Luz Clawthorne: Two Worlds, One Family

by JP-Ryder

Co-Author with BuckJohnson. After the events of Book One, the Clawthornes have two new guests to take care of. While Luz gets used to some changes and Amity does some soul-searching, new dangers come to the Boiling Isles. Will Luz and her family be able to stop Belos and save their home? Will explore dark topics and themes.

95. Chapter 123: Caught Up

All characters from Disney and other properties are owned by their respectful owners. The OCs made here are written entirely for the story. Enjoy this fic.

---

Chapter 123: Caught Up

It was Splatterday. At the Shystream's home, Emily came back inside after she finished working at the barn. Her mind was still on her talk with Luz when she noticed Lindsay in front of her.

"Hey Emily, there is some brunch in the dining room if you're hungry," Lindsay told her. "How are you feeling?"

"Oh, fine," Emily responded.

"Are you sure, Emily?" Lindsay said. "After what happened last night and then Luz coming over…"

"Don't worry about me, I'm fine, really," Emily reassured her. "Right now… I just want some brunch."

Lindsay gave a nod. "Alright," she said as she led Emily to the dining room, where the two girls sat down to eat brunch together.

As Emily ate, she heard a knock on the door. "I'll get it," Lindsay said, standing up. "You enjoy your food."

Emily nodded as she continued to eat while Lindsay went to answer the door.

"Emily, there's someone to see you!" Lindsay shouted from the front door.

She looked up and saw Lindsay walking back with someone. Emily was surprised to see who it was. "Zee?"

"What's up, stranger?" Zee waved to her.

"Hey, Zee," Emily replied as Zee joined her at the table. "What brings you here?"

"I was bored, so I decided to come by and ask if you would like to hang out for today," Zee suggested. "Like a girl's day out without my brother around."

"Oh, sure, I'd love that," Emily replied with a nod.

"Great!" Zee responded excitedly.

After finishing her brunch, Emily went to the living room to notify the rest of the Shystream family. "Um hey, I'm about to head out to hang with Zee today."

"Alright, just take care of yourself, Emily," Colt said to her.

"Be careful," Bloom told her. "And don't forget to have fun."

Emily smiled at them. "I know, thank you."

---

Meanwhile, at Ollie's in Lokitown, the SSE were meeting up with Hunter, who was explaining to them his situation.

"And when I went to his office, I found him dead," Hunter explained while hiding in his cloak. "I don't know who to turn to, since I can't trust anyone in the Emperor's Coven. But then I remembered you guys and how you are all about solving mysteries, so I believe you guys could help me solve Howard Hatesew's murder."

"That is a lot to take on… but we've never solved a murder before," Kon admitted.

"Yeah, we handled real ghosts, costumed crooks, and all kinds of haunted places," Sioux recounted. "But investigating a murder seems a little on edge, even for goths like us."

"We could recommend and get you a link to the Emo-Teens," Linkin suggested. "They solve murders, since their ghost companion is a former serial killer who was assigned to solve murder mysteries and help the teens out."

"They're not available though," Blondie noted, tapping her scroll. "According to the Mystery Blog for the Young Sleuths, the Emos are up in Palm Stings on a sabbatical trip, but it appears that they're dealing with mysterious zombie attacks there."

"Zombies?!" Hunter questioned.

"Don't worry, it's probably another tycoon trying to scare witches off for a condo scheme or something," Eve reassured him. "Still, a murder mystery is a little out of our comfort zone and expertise. But… maybe we could give it a shot."

"I can grant you permission to conduct your investigation." Hunter told them. "I can even give you guys full clearance in the castle… well, as much as the Emperor allows."

"Hmm, okay, then we're on the case," Eve decided.

"We'll figure out who killed Hatesew for you," Linkin promised. "Though it's going to be a whole lot different than what we're used to…"

"We're gonna need more stress food to eat," Patty muttered.

"Korn, you got the supplies?" Cyndi asked him.

"All in my newly infinite pockets I got from the Night Market," Korn declared.

"Excellent," Hunter responded while noticing Flapjack at the bar. "Flapjack?"

"Hey, this your Palisman here, man?" Ollie asked while pointing to Flapjack, who was looking at the menu. "He's been trying to order."

"Heh, sorry about that," Hunter said while picking up Flapjack. "He sometimes likes to wander off when we're in new places."

"No harm, no foul," Ollie replied while taking a look at Hunter. "Say, from your conversation with my usuals, you wouldn't happen to work for the EC, right?"

Hunter looked at Ollie suspiciously. "Yeah… how'd you know?"

"Your sigil, kid," Ollie said as he pointed to Hunter's sigil, which Hunter tried to hide. "Don't worry, I won't tell a soul."

"You must be Ollie, the owner of this place?" Hunter asked.

"Yeah, and man this has been a weird month for everyone, is it?" he asked them. "With the lockdown and all, and then there's B.I.G."

"Oh, um… what do you think of them?" Hunter asked him.

"Well, to be honest, I don't think they're that great," Ollie replied while wiping a glass. "But I did hear that they busted a coven station that's actually a Tarot Guild base yesterday. So I guess they're alright."

"Yeah, they're pretty alright," Hunter responded. "I, uh, heard that B.I.G. is under new management. So they are less of a commercial and more of a true tactical force."

"I guess, if only they weren't ripping off another team," Ollie complained.

Hunter looked at him in confusion. "Another team? Are you saying that… there's another team like B.I.G. around?"

"I'm just saying, they do lack some originality," he commented. "But you could say there was a team like that before…"

"Really? Who?" Hunter asked him.

Ollie looked around before looking back at Hunter. "Well, if you're really interested." He pulled up a picture he kept under the bar, sliding it down to Hunter. "These guys are the real deal."

Hunter looked down at the picture, his eyes widening. Even Flapjack looked surprised.

The picture showed a team of five colorfully robed and masked teens wearing various animal masks of the bear, leopard, fox, snake, and unicorn. Their clothes were covered in symbols. Symbols… that looked like glyphs. But what's most interesting about them, was that they were wielding various kinds of… keyblades.

---

Later, outside of the juice bar, Hunter and Flapjack talked to each other.

"You think Adrian knows about these guys from the picture?" Hunter asked before Flapjack chirped in response. "Maybe Belos could know, but why has no one ever mentioned them before?"

"Caw-Caw!" a crow cried out as it flew up to Hunter, who was able to grab it. He answered the crow.

"Hello?" he asked.

"Hey, Hunter," Boscha spoke to him. "Are you available to hang out right now?"

"Yeah, my uncle gave me some time off." Hunter replied.

"Good, cause we could need your help with something," Boscha said.

"You do? Is something wrong?" Hunter asked in concern.

"It's Gavin," she answered. "We think something's wrong with him. Angmar and Sarah mentioned that he's been acting really weird lately, and his mom is worried about him. I figured if anyone would be able to talk to him and help us get to the heart of the problem, it would be you."

Hunter looked serious as he gave a nod. "Alright, I'm on my way."

---

Meanwhile, Zee and a disguised Emily were walking together through the small town, Zee handing her some snacks as they found a place to sit down.

"Here you go, some apple tarts," Zee said.

"Thank you," Emily replied before she took a bite out of it. "Mmm, it's pretty good."

"I know, right?" Zee asked, taking a bite of one herself.

Emily then looked over at Zee. "So… can I ask you something?"

"Sure, anything," Zee replied with a smile.

"Okay… um… so, why do you want to hang out with me specifically?" Emily asked her, sounding meek. "Out of every witch, why me?"

"Well, why not, Mily?" Zee asked, nudging Emily. "Can't I hang out with one of my brother's friends once in a while?"

"I… don't see a problem with it," Emily admitted.

"And besides, my brother is busy today so I can't mess with him today," Zee responded.

"How is Cross doing?" Emily asked.

"He's doing good," Zee replied. "In fact, Cross is going on a second date with Donna today. Boy, whatever that girl did, she's got him hooked and coming out of his shell more."

"Really? That's good for them," Emily said. "I'm happy for Cross."

"Yeah, same," Zee responded. "So… what about you and Lindsay? How did your date with her go?"

"Oh, you heard about that?" Emily asked, taking a moment before responding. "It was good… well, mostly good. We had one bump."

