Hey, I'm back again! Told you I'd return eventually! We're two chapters away from the end of the first arc, I'm pretty excited to finally wrap this up! But first... We have a chapter that's been a long time coming.
Enjoy, I either wrote this amazingly, or horribly. No inbetween.
(TW: Panic attacks, and detailed descriptions of major injuries.)
If there was one person Luz always found annoying to fight out of all the enemies she had made during her time in the Isles, it had to be Kikimora.
She used to only be a small (joke not intended) annoyance that she or Amity could deal with pretty easily. But things started getting a bit more complicated when she got the mech she dubbed 'Roka'.
Now instead of having to fight a small biped demon with a temper... They had to fight a large mechanical behemoth being controlled by a small biped demon with a temper.
Not too good of an upgrade in Luz's eyes. Just made life kinda harder honestly. But unfortunately, that was what her and her sweet potato were dealing with right now.
To make matters worse, the biped demon that robbed her a long while ago, Valera, was apparently working with Kiki... And was now co-piloting the Abomatron, firing bursts of energy at them whenever she had a clear shot.
The girlfriends and the biped demons had been going through this back and forth for the last ten minutes or so, with neither of them making much progress in defeating each other.
"This will be easier on all of us if you just surrender and give into your fate!" Valera called out, as she fired another shot at the human and witch duo.
"No chance! And you're gonna have to try harder than that!" Luz responded, dodging the blast as she used Stringbean to conjure a blast of light, blinding Valera for a few moments.
"Come on, we need to get out of this alley or we aren't gonna last long!" Luz claimed, hopping on Stringbean and flying out of the alleyway up into the air.
Kikimora tried to swat her out of the air, but Luz was too quick for the Abomatron's arm.
Amity followed after her on Ghost, which the two biped demons scowled at the two's attempt at getting an advantage.
"Follow them! I can't really get a good shot if there's a building in the way!" Valera pointed out.
"Relax, I'm going! I'm going!" Kikimora responded, activating Roka's jetpack and launching up from the alley and onto the building roof the girlfriends were currently flying above.
"Fire! You have a clear shot!" Kikimora shouted, pointing at the two flying witches.
Valera didn't need to be told twice, and fired a few bolts of energy at the two. One was close enough to blow the witches off their Palismen from the shockwave, and onto the roof below. Luckily, they weren't high enough to cause any damage to their bodies.
"Oof! Well, that didn't go to plan..." Luz dusted herself off, quickly getting up as to not give the biped demons anymore advantage than they already had.
"Doesn't mean we're giving up!" Amity remarked, as she fired a blast of abomination goo at the Abomatron, which caused the mech to slightly recoil.
"Fight all you want, brats! You'll slip up sooner or later!" Kikimora mocked, taking another swing at the two, which they managed to dodge.
"You go for Val! I'll focus on Kikimora!" Luz shouted out a plan, which Amity nodded in agreement to.
"Alright!" Amity responded, rushing forward to focus on the right arm of Roka, where the co-cockpit was built in above the energy cannon. Luz meanwhile focused on diverting Kiki's attention.
"I'm going to enjoy crushing you into paste, human!" Kikimora grinned, attempting to smash Luz with Roka's fist, only to miss completely as Luz rolled to the side.
The impact of the fist hitting the roof caused it to get stuck, much to Kikimora's annoyance. The machinery could be heard whirring as it tried to get free.
"Agh! Damn it!" Kikimora groaned with a scowl.
Amity dodged another blast of energy from the cannon arm Valera was controlling, before launching a blast of abomination goo as a counter-attack... Which flew past the biped demon without a drop hitting her.
"Ha! You missed!" Valera smirked... Only for the entire right arm of Roka to slide off.
The blast of Abomination goo had acted like an acid axe, and cut right through the metal shoulder of the Abomatron like it was scissors through paper. It fell in a way that pinned Valera to the ground in an awkward angle.
"Sorry, you were saying?" It was Amity's turn to smirk this time as she snarked.
Valera grunted and groaned as she tried to get out from under the arm, but to no avail. She was completely stuck.
"Agh! Seriously?!" She complained, continuing her struggle to try and get free from her predicament under the dismembered metal arm.
"Stay down, please." Amity flatly demanded, dusting her hands off as she casually walked off to assist Luz in fighting the main problem.
Speaking of, Kikimora was currently using Roka's remaining arm to try and crush Luz. But the human was nimble enough to dodge each attack with almost ease.
"Nope, nope, and heck no!" Luz repeated for each swing that she dodged, which irritated the red biped demon beyond belief.
