red hood Ruby?"

"Yep!" Eda replies, "Now let's get moving! Your friend is worried sick about you not answering her calls."

Blake nearly cries at so many revelations: She's not gonna die to a yeti creature that can leap over trees; she isn't alone on a titanic corpse island; and at least Ruby is alive and well as she hoped, which makes it possible that the rest might be too.

Right before the library opens up for the public, Amity enters through the doors and walks inside up to the counter. She was going to get started on her shift when she spotted a white rectangle that wasn't there the last time she clocked out. Upon doing a double-take did she now register the object.

Is that… A scroll from Ruby's world?

"Was this here yesterday?" Amity asks her co-worker.

"Guess so, Malphas said that somebody dropped it in the Forbidden Stacks. Either that or it was the ghost last night," the person shrugged as he started opening up his drawers.

"Ghost? Not a demon or a witch?"
"Malphas couldn't catch it if it really was anyone."
"What about illusions?"
"Illusions can't physically interact with objects. Plus if it was illusions, they wouldn't try to be sneaky about it. They'd make it obvious and misdirect Malphas."
"That makes sense…"
"You got any more ideas?"

"Not really, but I know someone who might," Amity says as she grabs the Scroll, "I'll be quick, clock me in when it starts!"

And as Amity ran out much quicker than she walked in, her momentum got cut off as she bumps into someone walking in front of the doors.

"Ruby, these are my friends here in the Demon Realm," Luz gestures to the two as they collectively make their way to the library, "Gus Porter and Willow Park."

"Nice to meet you!" Willow walks forward and looks up to Ruby with her warm, welcoming energy and an outstretched hand. Gus follows the gesture.

"Ruby Rose!" The girl addressed shakes hands with both of them. Albeit a little too enthusiastically.

"Guys, she is a new friend of mine, another human," Luz proudly declares as Ruby lets them sneak a glance at her round ears.

"Wait… ANOTHER HUMAN?!" They stopped walking and shouted in unison. Though Luz had to shush them a bit since they're garnering a bit of attention and possibly trouble without doing anything yet.

"Did you invite her here to learn about witches and magic too?" Willow follows up first in awe and excitement.

Though the question was for Luz, Ruby answered anyway, leaning in closer to… Whisper, for some reason, "uh… It's a bit complicated but… Basically, I'm not from her world."

"A human from somewhere else?! No way!" Gus freaks out.

"Tell me about it… It was a total accident," she agrees with a weak chuckle.

"Then what can you do?" Willow asks, walking a bit more forward.
"Well, I am-!"
"What are those things on your belt?" Gus points to the metal bullets lined up across her black belt.
"Oh, these? They're-!"
"Are you planning on learning magic too like Luz?" Willow again.
"Uh… Umm…"
After a sharp inhale, Gus immediately walks forward and asks one more time, not giving her the chance to answer the previous questions, "Do the humans of your world know about high-fives?!"

"Okay, guys, calm down," Luz handles the flow of the conversation, lifting some pressure off of Ruby, "let her talk."

"T-thanks, Luz," Ruby sighs in relief before continuing, letting a little flair loose, "from where I come from… I am a huntress, slayer of monsters and aspiring hero!"

Willow and Gus (and even Luz) gasp in awe at her introduction, but Ruby continues, "to fight the forces of evil, we wield weapons that double as guns-!"

"Guns?" Willow cuts in.

"Those are like mechanical slingshots, and we use projectiles like these," Ruby answers, pointing to the bullets on her belt, "as for learning magic… Well, it'd be great if I could get the chance, especially since I don't think magic exists in our world."

"What about high-fives? Do those exist?" Gus repeats.

Is he serious with that question? Ruby thought to herself.

"Uh… Yeah? And fist bumps too, in case you're curious," Ruby shrugs.

"Fist bumps… What is that? Luz, what are fist bumps? Do you know about them?" Gus asks, directing to Luz.

"Of course!" Luz replies, walking just slightly faster to get ahead and turn her back towards the library doors in order to demonstrate to them, "fist bumps go like-! Oof!"

Unfortunately, she didn't get to demonstrate it as she collided with a running person exiting the said doors, letting go of the bag of goodies onto the floor as well.

"Ow…" Both of them groaned out.

"Luz, are you okay? Wait… Amity?" Ruby recognizes the witch who ran into them.