"Oh, how bad?" Zee asked her.

"Not too bad, but Lindsay handled herself pretty well," Emily replied. "We still had some fun. It was nice."

"Glad you had a good time with her, Mily," Zee responded. "Think a second date is a possibility?"

Emily frowned. "Actually, I don't think so," she said while looking down. "I talked about it with Lindsay. I came to the realization that I'm not ready for dating, not until after I've sorted out my issues."

"Do you… wish to talk about those issues?" Zee asked her. "If you're comfortable about it."

Emily took a moment to think. "Well… I don't have a great history with relationships. With friends or girlfriends. Mainly towards Stella, Nina, and Tito," she said while looking down. "I cared about them and I could have been happy with them. But I put more priority on my ambitions and my anger and I ended up hurting everyone around me, especially Stella." She sighed sadly. "I made our relationship toxic and abusive. I made Nina be dependent on me, only to backstab her even when she was loyal to me, and Tito… I almost left him to rot in the Conformatorium before I asked the Golden Guard to release him."

"Well, at least you've helped him out," Zee pointed out.

"Yeah, but…" Emily paused for a moment before she continued. "What if I hurt Lindsay like I hurt them? What if I fall back to my old habits while I am with her? I… I don't know if I could trust myself."

"Hey, the fact that you're self-aware and worried about all of that is a good thing, Mily," Zee pointed out, giving Emily a reassuring pat on the shoulder. "Because it does mean that you are less likely to make the same mistakes and it does show growth that you can take responsibility for your actions."

"Yeah, I… guess it does," Emily admitted.

"Come on," Zee said as she stood up, offering Emily a hand. "Let's go enjoy the day."

Emily looked at Zee's hand, then up to Zee. She grabbed Zee's hand and pulled herself up. "Alright," she said, smiling a little.

---

And so, Emily spent the day with Zee as they hit up the stores. Their first stop was at a mom and pop store, where they grabbed some goods from the shelves. Zee found some sunglasses and she got Emily to try them on, along with a straw hat.

"Looking cool, Mily," Zee commented while Emily looked in a small mirror at herself wearing heart-shaped sunglasses, making her smile.

---

Next they were at a clothing store, where Zee and Emily tried out different outfits. The two went to the try-out rooms where they went to the magic mirrors, which showed how they would look in the outfits.

"You look good in that one," Zee commented, seeing Emily's reflection in a red, long gown dress

"You do too, Zee," Emily replied, seeing Zee in a leather jacket with an orange top, biker shorts, and boots in the mirror.

"Yeah, I got a full on drip game," Zee declared, smiling.

---

At another store, the girls were looking at works of art displayed along with the knick knacks they had. Emily looked at them in awe, looking at one knick knack of a pumpkin man in a snow globe. Zee noticed Emily's child-like expression.

"You sure like these things," Zee commented.

"Yeah, I've liked these since I was a kid," Emily said. "They were… the only toys that my parents could afford. And my sister would always give me these as well."

Zee looked surprised. "I didn't know that you had a sister. Or at least, you never talked about her."

Emily looked down. "She's actually my foster sister. We were both orphans taken in by the Tarot Guild and… she's currently a wanted criminal. Dr. Sonya Mera."

Zee's eyes widened, looking around to make sure nobody could overhear them before she whispered. "That Dr. Mera?"

"Yes," Emily nodded, while looking down in guilt. "While we were raised by the Tarot Guild, she was always there for me whenever I got… hurt and while I was going through training for the Guild. She was… the only good thing that came from the Tarot Guild. I… introduced Nina to her, which is why she has all those enhancements." She looked down at the snow globe. "Look, I understand that Sonya needs to be stopped. She has hurt a lot of witches. But I still care about her…"

"Has she been on your mind much?" Zee asked her.

"Yeah," Emily admitted. "Luz did come by earlier to ask me about her whereabouts to help Nina. I… I know that Sonya did awful things, but I hope that Luz doesn't end up getting her killed. She's the only family I have left."

Zee looked at Emily, seeing her saddened expression. She frowned. "Hey," she said, patting Emily's hand. "After I buy you this, I want to show you something."

---

Zee took Emily to a secluded area away from the town, specifically near a large drainage pipe underneath the acres.

"Okay, the coast is clear," Zee commented, looking around.

"So… what is it you'd like for me to see?" Emily asked her. "Is it about…?"

"My dragon form? Yup," Zee replied as she took a deep breath. "It's been a while since I've done this." She closed her eyes and when she reopened them, they were reptilian eyes…

She formed her arms in a cross as blue flames popped out from her hands and her feet. The flames rose up from her body and Zee started to transform. Her dragon body was more slim, with azure scales and a light blue underbelly. Her hair shared the same colors, with orange stripes around her dragon body. Her wings spread out, showing an orange hue on the front. She also sported fin-like ears and sprouted curled horns from her scalp. She had white claws on her hands and feet.

Emily looked at Zee's form in awe. "Whoa…"

"This is my dragon form," Zee declared as she flew around Emily. "Come on, tell me if I look hot?"

Emily blushed as she stammered. "W-Well, you do," she nodded while Zee gave her a smirk.

"I knew it," Zee responded. "I am a hot dra-gal and a Drakescale charmer."

---

Meanwhile, Hunter made it down at the Treasure Shack, where he met up with Boscha and friends.

"Hey guys," Hunter spoke up.

"Hunter! It's good to see you, man," Tom said, walking up to shake his hand. "Thanks for bailing me and Athena out."

"It's no problem, Tom," Hunter replied. "Sorry that you had to spend time there in the Conformatorium."

"It's no sweat, man," Tom reassured him.

"It's good to see you again, Hunter," Angmar said as he and Ukla walked up.

"Yeah, it's been a while since we saw each other," Ukla mentioned.

Hunter looked around. "Where's Gavin?"

"He's on his way," Boscha said while giving a worried sigh. "It's really good that you're here, Hunter."

"Hey, Boscha," Hunter greeted. "So how is everyone doing?"

"We're doing good, a lot has happened," Ukla replied.

"We can tell you all about it inside," Tom said. "And hear how you've been doing."

Hunter gave a nod. "Yeah," he agreed as they entered the shack.

Once inside, Hunter began telling them about his week, catching them all up to speed. He told them about BIG, along with some scouts he befriended.

"So just yesterday, BIG managed to bust a Tarot Guild operation in a coven station, where they were keeping a bunch of witchlings," Hunter explained to Angmar, Ukla, and Boscha. "They… they were former Glandus students."

They all gave a shocked look. "You mean… they were some of the missing Glandus students?" Angmar asked.

"The ones that disappeared…" Ukla whispered.

"Was Bria among them?" Angmar asked him.

Hunter shook his head. "Sorry, but Bria wasn't among the ones we found," he apologized as Angmar looked down.

"So what happened to them?" Boscha asked.

"Well, after we found them, we did contact their families to let them know that they're safe. But… due to a new policy, they're all gonna have to join covens," he said, which shocked them.

"Wait, so rather than send them back to their families, you just place them in the covens early?" Boscha asked. "That doesn't sound right."

"I know, but with the Day of Unity close, Belos wants witchlings our age to join covens earlier rather than sooner," Hunter said, feeling just bad about the situation.

"So… what does that mean for us?" Ukla asked him. "Does this mean we'll be forced to join a coven soon?"

"I… don't know," Hunter responded. "But there is a chance that the Day of Unity might be possibly delayed, considering what happened to Skara's mom."

"Yeah, I did see you the other night at the Healing Coven," Boscha admitted. "I was too busy comforting Skara, so we didn't get the chance to talk."

"I understand," Hunter said with a sigh. "It was a stressful night for all of us."

"So… speaking of Skara," Angmar said. "Is it true that she's…?"

Boscha, Tom, and Hunter looked at each other, silently agreeing on something before turning to Angmar and Ukla as Boscha confirmed. "Yes. As the whole Isles knows now, she's a lycan witch from her dad's side of the family."

"We didn't say anything to you guys because it wasn't our secret to share," Hunter said.

"Hope you guys understand," Tom said.

"Hey, we understand," Angmar reassured them. "Besides, it's not like we needed to know."

