"Okay everyone are you ready to see what is possibly the greatest bit of magic you've ever seen!" Around her were her various friends that had come to see Luz's latest bit of new magic. Each and every time she found a new combination or uncovered some forgotten/hidden magic she had to show them. Hunter and Willow were there to support her while Vee was there to taste this new magic, While Eda, King and Lilith there for their own reasons, from fun to curious.
"Luz sweetie this isn't going to be like the last time, is it?" Amity asked, still a bit haunted by the last time. "No! And I said I was sorry, besides it wasn't all that bad. Sure, our skin turned purple and slightly glowed in the dark, but we smelled like candy for a week."
"Luz we were stalked by children and pixies the entire time."
"ehhhh minor inconvenience, but today I have something I've been working on for nearly six months." in her usual dramatic fashion she did a series of spins before showing off her newest glyph. "Behold the time glyph!"
Everyone stared at the paper in her hands, sure they knew time travel was possible thanks to King's blood and Lilith's device to find the time pools. But seeing as they could appear anywhere and on any titan corpse, they'd given up trying to find them after the seventh attempt.
Hunter, in slight disbelief, asked the obvious question. "So, we can travel through time with this? Any time? Anywhere?"
"Well yes and no, for whatever magical reason while you can travel through time it tends to take you to where you need to go. Usually to a time when you really use some future guidance. First time I used it I actually traveled back to when I was first thinking about this and showed my past self the right designs for the glyph." Seeing their eyes light up with excitement she quickly emphasized the next point. "However, you can only be there for as long as the glyph remains. Usually about an hour or so, after that everything you've done or said will be erased. So even though I walked my past self through the steps the moment I left it was as though it never happened. Or last night when I traveled back to eat Amity's secret cookie stash knowing it will return the moment I traveled back." Amity gave her a not so gentle smack for eating her cookies while the others pondered what to do.
Eda snatched the glyph from her hands eying the hourglass symbol intertwined with a pentagram. "So then what's the point?"
"Because I think we all have one moment in our lives we'd like to go back to and tell our younger selves that everything will be okay that it all gets better, sure we can't change the past but it's still better than nothing." All eyes shot to the dozen or so glyphs in front of them, each one taunting them. Every single one of them could think of at least two moments in their lives they'd like to know would get better, even if it did mean they couldn't change it. Willow was the first to give it a go which quickly encouraged the rest. "Okay now just add a drop of blood to them and off you go, oh and to end your visit early just destroy your glyph." Before she could tell the rest her phone started ringing. "Mom? Oh, hey no I'm not busy just trying my time travel glph- yeah no no no no It's paradox free I promise! What? Well yes you technically could in fact that's one of the reasons I made it- yes, I'll stay right here and wait for you." By the time she looked back to her friends they were already being engulfed in the yellow time bubble Amity included. "See you guys in an hour!"
If you had told Willow, she'd eventually be traveling through time with a piece of paper she's probably said you'd gotten into the really good appleblood. And yet here she was incased in a yellow bubble as she went through the past watching the scenes of the past unfold as she was shot across the isles. She had no idea where she was going but as the bubble slowed down, she saw she was back at her old home. The bubble passed right through the front door and into the kitchen before simply popping and making her fall four feet onto the cold floor.
"Oww." Getting up she looked around wondering when she was.
"Let's see there's no plants in the windows with engraved names on their pots so before I was transferred to the plant coven. So back when I was fourteen at least."
From her custom made palismen pocket Clover flew out and around the house feeling excited.
"Cover get back here."
"Nooooo! If we're in the past that means I can meet younger, you again. I can tell her all my favorite stories for the first time." Hearing footsteps Clover buzzed off forcing Willow to give chase and unfortunately charging headfirst into her younger self and her abomination project causing the mixture to spill onto the floor. Her younger self stared at her for a few moments before seeing her project gurgling and rushing to attempt to fix it.
" no no no! I can fix this! I can't get another F."
Clover, seeing her master freaking out buzzed down to try to scoop up the goo only for it slip through her tiny limbs. This got her younger's self's attention and she quietly asked "are you trying to help me little bee?"
Clover responded but her younger self only heard buzzing. "I'm sorry but I can't understand what you're saying." hearing this clover nearly fainted. Seeing the disappointment on the creature Willow drew her hood up, feeling even worse. "Sorry...guess I really am a screw up." Less than a second later Willow was picked up by her older self and placed on a chair as she pulled her hood down and looked her in the eye. "You are not a screw up. You are a young witch that has untapped potential. We just didn't know where are real strengths are yet." The gears began turning and her younger self smiled excitedly asking "You're me?"
"Yep, about five years into the future to be exact." she stood up and flexed showing her ever growing muscles. "We're strong in more ways than one." younger Willow let out a very excited squeal getting her dad's attention who rushed into the room. "Willow we heard screaming what's going on?"
Her dads weren't prepared for what they saw. Willow's abomination project spilled on the floor, their daughter and someone that looked like an older version of Willow and a giant bee waving happily at them from the kitchen counter. "Explanation now." Harvey demanded using his magic to clean up the goo and warp it into a lance pointed at the older Willow.
"Dad relax I can explain." Willow said holding up the time glyph that she noticed was slowly burning at the edges. "I'm Willow, but one five years in the future. A friend of mine came up with a way to travel back in time, if temporarily. So, I thought I'd come back and give my younger self a good peptalk." Harvey was suspicious but one look into her eyes and he knew she was his daughter. As the magic died down Gilbert rushed over and hugged his older daughter being caught off guard when she hugged back with enough strength to crush him as she twirled him about. "Sweetie...you're quite strong." Seeing she was hurting him she gently put him down. "Sorry dad I kind of forget my own strength sometime. Luz and Hunter are always telling me one day I'll love them to death."