"Oh, Amity! It's you," Luz greets as she looks back.

"O-oh! Luz!" Amity panics, stuttering as she scrambles to sit upright, "I-I'm so sorry! I didn't know where I was-!"

"Hey, calm down, it's fine. Here, let me help you up," Luz reassures as she stands up first before offering a hand to Amity. Meekly, Amity accepts and grabs it to get hoisted up.

"T-Thank you!"

Ruby breaks the tension, "so… Uh… What's with the rush?"

"Oh, right! The library found this last night, around the same time you were missing," Amity remembers as she fishes her pockets to pull out…

Ruby gasped, "a scroll!"

"A scroll?" Gus asked.

"They have their own version?" Willow added, to which Luz nodded.

"It's Weiss' too! Hehe, needs more Ruby selfies," Ruby mutters and giggles to herself as she checks the contents, filled with school-related documents and chock-full of calendar reminders.

"Then she must be nearby, maybe even inside the library!" Luz guesses.

"Hey, what's going on over there?" Willow catches everyone's attention.

Coven guards start marching in single file, "to the Conformatorium!" "For the emperor!" "Hup! Hup! Hup! Hup!"

"We should probably check it out as well!" Luz says, already rushing forward. Surprisingly, Ruby stops her, grabbing her by the shoulder and looking at her eyes with great concern.

"Wait! We can't just yet," Ruby reasons, despite her instinct to jump in on the action as well, and even more amazingly despite the slight hazy feeling in her head, "I don't have my weapon, and our hands are full of bags. We're not ready."

Luz looks down to realize their situation, "right. Let's head back to the Owl House first, maybe Eda's already back, let's just ask for her help."

"Willow and I will try and see what's up with the guards," Gus volunteers.

"And I'll go check the library," Amity chimes in.

"Thanks guys, stay safe everyone-!" Luz bids as her bag suddenly gets taken by Ruby and she's unknowingly hoisted onto Ruby's back with Zwei sandwiched in between them.

Bark!

"W-wait, what's going on? What're you doing?!" Luz panics.

"Heading back! Now hang on tight!" Ruby shouts as she hugs both bags and squats down a little bit before launching herself into the air and activating Petal Burst. Lifting off with a boom, she leaves a trail of rose petals and a fading scream of Luz's excitement and fear as she desperately hugs onto Ruby's shoulders.

"SHE CAN FLY?!" Willow and Gus look at each other in utter shock while Amity watches the trio disappear into view before sighing and walking back inside, leaving the duo to themselves

Stopping a few steps short of the Owl House, Luz lets go of Ruby and struggles to walk at first as she kneels to the ground tired.

"Let's… Not… Do that… With a full stomach…" Luz comments between pants, but looks up and raises both fists, "BUT LET'S DO IT AGAIN SOMETIME! THAT WAS AWESOME!"

Ruby laughs as she hands Luz's bag back to her and they run towards Hooty.

"Good afternoon Luz, afternoon ruby!"

"Hey Hooty, hold on, in a rush! Is Eda back already?" Luz asks.

"Yeah, she is-!"
"Cool! Thanks!"

"Hey Eda!" Luz begins as she, Ruby, and Zwei charge in, "we're back! But we need-!"

They all stop as soon as they spot Eda with King, Owlbert, and…

"BLAKE!" Ruby cries in absolute joy and relief as she drops the bags, zooms past everyone using her Semblance, and tackles the person called out until they both crash onto the floor.

"AAAA! I DIDN'T WANNA THINK ANY OF YOU WERE DEAD! NOBODY'S BEEN LETTING ME KNOW THEY'RE OKAY AND I'M SO SORRY I GOT US ALL STUCK HERE AND-!"

Blake shushes Ruby and returns the hug, rubbing the leader's back, "There, there. I never doubted you for a second, Ruby. It's okay, I forgive you. It's been one scary day for us."

"It has! It's beautiful and scary! I wasn't ready for this!"

Eda grabs the bag Ruby dropped and walks towards the kitchen, letting the two have their moment. Luz just smiles warmly at the scene as she helps out with unloading the groceries onto the counter.

"Hey, who took a chug out of my Apple Blood?" Eda asks loud enough to hear from the kitchen.

Burrrp!

"Ruby… Is that alcohol I am smelling just now?" Blake asks.