"Yeah, and Skara seems like a cool witch anyway," Ukla commented as they heard someone coming in.

"Hey guys, sorry I was late," Gavin said as he entered before he noticed Hunter there. "Hunter… you're here too."

"Hey, Gavin," Hunter responded, smiling at him. "How are you doing?"

"I'm fine," Gavin muttered. "So they gave you the time off from the castle?"

"Yeah, and thought I would use that time to hang out with you guys today," Hunter replied.

"And since our whole group is together now, I thought we could go out and do something fun," Boscha suggested. "Because we haven't done enough of that."

Gavin considered this. "Yeah, I could use an outing today," he replied with a smile.

"Yeah, what's a good place to go on an outing to?" Tom asked the others.

"Well, we could just hang out at the park," Boscha suggested. "Like, we can practice out magic there or play flag grudgeby."

"Okay, sounds like a plan," Ukla said while the others nodded in agreement.

---

Back at the drain, Emily and Zee were practicing their magic.

"Check this out," Zee said while in her dragon form. She blew flames from her mouth and it formed into her name.

'ZEE ROCKS!'

"You did that with flame magic?" Emily asked in surprise.

"Well, other than the usual Beast-Keeping magic, I also used water, fire, and light magic," she explained. "Even as a dragon, I can summon water magic," she said while drawing a spell circle, summoning water. "And combine it with some heat." She summoned a ball of flames, combining both water and fire "Combine and voila!" Steam formed as Zee was able to control it to move around her neck. "Steamy."

"That's um… pretty impressive," Emily responded with a blush. "Especially compared to my magic, all I can do is illusions…" She looked down at her own sigil. "Because of my sigil, I'm cut off from the rest of my magic… not that they're any good to use."

"I'm sure they're not that bad," Zee replied.

"To be honest, my entire life I struggled with even the most basic spells," she admitted. "I can't make an ice, water, wind, or even cast a flame spell that wasn't my blue illusion flames."

"Blue illusion flames? Is that for show or something?" Zee asked her.

"It's… more than that," Emily confessed. "I have this… spell that can mess with the perception of the eyes of everyone. It's a type of hypnosis spell that if someone looks into my flame, they're completely hypnotized, to the point that even all of your senses can be fooled."

"That does sound like a unique spell to have…" Zee commented.

"Don't worry, I don't plan on using it on you or anything," Emily reassured her.

"Hey, it's not like that," Zee replied. "I know to trust you not to hypnotize me."

Emily smiled, but then she frowned sadly while looking at her sigil. "To be honest, ever since the Glandus War, my illusions have actually gotten weaker, and I don't know why…"

Zee didn't know what to say about this. She looked over Aqua, who was eating a leaf. She then turned back to Emily. "So… did you ever have a staff? Like, a Palisman of your own?"

"I did," Emily responded, lowering her head. "But my Palisman ran away from me because of how I mistreated him. Not that I could blame him." She sighed. "I don't deserve a staff."

Zee then got an idea. "Hey." Emily saw Zee offering her hand. "How about a ride? Not with my staff, I could use a chance to spread my wings."

Emily looked surprised. "Really? Are you sure if this is okay?"

"Don't worry, if needed I'll cover myself with a cloud of steam to not get sighted. Plus, we can fly up above the Emperor's Coven radar," Zee said, giving Emily a smile. "So are you in?"

Emily looked at Zee's hand, then at Zee. She formed a smile and reached to clasp Zee's hand.

---

Up in the sky, Emily hollered while riding on Zee's back.

"Whooaaa!" she cried out while hanging onto Zee who kept flying at a fast pace.

"Hang on to me, Mily!" Zee told her while flying through the clouds, using her magic to control the clouds so they could stay discreet. She flew up and down as Zee drew rings around the clouds, flying through each of them.

Emily was scared at first, having never ridden on a dragon before, especially a weredragon. But she then started to ease up a bit, looking down to see the Boiling Isles below them. She had never realized how beautiful the Isles looked from up here.

"How are you doing up there?" Zee asked her.

"I… I'm really liking it!" Emily shouted, smiling in excitement while reaching her hand over to the clouds, feeling the clouds brushing through her fingers.

---

Meanwhile, at the park, Boscha and her friends are playing a game of flag grudgeby. It was Boscha, Tom, and Ukla versus Hunter, Gavin, and Angmar. Their Palismen were shown watching their owners' game.

Gavin charged toward Ukla as he tried to grab her yellow flag. But Ukla sprung herself up on a pillar, preventing Gavin from grabbing her flag. "Oh, come on!" he shouted.

"Can't catch me!" Ukla declared, but then a vine reached up to grab her flag from her. "Hey!" she shouted, seeing Angmar grabbing the flag.

"Sorry Ukla," Angmar said as he turned around, heading for the goal. But then Tom popped up in front of him. "Meep!" he shrieked as Tom grabbed his purple flag.

"Sorry Angmar, but I got this in the bag," Tom declared as he went to the goal, grabbing Gavin's flag as well when he went past him while levitating.

"Hunter, we need your help here!" Gavin shouted.

"A little busy on the defense!" Hunter replied, avoiding Boscha who was trying to grab his flag. He used an ice glyph block, but Boscha used a fire spell to melt it away.

"You can't escape from me, Hunter," Boscha declared with a grin.

"Wah!" Hunter shouted as he ran.

Tom flew down to the goal tree, but was then blocked by an abomi-wall. He looked up to see Gavin on top of the wall. "You can't get through us, Tom!"

Tom backed away with a smirk. "Come on, nothing can stop me," he said while forming the flags into a ball and levitating up. "Now, Boscha!"

Boscha, who made it over after grabbing Hunter's flag, grabbed the ball flag before Gavin reached for it. She then launched the flag-folded ball into the goal of the tree.

"Score!" Tom cheered along with Ukla.

"Aw man," Angmar said while he turned to see Hunter walking over with dirt covering his face.

"Gotta admit, she is really good at this game," Hunter admitted.

"Best two out of three!" Gavin demanded.

"Alright, I guess we can be good for another game," Boscha said as Tom and Ukla nodded.

"So how's your first flag grudgeby game, guys?" Bosch asked Tom and Hunter as they wrapped their flag belts around themselves.

"It's a bit rough, but fun at least," Hunter responded.

"I'm not really a sports guy, but maybe I could get used to it," Tom agreed.

Boscha smiled at the two. "Well, you guys aren't the only ones enjoying yourselves," she said as she pointed over to Gavin, who was wearing his flag belt along with Angmar and Ukla, the three talking amongst each other.

"Yeah, hopefully this game will help cheer him up," Tom said.

Hunter looked over to Gavin. From what they told him, it sounded like he was going from some stuff. "I'm, uh, going to talk with him," he said before walking up to him.

"Okay, once Hunter's ready, we can strategize our next game plan," Gavin said before he heard Hunter clear his throat. He turned around and saw Hunter.

"Hey, Gavin," Hunter said. "Can I, um, talk to you for a moment?"

"Uh… yeah," Gavin said, a bit confused. "Hey Angmar, you go get prep up."

"Alright, Gavin," Angmar replied as he left the two alone.

"So what's up?" Gavin asked him.

"Well, I just wanted to check in with you since you were late earlier and I didn't get the chance to talk to you back at the Treasure Shack," Hunter responded. "Like, what did you do this week? Anything exciting? Heard you went on a temple quest."

"Yeah, it was… fun," Gavin said after a moment.

Hunter nodded. "Yeah, I remember exploring temples like that… lost some scouts that day," he said awkwardly.

"So… how are things at the castle?" Gavin asked him.

"Well, it's… taken some time to readjust," Hunter admitted. "We talked about this before, but I was put in charge of BIG and we even busted a Tarot Guild base yesterday. They were holding former Glandus students…"

"Really?" Gavin asked him. "Was Bria-?"

"I'm afraid not," Hunter responded. "She wasn't there when we found her, but I promise that we will find her, Gavin."

"Oh, okay," Gavin replied, looking down.

Hunter looked at Gavin for a moment before he decided to bring something up. "I… also heard that you… went after Emily yesterday."

Gavin's expression changed. "Knew they'd tell you."