"Would you just DIE, you stupid brat?!" Kikimora snapped, and managed to trigger a bright flash from the chest area of Roka, that blinded both Luz and Amity.
The biped demon used the distraction as a chance to strike the now blinded human. She flung Roka's arm towards Luz hard, wanting to do as much damage possible in the attack.
Amity's vision came back just in time to witness the Abomatron's arm backhand Luz full force... Which launched the human away into the sky from the power of the impact. An audible and horrible cracking sound could be faintly heard as the metal hit Luz's body.
"LUZ!" Amity shrieked in horror, wasting no time in changing priorities from fight mode, to saving girlfriend mode.
She quickly got on Ghost, and tried to dash off into the sky in an attempt to catch her now ascending girlfriend before she could hit the ground...
But was stopped when the metal hand of Roka grabbed her, causing Ghost to clatter to the floor nearby.
"Agh!" Amity choked out. The grip of the Abomatron was tight, and very firm. If it was any tighter, she wouldn't doubt that her bones would be suffering a lot more right now.
"Oh no! No, no, no... You're not going off to save her THIS time, Blight." Kikimora grinned, her eye twitching with a twinge of mental instability behind it.
Amity struggled in an attempt to get free, but to no avail. She snarled at the biped demon, refusing to show any sign of fear or compliance.
But behind her expression, Amity was mentally begging for Luz to somehow be okay up in the sky she had just been launched up into out of sight...
It felt like a semi-truck had hit her full force. Luz didn't even need to listen to her physical feelings... She heard the bones in her body crack from the impact.
The air whistled past her ears as she ascended into the sky, her limbs flailing as she did. Luz gasped for air as she flew, trying to get oxygen back into her lungs after having most of it knocked out of her by the hit.
The pain she was in was almost overbearing, but after all the things she'd been through... Her pain resistance was through the roof.
She had finally gotten her breath back when she started descending back towards the ground, which was quite a ways down. Luz felt relieved. At least that gave her more than enough time to hop on Stringbean and-
Her thought process was cut off when she realized that Stringbean was no longer in her hands. Instead, the Palismen-turned-staff was falling just above her.
Luz's eyes widened at the sight, and she quickly began making grabs at the staff in a desperate attempt to get him before it was too late. But Stringbean was JUST out of her reach, moving her arms was too painful to reach out enough to grab him.
Luz began breathing faster, her relieved state slowly turning into panic at the realization.
She couldn't reach Stringbean... She wasn't going to make it in time. This was it. There was no way out of this.
Luz Noceda was going to die in only a few short moments.
She had already been through this once. All to save the Collector from facing consequences from simply trying to change and be better.
But luck had been on Luz's side back then, and the Titan had brought her back so she could save the Isles with the remaining power of the long dead being. She had succeeded back then, and had finally ended Belos' evil.
This wasn't like last time. She hadn't saved anyone by doing this. She hadn't thought this would even be a possible outcome. But the worst part was, unlike last time... There was no Titan around anymore that would bring her back.
Once she reached the ground, it would be over. And that realization hit Luz harder than the hit that had brought her to this fate in the first place.
Everything she had been through, all the memories, all the friends she had finally managed to make... It was all slipping through her fingers now, due to not being fast enough to dodge a simple attack.
As she fell, she flipped in a way that caused her to gaze down at Bonesborough. It was appearing faintly through the clouds she was falling through. The sight of the town only reinforced the horrible feeling in Luz's chest.
She didn't want this to be the end! Luz had no idea what awaited her on the other side, but she wasn't ready. Not yet!
Luz tried her hardest to breathe to calm herself, so she could at least have that before the end; but it was getting harder and harder by the minute. She tried to get her mind off the inevitable reality that she was about to die, but it was just too overbearing to ignore.
She had failed all of them. All her friends, family, and loved ones... They all were going to be devastated, maybe even disappointed that this was how she left them...
The world was starting to get more blurry the faster she descended towards the ground. Tears were beginning to form the more the thoughts pounded and bounced around inside Luz's head.
She tried her hardest to hold back her emotions. Luz didn't want to go out mentally begging for something to save her. She was going to be strong. But even so, being strong in the face of death was something she had found pretty hard, even the first time.
Luz shakily gulped, choking back a weak sob as she kept reflecting about it all. God, she felt pathetic right now. Luz was going to die alone, and all her loved ones would have left to bury would be a mushy stain scraped up from the road below her. After all she had been through, this truly was the end...
She finally let a few tears fall as she sealed her eyes shut, just wanting it to be over with as soon as possible. Anything to stop the mental pain that was preceding her end. Luz just waited, trying to keep her mind blank as she waited for the ground to take her...