"… I'm adding one more chore to both of you for that," Eda deadpanned as Luz chuckled in embarrassment.

Amity walks back inside and heads straight to the Romance section.

But where do I start?

With a sigh, Amity clicks open the secret door to her study. But as soon as she looks inside, she sees someone standing in front of her, a pale-white girl with light blue eyes, wearing a dress that mixes those two colors and includes a region of red by the collar.

Looks like that question has already been answered. Amity really has a knack for coming across humans unintentionally.

Excluding the red, she really could've passed for a ghost if she moved fast enough. Amity would've caused a scene were it not for recognizing the off-center white ponytail hanging on the side of the girl's head.
A rapier on her left hand is at the ready while a red metal box is dormant at her right.

That must be Ruby's weapon… But how can it be a scythe and a… Gun?

"You must be Amity Blight. The… Witch who studies here." The girl starts. Cold, armed, vigilant. Some textbooks are pulled from the shelves and even opened, except for the diary.

Whether it's left untouched out of respect or ignorance, Amity is just glad she didn't read into it.

"Yes. And you're Weiss… Ruby Rose's friend," Amity tries her best to restrain her nerves.

"So you know her… Where is she?" Weiss declares, pointing the rapier even higher to her neck yet letting Amity close the door behind her by stepping back.

"She's safe, with people I trust."

"How did you treat her? And who are these people you trust?" She doubts, she might need a bit more convincing than Ruby… But then again, Amity doesn't have Zwei to vouch for her.

"I helped her out and brought her to a friend of mine, another human, she's a good person," Amity admits before glancing to the floor and rubbing her elbow, "I trust her more than I trust myself… And Ruby is just like her when I first met her too."

Weiss sees the slight softness in Amity's eyes and accepts her answer, dropping the weapon and relaxing, "do you… Happen to know where the others are?"

"Sorry, I don't know where your teammates are… But I can take you to her if you let me-!"

Amity's scroll goes off, her parents wouldn't call right now so the timing throws her off. Upon checking, she is immediately shown live footage of the streets leading to…

"Breaking news! Live from the Conformatorium!"

Three knocks can be heard.

Gus and Willow open the door to see Eda walking to the couch, a glass of bright red Apple Blood in hand as everyone else settles for regular water. Meanwhile, Luz was putting away some of the shopping bags they used a while ago as a sobered up Ruby practices swinging a baseball bat around hanging drawings of various black creatures with white skulls and bones. Speaking of black creatures with white skulls...

"NOW! BOW BEFORE YOUR GREAT KING AS I HAVE TAMED THIS SEEMINGLY INVINCIBLE CREATURE WITH A PENCHANT FOR DESTRUCTION LIKE ME!"
Bark! Bark!
"You said it, Zwei, my faithful steed!"

King bellows in genuine fun as he is using Zwei as a mount and is acting out a royal procession.

Oh yeah, a black-haired girl with cat ears is there, they never introduced themselves yet due to the mysterious girl's vigilant presence and piercing gaze. Right now, she's keeping a wary distance from King and Zwei as she looks intently at her weird-looking black sword.

"Oh! Hey guys! That was quicker than I thought. What's the news?" Luz waves at them and beckons them over.

"You... Might wanna see this. Even you, Ruby." Gus says as they pull out their magic scrolls and out reveals a sudden news report. They play the video clip.

"Breaking news! Live from the Conformatorium! Squads of the Emperor's Coven guards are approaching the large rumblings and explosions that can be heard just near the locale! A mysterious yellow beast emerges onto the open area, currently resisting a dozen imperial guards and the Warden. The monster appears to be a bipedal with a flaming mane that has metal appendages and can spew fire from..."

The cat-girl perks up and Ruby gasps in realization, "That's no yellow monster! It's my sister! Come on, Blake! We gotta hurry, Luz!" Ruby bolts out the door with the bat as the cat-girl, now known as Blake, sheathes her sword.

"Thanks guys, we'll take it from here! Is it okay if we borrow Owlbert, Eda?" Luz hurriedly asks as she approaches the staff.

"Sure… Just bring home some scout helmets as souvenirs" Eda waves off. The five kids ran out, "man, and I thought I was terribly described," She comments to herself as she pulls up her scroll to watch the battle that's about to unfold.