"Gavin, why did you go after her?" Hunter asked him. "You didn't tell anyone else that you saw her, did you? Because if you tell anyone, you could also get Lindsay and her family in trouble."

"You don't think I don't know that?" Gavin told him off. "I don't want to get Lindsay in trouble, but Emily needs to pay for what she has done."

"This doesn't sound like you at all, Gavin," Hunter pointed out.

"Well, I'm right, am I?" Gavin asked him.

"Alright, Emily does need to pay for her actions, but right now people think she's dead and she hasn't done anything wrong to this point-"

"Should I point out that you're the Golden Guard?" Gavin said, pointing at Hunter. "Isn't it supposed to be your job to arrest Emily?" he questioned.

"I am not arresting anybody, Gavin," Hunter argued back.

"Then why? Why won't you go after Tricks?" Gavin asked him. "She threw you in the dungeon and would have probably had you killed because you snoop around during the Glandus War-"

"Because I did her a favor, alright," Hunter confessed, which shocked Gavin.

"What?" Gavin asked him. "What kind of favor?"

Hunter hesitated briefly. "Well… besides getting Athena and Tom out of the Conformatorium… I got Tito Jackwitch out too."

Gavin's eyes widened. "WHAT?!" he shouted, earning the gang's attention. "You let Tito out?!"

"What?!" Angmar exclaimed, giving a horrified look.

"How could you do that? Do you know what he did to Bria?" Gavin told him off, while Boscha marched up to get between them.

"Gavin, calm down," Boscha told him. "There is no reason-"

"No reason? Boscha, don't you know who Hunter just admitted to freeing? Tito, that same guy that also beat the crap out of you?" Gavin said, while noticing Boscha had no reaction to the news. "Wait… did you already know?"

"I… I was made aware of it when we got back from the Underworld," Boscha admitted. "But I don't care about Tito or Emily, especially since I got my mom and Tom back."

Gavin just looked at her in disbelief. "I don't believe this… you guys would rather let Emily, Tito, Cain, and freakin' Nina just walk away-"

"Technically, the last three are on parole," Hunter pointed out.

"That's not the point!" Gavin barked. "So you expect us to just deal with them not being locked up after all the crap they've done to guys like us? How is this justice?"

"Gavin, as much as I agree that Emily has to pay, even I think what you're suggesting doesn't sound like justice," Ukla said. "Cause it sounds more like vengeance."

"Ukla, you have no idea what Tito did to Bria," Gavin told her off.

"He's right," Angmar responded, looking hurt. "He was there the last time we saw Bria. He's one of the witches responsible for her disappearance."

"Guys," Hunter tried to interject. "Look, can't we just leave things alone? Pursuing them won't do you guys any good."

"Says the guy who freed them," Gavin told him off. He looked at Boscha and scoffed. "I thought you guys were my friends…"

"We are, Gavin," Tom said as he stepped in. "But what you're doing isn't the way to handle things. Go after Emily and then what? Go after every other Glandus student that was part of the problem?"

"Nothing good comes from vengeance, Gavin," Boscha said, pointing at her scar. "Trust me on this. It's best for you to let go and move on, there are better ways to spend your life."

Gavin looked down in silence before he turned around and walked away. "Forget this," he told them as he walked away from the group, Angmar following him.

"Gavin, wait!" Boscha shouted, but neither he nor Angmar stopped. She, Tom, Hunter, and Ukla shared looks with each other, wondering what to do now.

---

Back to Emily and Zee, they had returned to the ground and were now sitting on a bench.

"I'll admit, that was a really cool ride, Zee," Emily said while brushing her hair down.

"Thanks, it was actually my first time taking someone else for a ride, so I'm relieved that it went well," Zee replied while in her witch form.

"You know, I should meet the rest of yours and Cross's family at some point," Emily suggested. "Maybe the next time that we get to hang out."

"Yeah… I would like you to meet dad and Clair," Zee admitted.

Emily looked confused by this. "Clair? You mean your mom?"

"Oh, have I not mentioned this before?" Zee asked her. "Clair is actually my step-mom and Cross's mom."

Emily's eyes widened in realization. "You mean… you and Cross are…?"

"Halfas," Zee confirmed. "Both me and Cross came from the same dad but different moms."

"I had no idea you two were half-siblings," Emily admitted.

"Yeah, it's… something we don't really bring up that much," she said while looking down. "I don't know much about my mom, only what my dad has told me."

"What was she like?" Emily asked her.

Zee raised her head up, bringing out something from her pocket. "Her name was Anna Bell," she said while holding up an oracle amulet. "This amulet is the only connection I have to her. She was part of the Oracle Coven. She was born in Latissa and her family had many connections with… well, some unscrupulous characters… you probably get the idea."

"I think I know." Emily nodded.

"Anyway, Anna Bell didn't like the kind of lifestyle her family had, so she sold them all out to the Emperor's Coven in exchange for being spared for her cooperation. Most of them were petrified, except for her parents who escaped. After that, she traveled around until she met dad, Damien Drakescale, while he was doing business at the Toes. I'll tell you this, I get my charm from my old man, along with my mom's beauty," she bragged, making Emily smile. Zee then sighed "After they hooked up, I came along nine months later. Things were going well for about almost a year… until her parents came along."

Zee formed a frown and Emily took note that the shine in her eyes was gone when she told the next part of the story. "They sent death threats to Anna, and they came back to try to get me and kill my dad and grandpa, but Anna made the sacrifice to take them down. Her last request to dad before her death was to promise to make sure that I was safe and grew up loved." She gripped the oracle amulet tightly while staring at it. "I would ask dad to tell me this story over and over when I was little, because it would always make me feel close to my mom."

Emily had a sympathetic expression. "I'm sorry for what happened to your mom," she said in a soft voice.

"Hey, it's fine, really," Zee replied, smiling. "I may have not gotten the chance to know her, but I do know that she loved me. That's why I've decided to live my life as I want, in honor of her memory."

"Has it ever… affected your relationship with Cross and his mom at all?" Emily asked her.

"Nah, it doesn't," Zee said. "Having a baby bro is awesome and Clair has always treated me like her own daughter. They are still my family, regardless of if we are fully related by blood or not."

"I get it," Emily responded while looking down. "To me, Sonya has always been my sister even if we're not blood related. Though, I do sometimes wonder what it would have been like to have a blood sibling or even a half-sibling… which is silly, I know. And completely out of the question…"

Emily and Zee stared at the ground for a while before Emily looked at Zee's hand. Her hand moved closely to hers, while Zee glanced at where Emily's hand was. Zee began to slide her hand towards Emily's…

But then, black shadowy tendrils suddenly popped up from the ground, grabbing Emily off from the bench.

"Mily!" Zee shouted.

"AAAH!" Emily screamed as she was pulled into the shadowy puddle. Zee went to grab her hand, trying to pull her out.

"Hang… on!" she shouted while trying to pull Emily back. Despite the tendrils trying to shove her off, she didn't let go. Zee was determined to pull Emily back. But one tendril swept her off her feet, causing her to fall into the shadowy puddle as well. "YAH!" she screamed as she sank into the shadowy puddle after Emily…

---

"You okay, Boscha?" Tom asked as he, Boscha, Hunter, and Ukla continued to stand in the park, trying to figure out what just happened and what they should do now.

"Yeah, Tom. I just… need to be alone for a bit," Boscha said, letting out a deep sigh.

"We'll be nearby if you need us," Ukla nodded her.

Boscha nodded before she walked over to a pond where she wanted to be alone. She sighed again, sitting down and grabbing a stone to throw at the lake. She started skipping stones, all the while thinking about Gavin and how he may be going on the same path she once did… or that Nicole once did. She worried about how it may cost him like it cost her. She wanted to help her friend, if only he could allow them to help him…

But at the same time, she did feel bad about not telling Angmar and Gavin about Tito. She should have told them. She should have been more considerate about how they would have felt about it. She was still a good friend… right?

As she skipped another stone, she noticed another stone being skipped next to her. Confused, she turned to see someone sitting next to her and her eyes widened in shock as she gasped. "You!"

"Hello, my Pink Eyes," Nicole spoke to her, now without her mask. Nicole looked different when she removed her hood, as her hair is now black with dark veins growing around her three eyes and her hands. "Your arm is still strong as always."