...But the impact with it never came. The muffled sounds of the air whistling past her suddenly stopped when she felt something firm yet soft catch her fall.
Soon after, a faint voice could be heard that managed to slightly break through the thunderous echoing of Luz's heartbeat.
"Luz! Luz! Are you okay?!" The Collector asked, concerned by the state of the human he had just managed to catch.
Luz couldn't answer him. She wanted to, but she just couldn't. Her mind was too fogged up, and too many thoughts and worries were rushing through her mind at once for her to make any sense of it. She just kept breathing, but even that was beginning to get harder.
"Oh, I don't know if human limbs are supposed to bend that way or not!" The star child murmured, beginning to get even more worried, especially with how Luz wasn't responding.
The human's heartbeat only continued to race, as it became harder and harder for Luz's eyes to even stay open. All she wanted to do right now was give into the darkness, and try and get her head straight.
The Collector didn't take this very well, and began assuming the worst in a panic.
He didn't know much about mortals, but he at least knew now what mortals getting weak and closing their eyes usually meant...
"Wait, are you dying?! Is that what's happening to you?! No! Luz! Stay awake! You can't die!" He panicked, trying to convince Luz to stay conscious, which wasn't really in the human's control at the moment.
"You can't die!" The Collector repeated, hoping somehow it would do some good. "We need you! I need you! Luz, please!"
If anything, the star child's muffled begging made Luz feel worse. Even though she was no longer hurtling towards the ground, her body and mind still felt like it was going through hell itself.
Weirdly enough, breathing was still getting harder for Luz, and causing her to begin losing consciousness faster. Even though she wasn't-
Oh wait, she was still dying... That's why she felt like this. That explained a lot. Luz hadn't been saved, her end had just been extended.
It was somehow worse fading away in company than it was alone, knowing her final moments were making someone suffer at having to witness the sight of her dying.
Luz's thoughts began fading yet stayed as loud as they had been previously, as the light got ever so darker. It was almost tempting for her to just give in, and accept this as her fate... Oh so tempting...
The Collector continued panicking as Luz's condition seemed to get worse and worse. He tried to think of something he could do.
The star child was tempted to use his powers to try and fix Luz, but he didn't know if it would work or just make the problem worse. He didn't want to make this worse!
He tried to think for a few moments on what to do, but his state of panic made making his decision much harder.
The Collector finally got an idea he was certain would work. He'd bring Luz to the others! Yeah! They'd be able to fix her! Surely!
He wasted no time in flying off with the now unconscious Luz in tow, hoping to whichever one of his siblings cared enough to listen to his thoughts that it wasn't too late for her to be fixed.
Out of all ways the end could have came for her... Amity reasoned this was quite possibly the worst way to die.
Being slowly crushed in a metal fist by a depraved biped demon, with her girlfriend having been swatted away to an unknown fate. Amity had no idea if Luz was even alive after a hard hit like that.
So she was either about to be reunited with her girlfriend, or separated for quite possibly forever. It was a grim thought, but currently the reality for the witch as Kikimora tightened her grip on the youngest Blight.
"Oh Titan, I can't wait to hear those bones of yours snap like crackers in my grasp..." Kikimora grinned, her tone taking a much more sadistic direction.
"We probably should talk about your mental issues after this..." Valera flatly piped up, still stuck under the detached arm of Roka.
"MY MENTAL STATE IS FINE!" Kikimora exclaimed 'calmly', glancing at Valera, before her gaze returned to the slowly suffocating witch in her grasp.
"Now then, any last words, Amity Blight? Regrets? Confessions? Last minute empty threats you won't live to fill?" Kikimora mocked, taking her sweet time in crushing her young adversary.
"How about a hard hit from a beam of wood to that red head of yours?!"
Kikimora blinked, as Amity's mouth hadn't moved at all, staying in the firm scowl that the witch had kept the entire discussion... And the voice wasn't her's either.
Despite her situation, Amity was just as taken aback by the new voice that had just sounded out... But smiled in relief when she realized who it belonged to.
"How in-?" Was the only thing that had left Kikimora's mouth before a broken beam of wood hit her hard across the back of her head.
She yelled out in pain, dazed from the hit, and instinctively held her head. This caused her grip on Amity to loosen, which allowed the witch to drop free.
The figure holding the wooden beam dropped said makeshift weapon, and rushed over to Amity, limping as they did. It was revealed to be...
"Amity, are you okay?!" Hunter questioned, going over to his witch friend on the ground.
"Yeah, yeah... I'm fine!" Amity brushed herself off, trying to get up. She still hadn't lost her desire to make Kikimora feel horrific pain for what she recently did to Luz.