"Who are Luz and Hunter?" Young Willow asked, wanting to know everything. "Well Luz is a human that we actually meet today. She quickly becomes a lifelong friend and someone we consider to be a sister. We even live with her for a while in the human world, although that was largely unplanned what with the emperor trying to kill everyone and all. Really glad that guy is dead and all the rules he put in place removed." Young Willow and her dads stared at her other self as if she'd grown a second head and started speaking in ancient demonic. "What!?" They all questioned each for different reasons.
"What?" she responded back before seeing their expressions. "Ohhhhh right... uhh... well let's just say a lot of things happen in the next year. Some good, some great, a lot of very bad and traumatizing things then good again." She pointed to Clover who flew over to Willow turning into her staff form. "One good thing is getting my palisman Cover."
"I get a palisman!? But they're so rare and expensive. Did dad have to take one of those shady loans!?" Before her younger self could have a heart attack Willoe snaped her fingers and wrapped her up in a comfortable flower. "Woah there little me. To answer your questions no dad didn't take out any loans or make a shady deal. Clover here was adopted during Hexside's palismen adoption day, you get her in a few months actually. One of Luz's many ideas, to be honest, meeting her, is perhaps the greatest thing that's ever happened to me. Something you'll find out later today. In fact, I have a picture of her on my scroll." Young Willow could barely contain herself while her older self-pulled out her scrolled and showed her a picture of a round eared human girl along with Amity blight of all people in pajamas under a banner that read "bff monthly sleepover."
"?"
"What?" Willow pointed to a purple haired Amity. "Oh, right that, yeah we kind of reconnect through Luz, well that and her finally revealing that she only ever stopped being friends with us because her Odalia, really glad that annoying bitc-"
"Willow Park, you watch your language!" her dad said looking to her younger self. "Fine, but we both know that Odalia Blight is every terrible word. Anyway, she shows us the memory of her mother threating to keep us from Hexside if Amity didn't end our friendship. It takes time and a lot of apologies but in well about four months or so she's back to being one of our closest friends. She's even agreed to be one of maid of honors when Hunter and I eventually get married, that is when that golden puppy gets the courage to propose." While her dad's let out a gasp and started asking about this Hunter while younger Willow looked through the pictures unable to resist the temptation. And how could she? Everything she'd heard so far had been fantastic. I get a new best friend and a palismen!? I even reconnect with Amity, though that does seem unlikely as she's really becoming a mean girl. But just look at how cool I look. Those muscles, that confidence and is that a tattoo of a bird? There were many pictures in the scroll but she stopped on one that showed what she guessed was the younger or she guessed current version of this human girl named Luz.
So, this is Luz huh? It was a simple picture of Luz in a multicolored school uniform attempting to avoid being bitten by her locker before the next one showed her screaming and running away. Why is her uniform different colors? One color one track that's the rules, unless she's in all of them. But that can't be, could it? Then she saw the next one which had her in a green uniform proudly smiling and standing next to a very large fanged plant with a small trophy that said "plant track student of the month."
She read this again and then one more time before all but shrieking "I join the plant track!?" before showing her dads who looked confused but also happy seeing her smiling face. "Yeah, again thanks to Luz we find our true calling lies with plants and not abominations. No offense dad but...well you've seen our report card and told us we're not disappointed and you're doing your best one to many times." She then twirled her finger and created a blue rose that she put in her younger self's hair making her smile before. "Today is going to be quite interesting for us, but trust me when I say we woulnd't have it any other way." she was sure that in that moment if she told her younger self anything more she'd die of pure happiness.
Clover, seeing the glyph burning sprang free and pointed to it. "Uh oh looks like I only have a few minutes left before I'm sucked back to my time."
"What? No! I have so many more questions. Like do I join a coven? Do we eventually find out what Emperor Belos looks like under his mask? Does the day of unity ever happen and is it as cool as the adults say it will be." she then looks through the scroll finding a picture of a young scared man with blond hair looking completely embarrassed as Willow Kissed his cheek. "It this that Hunter guy? He does look pretty cute." Her dad grabbed the scroll eyeing this boy with his best angry dad glare. "He'd better have proven himself to us, and he'd better not be some young bard that's stringing you along. I know how their type."
"Dad! Hunter is a proper gentleman, and I'll have you know he's taken over Dell Clawthorne's palismean carving business." she then showed him the picture of him with Dell giving him the apron and tools. "Well, that's a couple years away, right now he's kind of the golden guard."
"What!?"
"yeah, it's kind of complicated. But for now let me tell you how good our life gets, starting with how I took flyer derby and became the leader of the rising team the Emerald Entrails." All three of them were glued to their seats as she told them all about her life and the adventures she'd had. How she'd really taken to plant magic, her time in the human realm, her relationship with Hunter, something that took a bit longer to properly explain to her overprotective dads. She would have told more but the glyph looked nearly destroyed. "Looks like time's up. Just know that today changes your life for the better!" she called out as the bubble enveloped her and Clover before blinking out of time sending a wave of temporal magic that reset everything. A second later young Willow came into the room struggling with her abomination cauldron. "Okay Willow you can do this. This time you can for sure at least get a d+, maybe even a c-. Just go through woods and to Hexside. So long as you don't run into anything or anyone you should be fine."