"What… what do you want?!" Boscha shouted as she got up and backed away, trying to run only to fall down. She turned and saw that a shadowy tendril had grabbed her leg. "Let me go! Hel-" A shadow covered her mouth, preventing her from screaming.

"Now, now, no need to throw any… unnecessary fits," Nicole said to her. "I just… wanted to make things right with you, my dear."

Boscha managed to remove the shadow from her mouth. "Make things right? Well you're too late for that!" she told her off. "You had your chance, but you blew it!"

"Calm down," Nicole told her as she sighed. "Look, I had a lot of time to think about things… while I was watching you and your little friends…"

"Okay, that is just creepy, even for you," Boscha told her off.

"Let me explain, please," Nicole said as she continued. "You are getting the wrong idea. I only want to save you and Athena and I can save all of your little friends as well… and I brought a gift to show that I mean it."

"It better not be a dead finger or something," Boscha grimaced.

"Oh, I think you'll definitely like what I offer," Nicole said as she raised her hand up, opening a shadowy portal in the air. Boscha seemed surprised that her mom could do that before she saw someone coming out of the portal…

"AAAAHH!" screamed Emily and Zee as they both came out of the portal and hit the ground in front of Boscha. Emily's disguise ended up dispelled, showing her green appearance.

"Oh, looks like I got a stowaway," Nicole said, noticing Zee.

"Emily?!" Boscha exclaimed.

"Yes, this green-faced tramp should pay for what she did to you," Nicole declared, her face becoming twisted in anger as a shadowy hand grabbed a hold of Emily's collar. "How dare you hurt my Boscha!"

"Let me go!" Emily shouted as she struggled.

"Emily!" Zee shouted as she tried to stand up, but the shadows pinned her down. "Fuck!"

"Fortunately for me, I was ordered to have you eliminated," Nicole told her.

Emily's eyes widened. "Ordered? What are you talking about?! Who ordered you?!"

"Why the very same one who found you, Emily," Nicole replied with a grin. "The Producer."

Emily's eyes widened in shock. "You… you're a Tarot Guild member?"

"The Tarot Guild?!" Boscha said in shock.

"The Producer has considered you weak and a liability," Nicole told Emily. "Since you are of no use to the Guild, I was sent to kill you. But I thought I would let my daughter have the honor of killing you herself."

Boscha looked up at her mom, glaring at her. "No… I refuse to kill her for you! Emily has done nothing to me since we brought her back, and I refuse to hurt someone who's defenseless. Even if it is her."

Nicole shut her eyes and let out a disappointed sigh. "Very well, fortunately I brought someone else who would want to kill Emily… just in case."

Another portal appeared and a shadowy hand dropped another witch down on the grass. Boscha, Emily, and Zee saw a girl that was unfamiliar to all… but Emily.

"Yuki…" Emily said as Yuki rose up.

"Where… where am I?" Yuki asked as she appeared wearing a white long sleeve shirt and pants. "What… why am I outside? Where's my straightjacket?!"

"Don't worry, young Yuki," Nicole said to her. "There's someone here I would like you to see…"

Yuki turned to see Emily. "Emily Tricks?!" she shouted as she took a step back, shivering. "What… why are you here?!"

"Allow me to explain," Nicole said as she suddenly appeared behind Yuki, patting her shoulder. "Emily Tricks fooled you, Yuki. She was the one who posed as your friend to steal from you and is responsible for putting you into the state you are in now. Because she is an illusionist."

"What…?" Yuki asked as she looked at Emily. "You… you mean… it was you?!"

Emily looked away. "Yuki… I… I'm sorry for what I did."

"As if you are," Nicole said as her shadows handed her a knife. She gave the knife to Yuki, who looked shocked to be holding it. "Now if you wish to have closure, Yuki… kill the one who hurt you," she told her as Yuki looked at her reflection on the knife. "Only then can you make sure that Emily will never hurt you or anyone else ever again. That is what you want, isn't it?"

"Emily…" Yuki said as her hair covered her eyes. "You made me think Ukla hurt me… but it was YOU! IT WAS ALWAYS YOU!" she screamed as she charged at Emily, trying to attack her.

Emily tried to free herself while Yuki came for her. Boscha used her flame magic, burning the shadowy tendril off from her leg as she picked herself up, jumping towards to grab Emily away from Yuki before she could stab her with her knife.

"You… you saved her?!" Yuki shouted at Boscha.

"Yuki, listen," Boscha said to her. "You don't want this. You need to get back to the institute to get better."

"The only thing I want is to make that green whore pay for what she did!" Yuki shouted as she placed her fingers together to blow a whistle… a loud whistle that sent soundwaves around the area.

"AAAH!" Nicole cried out as she covered her ears, her shadows dispersed.

The soundwaves eventually blew the shadowy tendrils from Zee, who managed to get up. "Alright, I don't know what's going on, but the shadow lady is going down!" Zee declared as she drew a spell circle to shoot fire attacks at Nicole.

"GAH!" Nicole shouted while getting hit and trying to block the attacks using her shadows. Boscha also attempted to attack her, forcing Nicole to defend herself from both girls.

Emily found herself released. However, she still saw Yuki charging at her. "Yuki, wait-" She stopped as Yuki kept swinging a knife at her, forcing Emily to dodge. She ended up getting tackled and as Yuki tried to stab her, Emily grabbed her arm and pushed the knife back.

It was then that Tom, Hunter, and Ukla showed up after hearing the commotion. They looked shocked to see what was going on.

"Is that… Nicole?" Hunter asked while also noticing Emily. "Emily!"

"Boscha!" Tom shouted upon seeing Nicole attacking her own daughter, which angered him.

"Yuki?!" Ukla shouted in confusion. "What the hell's going on?!"

"Hang on, Boscha!" Tom shouted as he levitated in the air by shooting flames from his hands, Hunter and Ukla following the angry Tom.

Nicole noticed them coming. "It seems your little friends heard the commotion," she said while spreading her shadows around. "Fortunately, I have something for them!"

Coming out from the shadowy puddle were shadowy monsters of all shapes and sizes. They all had glaring white eyes and visible white mouths as they roared at the charging Tom, Hunter and Ukla.

"Attack!" Nicole declared while avoiding Boscha and Zee's attacks.

The shadow monsters charged towards the three. Tom blasted them with his flames, Hunter dodged the monsters trying to attack him, and Ukla used her constructs to block them off.

"Since when can she do that?!" Hunter asked.

"Yeah, she's got this thing with shadows," Tom said while shooting fire at the shadow monsters "It's annoying."

"You telling me," Ukla said while shooting constructs at the monsters, trying to get over to Yuki and Emily. "Yuki! Stop!"

As Yuki tried to push her knife closer to Emily's face, Zee was fighting off Nicole's shadow monsters with her fire magic. "Hang on, Emily!"

Nicole glared at them all before she waved her hands. "Perhaps there should be… more of me!" She then summoned more shadowy creatures from the ground. This time, they were all duplicates… of herself.

The duplicates each chose one of the kids to attack. While Tom was fighting off shadow monsters, one Nicole duplicate jump kicked him. He slid across the ground before coming to a stop, glaring at the duplicate before they charged at each other.

Hunter used his staff to shoot gold beams at the monsters before feeling a tap on his shoulder. Looking behind, he was met with a fist hitting his face, launching him back. The Nicole duplicate stretched out her arms, grabbing him. But Hunter pulled out one trick from up his sleeve: a light glyph that he tapped on and flashed in front of the duplicate, making her let him go. He grabbed his staff in defense as the duplicate glared at him.

Ukla tried to reach Yuki, but then she was pulled back by one of Nicole's duplicates. She threw the lizard biped down, making her roll over. Ukla looked up as the Nicole duplicate formed her hands into a hammer and sickle. She raised her hammer hand up and brought it down, Ukla rolling over to avoid getting hit before getting up and jumping away from the sickle hand attempting to stab her.

Zee tried to make her way toward Emily, but another duplicate of Nicole got in front of her. "Aw crap," she said while the Nicole clone shot shadowy tendrils at her. Zee dodged the attack while summoning her staff to form a large spell circle. She pressed the circle, shooting gushes of water at the clone, who dodged the attack. The clone shot more tendrils at Zee, grabbing her by the arms. Zee pressed her feet to the ground while hanging onto her staff to shoot water spells at her.