"Oh, not for long you both aren't!" Kikimora exclaimed in anger, preparing to try and crush the two with Roka's foot.
But before she could bring it down on them, the foot was entrapped in various vines... Which soon after ripped the metal leg right off with a hint of effort from the plants.
"Agh! No!" Kikimora shrieked, before Roka fell over to the floor of the roof due to a lack of balance.
Hunter and Amity were taken aback, and glanced at where the source of the vines came from. Over by a nearby door that connected the building below and the roof, was standing Willow, Gus, Masha, and Vee.
"Again, have to say... This is the coolest yet weirdest experience of my life..." Masha commented, impressed by what they just witnessed.
"Guys! You made it!" Amity grinned in relief.
"In the nick of time too, it looks like..." Gus remarked, glancing around at the damage on the roof and the now disabled Roka.
"Hunter! Where have you been?" Vee questioned, noticing the presence of the grimwalker.
"Sight-seeing." Hunter responded with a deadpan tone, limping as he got up, helping Amity to stand as he did.
"Oh Titan! Hunter, what happened to your leg?!" Willow asked in shock, pointing at Hunter's now-wrapped up leg wound.
"Long story involving a large worm and horrible directions." Hunter bluntly answered, which Willow chose to accept with no more questions and just shrugged.
Suddenly, there was groaning heard from over near Roka. They all glanced over to see Kikimora on top of the cockpit of it. Her form was raggled and messed up from the impact of Roka falling over, her eyes were now bloodshot and she was breathing heavily.
"Why... Why is it ALWAYS you brats who get in my way?! EVERY TIME! You just don't know when to stay away!" Kikimora exclaimed, her tone making it seem like she was mere moments from foaming at the mouth.
Valera had finally managed to free herself, then casually walked over and, joined Kikimora in the cockpit of Roka... Seemingly completely ignoring the situation they were currently in, and how bad it was looking for them as she tinkered with a few loose wires in the panels.
"Consider it luck... You're both outnumbered, by the way!" Gus shouted, a firm look on his face."Your attack is over! Give up!" Willow ordered with a faint growl, preparing a few bursts of vines in the likely case the two biped demons refused.
"Or we can just beat the stuffing out of both of you vindictive red kittens! ...Which honestly, I kinda prefer!" Masha added, cracking their knuckles.
Kikimora scowled as she glanced around, trying to find some sort of advantage to use to get the upper hand... But came up empty.
She stuttered, beginning to show faint signs of panic.. But luckily for her, Valera piped up from the cockpit next to her, a cocky smirk back on her face.
"We'll be back, brats! And next time you won't be as lucky!" Valera claimed, before pulling a lever in the sealed cockpit of Roka.
Said lever triggered a function in Roka that caused the Abomatron to launch upwards, and activated the somewhat damaged jetpack to rocket away full-speed.
The group watched as the Abomatron flew away into the distance.
"Should we go after them?" Vee questioned, keeping her guard up.
"What's the point? We already tore apart their Abomatron... Not like they're too dangerous without it." Gus remarked with a shrug.
"You do remember the fact they both have an army of unknown size at their beck and call, right?" Willow flatly reminded.
"Uh, wait I just realized... Where's Luz?" Gus asked, suddenly concerned by the lack of their first human friend, and ignored Willow's response.
"That... Is a very good question. Where IS Luz?!" Vee asked as well, now worried a bit as well.
It was then Amity was reminded of what the horrifying outcome of the fight against Kiki and Valera had been... Luz had been knocked away into the sky... And that was MINUTES ago.
There was no possible way Luz was still in the sky descending at this point after so much time had passed. Which could only really mean that..."No... No, no, no..." Amity began to mumble in horrified realization.
She could feel tears beginning to form, and couldn't stop herself from falling to her knees, which now felt like they were made of abomination goo they were so limp.
"Amity, what...?" Hunter trailed off, knowing Amity's reaction to such a simple question could only be the result of one devastating answer.
He dared to ask again, hoping to Titan the answer wouldn't be what he thought it was going to be. "Amity... Where's Luz?"
Amity's felt a few tears roll down her face, as she glanced up at Hunter. She opened her mouth to answer... But was cut off by a panicked voice nearby.
"GUYS! Guys! Help! I need help! I don't know what to do!"
The group turned, and gasped at what they saw. The Collector had quickly floated down in front of them all, and in his arms was an unconscious Luz.