"Yes…" Nicole said with glee, seeing her duplicates fighting for her.

"Stop this, now!" Boscha shouted while shooting herself up like a rocket. She formed her fist and threw it at Nicole, punching her in the jaw.

"OOF!" Nicole cried out, shocked that Boscha had punched her. "You… you punched your own mother?!"

"You are not my mother anymore," Boscha declared, giving her a glare and shooting more flame spells at Nicole, who was forced to block the attacks. "You really are pathetic, you know that, Nicole?" She shot fireballs at the shadowy monsters and walls Nicole kept summoning. "And just when I thought you couldn't get any lower, you decided to join the Tarot Guild!"

"Can't you see that I'm doing this for you?" Nicole declared while defending herself from Boscha's powerful flames. "I want to give you a good future. Everything I did was for you!"

"Yeah the fuck right!" Boscha shouted while her eyes glowed yellow as she summoned potions and threw them in the air. "All you care about is your own stupid pride and ambition! Which got me kicked out of grudgeby! Which got me hurt at Glandus!"

"I was helping you toughen up!" Nicole declared. "You have no idea how harsh the world is!"

"I do," Boscha told her off as she shot the potions that fell down, creating a flash attack that hurt Nicole. "And I decide how I live my life, not you! Even now you don't care about what I really want!"

Boscha's eyes glowed yellow while sending another flame attack to Nicole, which broke the shadowy barriers that caused Nicole to be knocked over.

Tom kept shooting his fireballs at the shadow clone, who dodged his attacks. The shadow clone went to grab Tom and pin him down, punching him in the face and the stomach. This made Tom angry as his rage grew.

Flames burst around him. "YAAAAH!" he roared as he formed a large fiery aura that disintegrated the shadowy monsters around him. The shadow clone screamed as it was also disintegrated from his fiery rage. Once Tom let it all out, he found himself in the center of a burnt patch of ground. "Hope no one got hurt."

Hunter blipped left to right as the Nicole clone formed her arms into whips, trying to strike at him. Hunter flinched when one whip snapped close to him. He formed a golden light circle to shoot a large light beam at the Nicole clone, getting her in the arm. The clone screamed in agony after Hunter hit it with the light. Taking advantage of this, Hunter used his staff to fly around while the clone followed him. Hunter dug into his pocket and pulled out some glyph cards, tapping on them and throwing them behind him at the clone, creating bright flashes. It screeched as Hunter teleported behind the clone, slapping a light glyph on its back and creating a large flash from the inside, destroying it.

"Thank you, Luz's glyph cards," Hunter commented.

Meanwhile, Zee got bound by the shadow tendrils as the clone raised her up and slammed her against a tree. Zee grunted as she was thrown across the field. She got back up and saw the shadow duplicate coming at her. Zee drew a spell circle to shoot flames at her, but the duplicate dodged the flames as it kept coming after her. Zee rolled over before the duplicate could get to her, the beast-keeper shooting ice spells at the duplicate.

"Come on, bitch, I can tango all day!" Zee declared as the Nicole duplicate charged at her again. Zee focused on her, an idea popping in her head as she drew a spell circle, summoning fire bees that swarmed around the shadow duplicate. The firebees then burst into flames, causing the Nicole duplicate to scream in agony. "Can't stand the heat, stay out of the hive," Zee declared as she saw the duplicate incinerated.

At the same time, Ukla summoned more constructs to block the duplicate she was fighting. She saw it smashing its way to try to harm her, using its sickle to hack at the barrier to pieces. Ukla has to figure out a way to get the shadow replica off of her scales.

'How do I defeat a clone of Boscha's crazy former mother?!' she thought as she grabbed her staff to fly away from the clone. She realized that it was made entirely of shadow. 'A basic light spell should work,' she thought as she spun around to form a spell circle over the replica, summoning a flash of bright light that caused the clone to shriek as it disintegrated. Now that it was out of the way, time to deal with Yuki.

Meanwhile, Emily managed to push Yuki off of her. Yuki glared at Emily. "I'm not going to let you get away!" she shouted as she raised the knife to attack Emily again, only this time, she got blocked by a construct summoned between her and Emily. Zee flew in on her staff just in time to grab Emily away.

"You alright?" Zee asked her.

"Uh-huh," Emily nodded, feeling shaken.

"Yuki, stop!" Ukla shouted to her, coming towards her. "You can't do this!"

"Ukla…" Yuki turned to her friend, tearing up. "Emily… she hurt us… she drove a wedge between us! She has to pay!" She was then tackled by Ukla, making her drop the knife. "Get off of me!"

"No, I won't," Ukla told her, bounding her as Yuki struggled. "You think killing her will make things right, Yuki? That it will make all of your pain just magically go away? No, this is not the way. You are better than that."

"Why are you protecting her?!" Yuki demanded, lashing out. "She hurt us, she made me think you hurt me!"

"I'm not doing this to save her, I'm doing this to save you!" Ukla declared, tears streaming out from her eyes. "Yuki… I am so, so sorry for failing you. If I had been there with you, you wouldn't be in this state." Yuki started to ease up slightly while hearing what Ukla had to say. "You're my best friend, Yuki, it's my fault for not protecting you from Emily. It… it should've been me, not you."

"Ukla…" Yuki felt less tense as her hand felt Ukla's hand.

"I understand your anger, but this isn't the way," Ukla told her. "You need help, Yuki. Do you think killing Emily will make you feel better?"

Yuki lowered her head, her mind feeling clearer now. "No… no I… I'm so sorry, Ukla. Sorry that I thought that you-"

"It's not your fault," Ukla reassured her, hugging her tightly as Yuki cried. "It is never your fault."

Tom and Hunter caught up to Boscha. "Boscha, are you alright?" Tom asked her.

"Just pissed," Boscha responded, glaring at her mother.

"Nicole Hieron, by the order of the Emperor's Coven, you're under arrest," Hunter declares while using his staff to summon his Golden Guard suit.

"Wait, you're the Golden Guard?" Zee asked in shock while letting Emily down. "Did you know about this?" she asked Emily, who nodded.

"No… I refused to be taken down like this!" Nicole shouted while her entire body was covered in shadow. She now looked more like a shadowy monster with three yellow eyes and a yellow silhouette mouth while sporting tendrils all over her hair, arms, and back. "I refuse to be beaten like this! I must complete my mission!" She went to target Emily with her shadowy claws aimed at her… only for flames to burst in front of her. "AAAAH!" she cried in agony before she saw that the flames were summoned by Boscha. "WHY?!"

"Because I won't allow you the satisfaction," Boscha replied as she, Hunter, Ukla, and Zee raise their staffs to draw spell circles while Tom prepares his flames. They all formed a light circle and sent a blast toward Nicole. Hunter's gold, Boscha's yellow, Zee's blue and Ukla's violet lights were directed towards Nicole while Tom added flames as their attacks.

"YAAAAAAAAHHHH!" Nicole screamed as she tried to block the light and flames while summoning her mask to shield her face from the light. However, it did not protect the rest of her shadowy body as it continued to weaken and burn her, causing her to fall back from the blast.

After the attack, the teens saw Nicole laying on the ground. Her shadowy robe was barely keeping her body together as her mask stuck to her face. She looked up to them, specifically Boscha, who had a choice of words to say to her former mother.

"Listen up, Nicole, and listen good," Boscha declared. "I'm not a Hieron anymore, so you can just stop trying to pursue me. Vengeance doesn't make a strong witch, it makes you weak, and your defeat is proof of it. I'm strong because I choose to be better, because I have friends and family that support and love me. You could've kept what you had if you had dropped your grudge against Eda." She glares at Nicole. "I will never become you, and I want nothing to do with you."

Nicole's irises shrank as they then turned blank. "I… I can't…" Her entire body turned to shadow, melting into a shadowy puddle as it slithered away from them.

For a moment, nobody said anything. They just stood there in silence, trying to process what had just happened.

"Okay, this has been a weird day," Zee commented, causing Ukla to turn to her.

"Um… who are you?" Ukla asked her.

"Who are you?" Zee asked.

"Okay, now that's over with," Hunter said while turning to Yuki. "You must be Yuki, right?"

"Y-Yeah," Yuki replied. "I was taken from the Oracle Institute by that shadow woman. I… I wish to go back there."

"We'll be happy to take you back, Yuki," Ukla reassured her. "But first…"

Ukla turned around… and punched Emily across the face, knocking Emily to the ground and shocking Zee. "That's for everything, bitch!" Ukla shouted before she took a deep breath. "Man, that felt cathartic."

"Emily," Zee said as she helped Emily up, the green-skinned witch rubbing her face. "Are you okay?"

Emily didn't say anything as she looked over at Boscha, who only looked at her in silence before turning away. "Boscha…"

"You can go fuck off now, Emily," Boscha told her, turning away from Tricks.

Emily got the message, sighing and turning to Zee. "Just take me back," she told her.

"Alright," Zee replied as she instructed Emily to sit on her staff before they flew away from everyone.

Tom looked over at Boscha, looking concerned. "You… feeling good, Boscha?"

"Yeah, you okay?" Ukla asked her.

"Is there anything you want us to do?" Hunter inquired.

Boscha sighed, shaking her head. "You two can go ahead and leave with Yuki, we'll talk later," she said as she then turned to. Tom "And Tom… I could go for a burger."

Tom nodded. "Yeah, that's a good idea."

While Zee flew off with Emily, she turned back to the green-skinned witch. "Okay, I want to know what the fuck just happened," she said. "Cause I have no idea who any of those people were."

"I know most of them," Emily responded while looking down. "They were Glandus students that I… hurt in the past."

"Oh…" Zee replied, looking down. "Well… if your face hurts a bit, I can help treat it with some healing patches."

Emily gave a small smile at the suggestion and nodded. "Thank you, Zee."

---

Over at the Newt Burger, Tom and Boscha ate together at an outside table. As Boscha ate her newt burger, she felt a great sense of relief. But she was still affected by what had just happened.

"So… how are you feeling right now?" Tom asked her.

"I guess… my mind clearer now," Boscha responded with a sigh. "I really needed this."

"Yeah," Tom replied while sipping his drink. The two were eating in silence, though Tom wondered if he should try to get her to talk. "So… do you want to talk?"

"Talk about what?" she asked.

"I guess… about Nicole?" Tom asked her. Boscha looked at him in silence before she focused on eating her fries. "Alright, how about Gavin and Angmar?" he suggested.

"I… don't feel like talking about them right now," she told him.

Tom sighed, deciding to drop it. "Okay," he said as he chewed on a fry before he noticed a group of teens showing up. "Wait a sec," he said as he noticed one of them in particular…

"Alright, so while we wait for Lilith to come back, let's get something else to eat," Star Butterfly said while turning around and noticing Tom staring at him. "What the…"

"YOU!" they both shouted as the two pointed to each other, much to the shock of Boscha and Vee along with Megan, Tres, and Ivy.

"What's going on?" Boscha asked.

"Her!" Tom shouted, pointing to Star. "You remember me mentioning this girl I knew back in Mewni? That's her! I… I thought you died."

"Yeah, same," Star responded, just as shocked. "How did you survive?"

"The scissors sent me here," Tom said. "What about you?"

"Same, I managed to get out in time," Star admitted.

Boscha then noticed Vee, recognizing her. "Hey, I know you. You're Vee, right?"

"Oh… hey, Boscha," Vee said, waving to her nervously.

"Did Luz bring you here?" Boscha asked her. "And who are they?" She pointed to the other three she didn't recognize.

"Yeah… yeah, she did," Vee said. "Um, Lilith gave us some concealment stones to use to blend in," she said nervously, pointing to her ears. "As for these guys, they're my friends that I brought with me… Megan, Tres, and Ivy."

The three disguised Basilisks looked at Boscha and Tom as Ivy waved. "Hi, nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet other humans as well," Boscha replied, waving back.

"You guys want to sit with us and eat?" Tom asked them.

"Yeah, that'd be great after the day we've had," Star said as they came over. "Plus, I would like to catch up with you, since you're one of the few surviving Mewmans that I have met since the fall of Mewni."

"Yeah, we should catch up," Tom replied. "Wait… one of the few?"

"Yeah, I should explain it more…" Star admitted as she and Tom went off on their own while the basilisks sat down with Boscha.

"So you guys must be from Gravity Falls, right?" Boscha asked the three of Vee's 'friends.'

"Yeah, we're from a…" Megan tried to think up a lie.

"Acting troupe," Vee claimed. "They're from a performance and arts center and they came here to experience the authenticity of witch culture. They already experienced their own kinds of weirdness because Gravity Falls is the weirdest place in the H.R."

"Yeah," Ivy said. "Um, I've done many performances throughout my life. I was a born actor."

"Well, that's going to be a thing for him…" Tres muttered to himself.

Meanwhile, Star and Vee were catching each other up to speed.

"So how long have you been in the Isles?" Tom asked her.

"More than two weeks," Star replied. "Before then, I was in the Human Realm for a few months, living in alleyways and dumpsters, doing whatever I had to survive."

"Yeah, I was in the same boat as well," Tom responded. "I had to hide in trash cans when the boiling rain came."

"Yeah, I was told about them," Star said. She was quiet for a moment, looking at Tom. "Honestly… I'm glad that you've survived, Tom."

"Yeah, I'm happy that you survived as well," he replied while looking down. "What you said when we first met,… you were right, about everything. Mewni had some deep rooted problems and I was part of that problem. And while I thought the Isles was different at first, since witches and demons co-exist without issue… it still has problems just like Mewni does." He sighed. "But I have realized just how much I've taken things for granted. Especially after what happened to my family…"

Star gave him a sympathetic look. "I'm so sorry for your loss, Tom. I also lost my dad during Mewni's destruction."

"I'm sorry for your loss, too," Tom said, giving his sympathy.

"Thanks," Star replied, patting his shoulder. "But hey, at least we are both here. We have new lives, new friends, and new reasons to keep fighting, right?"

Tom looked at Boscha while Star looked at Vee. They both may have lost everything from their old world, but they still had something… or someone to keep fighting for. "Yeah, I know what you mean," he admitted.

---

Meanwhile, Emily and Zee had returned to the Shystream farm.

"Thank you for bringing me back here, Zee," Emily thanked her.

"Yeah, sorry that we got interrupted by that shadow lady transporting us," Zee replied, rubbing the back of her hair. "But outside of the drama, I had fun spending time with you."

Emily smiled. "I did too, Zee. I… hope we can do this for another time."

"Does that mean a second date?" Zee asked with a smirk.

"Wouldn't it be a first date then?" Emily pointed out.

The two shared a laugh before Zee received a buzz from her scroll. She pulled out her scroll and looked at the text. Her eyes widened. "Oh Titan…"

"Is something wrong?" Emily asked, seeing the look on her face.

"I have to go," Zee responded as she summoned her staff. "Something happened to Cross."

"What?!" Emily asked, looking worried. "Is there anything I can do?"

"No, I don't think so, I'll just let you know if he's alright," Zee reassured her as she got on her staff. "Take it easy and tell Lindsay I said hey."

Emily nodded as she watched Zee fly away. Once Zee was gone, Emily headed back inside the house. Once inside, she saw the family all gathered together in the living room and they quickly spotted her.

"Emily, you're back," Lindsay said as she got up and walked over to her. "How'd it go with Zee?"

"It went good," Emily responded.

"Well, I'm glad that you had fun, Emily," Bloom said to her.

"Yeah, we had fun," Emily confirmed while turning to Lindsay. "Hey Lindsay, can I speak to you for a moment?"

Lindsay nodded and the two walked out of the living room to have a private talk with each other. "Something on your mind?" she asked her.

Emily sighed. "I… saw Boscha earlier."

Lindsay's eye widened. "You did…? How did it…?"

"Actually, truth was me and Zee were brought to her against our will," Emily explained. "Long story short, Nicole Hieron took us to her because she expected Boscha would kill me me, but she refused. However, after defeating Nicole, Boscha made it clear that… she hasn't forgiven me and she told me to fuck off," she said while looking down. "And Ukla was there as well. I don't know if you know her, but she has also not forgiven me." She rubbed her cheek.