Her body was crumbled and raggled from the hit she took from Roka. Her arms and legs were bent in wrong ways, with one of her legs even bleeding with bone faintly visible through the torn flesh. Luz's entire front was bruised, and her right eye was blackened. She looked like a ragdoll that had been violently thrown against a wall one too many times.
She was completely motionless, apart from the faint movement of her chest, which showed that at least there was still air entering and leaving her lungs.
To say everyone was horrified at the current state of Luz, would be a massive understatement.
"Oh my Titan!" Gus yelled in horror.
"Christ!" Masha exclaimed in shock.
"What happened to her?!" Hunter exclaimed, horrified.
"Luz! Oh Titan...!" Amity instantly rushed to her girlfriend's side, cupping the unconscious human's face in her hands
"I-I don't know how to fix her! S-She was falling from the sky! She isn't responding or waking up!" The Collector explained, panic still in his tone. "Can you fix her?!"
"I... I don't know..." Willow finally stuttered out, "This looks bad... Really bad!"
"I think that's kinda putting it lightly!" Gus remarked, horrified. "I can see her leg bone! That definitely isn't a good human thing!"
Before anyone else could say anything, the door suddenly reopened behind them. The group turned to see all the adults had finally caught up, alongside King and the Blight twins.
Their reactions to the scene before them was mostly the same. A lot of horrified gasping and shock.
"Oh Titan!" Raine spouted out in shock.
"LUZ!" King exclaimed, horrified by the sight of his big sister figure's current state.
"Oh my god, MIJA!" Camila shouted in horror, joining Amity by her daughter's side, not even hesitating in checking for any heartbeat... Which thankfully, she could faintly feel.
"What the hell happened to her?!" Eda exclaimed, horrified by the possibility that her fears of Luz not surviving today were coming true.
"Don't worry, she's alive!" Hunter exclaimed in an attempt to ease everyone's worries.
"What the fuck do you mean "not worry"?! I CAN SEE HER BONE POKING OUT!" Eda nearly shrieked, baffled by Hunter's attempt at calming the situation.
"What do we do?!" Gus questioned, on the verge of panicking.
"Well, we gotta do something!" King exclaimed, before turning to the Blight twins. "Aren't you two healers?!"
"I'm not! I only do illusion, potions, and beast keeping magic! " Edric exclaimed, holding his hands up defensively."Well I am! I can try to heal her bruises, and mend her broken bones!" Emira helpfully piped up, remembering her healing magic experience. "But I need to be in a place I can actually focus!"
"Get Mija to the house! Rápidamente!" Camila ordered, wiping away tears of worry as she turned to the star child. The Noceda mother's concern for Luz very clear in her tone.
"No idea what that means! But you don't have to tell me twice, Luz's mom!" The Collector quickly nodded, flying off towards the Owl House.
"Come on, we need to make sure Luz gets a proper recovery!" Amity exclaimed, more than beyond concerned about her wounded girlfriend.
Just then, more fighting and scuffles could be heard faintly in the distance. It was clear that even though Kikimora and Valera had fled, the Merc Coven wasn't quite done with it's attack yet.
"Go on ahead! I'm going to go help quell the other small fights going on around the town!" Raine claimed, ushering the rest of the group to head back to the Owl House.
"Sure you don't need us to join you? I'm suddenly in the mood to bash some more heads..." Eda remarked, hesitating on the idea of letting Raine go off alone.
"Me and Hootsifer will go with them. Just focus on tending to Luz!" Lilith added, planning to join Raine in assisting in taking care of the remaining attacking Merc Coven members around the town.
"Hoot! The blood of the sinners will be spilled!" Hooty shouted out, his voice remarkably deep for the last part, which was a rarity for the bird tube.
"Alright, but you two be careful! Don't hesitate calling us for backup if you need it!" Eda relented, waving them off.
With a final nod, Lilith and Raine took off, Hooty and Fiddlesticks as their transport respectively. The group was now left alone on the roof-top.
"Come on! We can't waste any time! My big sister needs us!" King reminded, a trace of panic still in the young Titan's tone.
The remainder of the group agreed that they needed to hurry, and all headed off towards the Owl House on their various Palismen. The humans and basilisk all riding along with those who had Palismen to ride.
"So... Probably not the first impression on the Isles you were expecting... Huh?" Vee awkwardly remarked to Masha during the ride.
"...No, this is pretty close to what I expected from what Luz mentioned, not going to lie." Masha flatly replied with a shrug.
One more chapter left for this arc, everyone! Stay tuned!
Make sure to tell me how I did in my writing for this chapter, I have no idea if it's any good or not, didn't get it beta read.
Remember to review, and leave a favorite if you enjoyed. (I always enjoy reading your guys' reviews)