"Are you alright, though?" Lindsay asked her.

"Yeah, I am," Emily claimed. However, she was looking down, her thoughts on what Nicole said to her about the Producer.

"Hey girls, come to the living room and listen to this!" Colt called out for them.

Emily and Lindsay looked at each other before returning to the living room, where they saw everyone watching the CB. "What is it, dad?" Lindsay asked.

"They're talking about a Tarot Guild bunker they've found," Colt replied, which caused Emily's eyes to widen as she looked at the CB.

"This is Nathan B. Colorfeather, reporting to you live from an underground bunker located underneath an old zoo. This bunker was used by members of the Tarot Guild, where they kept several missing witches who have now been found and rescued by the local masked heroes, LOWTH, along with some allies," the peacock biped said while standing next to a coven guard. "Larry, what can you say about this?"

"Well, Nathan, we got a tip about the location of their underground bunker. Most of the civilians had already been led out by the time we arrived at the scene, but while checking the bunker for any stragglers we found a lab which had several witchlings who were experimented on by Dr. Sonya Mera."

This alarmed Emily, who wondered if Luz had kept her promise about Sonya…

"Have you identified any of them?" Nathan asked.

"Well, we were able to identify Bria Day Carpenter, Bangles Settu, and Asi Torigore. There is also an unidentified horse-faced kid. We will keep them in custody for the moment and see what can be done about their current mutation. We also found a monster buried under the rubble…"

It was then that Nathan spotted some coven scouts bringing over the large body of the 'monster' that Larry brought over. "What can you scouts tell us about this creature?" he asked, having the camera show the disfigured but crushed head of the monster. Steel cords stuck out from the chest and the wings were mangled. Ribs and bones were sticking out and the intestines were hanging from the back.

Bloom covered Jojo's eyes while Lindsay gasped, turning away from the sight.

"Not like anything we've seen before," Hugh said while tapping on the crystal ball as it scanned the monster's body. "But we found notes from Dr. Sonya Mera about a 'Chimera Project', so we can confirm that the teens were subjected to experimentation because of her."

"But we didn't find Dr. Sonya Mera," Cle admitted, looking uneasy about the creature's disfigured look. "Just those teens and this body."

Emily sighed in relief, believing that Luz had kept her promise…

"Wait a sec," Hugh said while looking at the CB. "We got identification of the creature," he said, showing his crystal ball to Nathan and Larry as it showed the image of the identified monster.

Emily gasped in horror.

Nathan turned to the camera. "You've seen it here, folks. The monster has now been identified as the Dr. Sonya Mera," he declared while showing Sonya's face. "It appears that she experimented on herself as well and it looks like her case has finally come to a close."

Emily had taken a step back, hitting a table. Lindsay turned to her. "Emily?" she asked her, but she then saw Emily tear up and run off to the door "Emily!"

Emily fled from the house, running outside. She was having trouble breathing, but she continued to run through the field as she tore up.

"It's nice to meet you, Emily," spoke the teenage Sonya through a flash of memory. "The Boss told me a lot about you when he adopted me."

She kept running, and running…

"One orphan to another, we just gotta stick together, you know?" Sonya asked after another flash of a memory.

She couldn't stop crying, the pain was too great…

"Emily, I promise you that we're going to make it through this together."

"SONYAAAHH!" Emily cried, kneeling as she fell to the ground. She had stopped by a nearby scarecrow. "Sonya… No…" She then remembered the last time she ever saw her sister… back at the Coven Day Parade.

"Take care of yourself, Emily," Sonya told her, patting Emily's shoulder. "And remember that this… being apprenticed by Head Witch Graye is still better than what the Boss or the Producer would have done to you otherwise."

Emily looked down, knowing that her sister was right. "I know…"

"But hey, chin up," she said to Emily, giving her a smile. "I will always have your back…"

Those were her final words to her. The last time she will ever hear her sister ever again…

"Emily!" Lindsay shouted as she flew over with her wings to catch up to Emily, seeing her in tears.

"First… Grimhammer," she sniffed as she dug her fingers into the dirt. "And now… Sonya…" She continued to cry. "They're dead! Now my whole family is dead!"

"Emily… I want to help," Lindsay tried to reassure her.

"YOU CAN'T?!" Emily snapped out of anger, turning to Lindsay. "LUZ PROMISED ME THAT SHE WOULDN'T LET HER DIE, BUT SHE STILL DIED! BECAUSE I TOLD HER ABOUT THE ZOO, BECAUSE I TRUSTED HER, MY ONLY FAMILY I HAD LEFT IS DEAD!"

After her shout, the nearby scarecrow suddenly burst into flames. This startled Emily and Lindsay, who looked up and were shocked to see the burning scarecrow.

"H-How…?!" Lindsay asked. "What just happened?!"

"I… I don't know…" Emily replied, looking at the burning scarecrow. She couldn't breathe when seeing the flames. She was so overwhelmed… and a cloud of red smoke appeared out of nowhere around her.

Lindsay noticed the red smoke and she saw it surrounding Emily. "Emily?!" she cried out as the red smoke disappeared… along with Emily. "Nonono… EMILY!" she cried in shock as she looked around for her. "Emily, where are you?!"

---

Emily reappeared in a secluded area. She looked at her surroundings and realized that she was in the woods. She was taking deep breaths.

A confused Emily staggered over to a tree and laid her back on that tree, sliding down to the ground. She tried to calm down, wiping her tears away as she processed her sister's death. She buried her head around her arms, sitting in a fetal position as she continued to tear up despite her efforts to stop crying. She was alone now… well, almost alone.

"Roaw!"

Emily heard a small roar and she looked up. Her eyes widened when she saw a lone lion Palisman walking up to her. She instantly recognized it… as Sonya's Palisman. "Pretty?"

"Roaw!" the lion Palisman, Pretty, replied as he came up to her leg. Emily held up to the Palisman.

"Oh Pretty," Emily said. "I'm so sorry… we both lost Sonya," she said as she hugged the lion Palisman, comforting him. "I know how much she meant to you."

The lion Palisman gave a somber growl, looking down at the mention of his dead master. Emily petted the Palisman gently.

"I… I know it hurts…" Emily sniffed as she caressed the Palisman. "But don't worry, I'll take good care of you for her. For Sonya."

She stopped crying, having calmed down now. She wiped away her tears before she glared up at the sky. "I promise… to avenge my sister…"

Pretty looked up at Emily, seeming to agree with that sentiment by nuzzling against her chest. Emily looked down at Pretty and saw the lion Palisman's eyes glow as it changed into a staff. Her staff.

"You… you chose me?" Emily said in surprise, standing up while holding her new staff. "Thank you, Pretty, I don't know if I deserve you." She shut her eyes and when she reopened them, she looked determined. "But I will put you to good use, since I now know what to do…"

---

Back at the Shystream farm, Lindsay rushed back into the farmhouse.

"Everyone! Emily's gone!" Lindsay shouted.

"What?!" Bloom exclaimed. "Lindsay, explain."

"What happened? Where's Emily?" Colt asked as Aunt Dorothy, Jojo, George and Hendrick gathered around.

"I followed her and then the scarecrow burst into flames and then the next thing I know, Emily disappeared in a burst of red smoke!" Lindsay cried while tears flooded from her eye. "I… I don't know where she is right now…"

"Don't worry, we'll find her," Aunt Dorothy reassured her niece, placing a hand on her shoulder.

"We should call the Cortlands to help with the search," Colt suggested before they heard knocking on the door.

"Is that Emily?" George asked hopefully.

"Open up! This is the Emperor's Coven!" someone shouted from the other side.

Everyone fell silent, even Henry.

"Oh my Titan…" Henry said as he quickly hid behind Uncle George.

"Everyone calm down," Colt said, taking charge as he took a deep breath and walked to the door. "I'll handle this," he said as the knocking continued. He opened the door and forced a smile. "Um… how can I help you?"

"Oh we're here to look for a… certain someone," spoke Kikimora. With her was Pugsley. "We got a tip that you're keeping someone of interest here in this… barn."

"Actually, it's a farmhouse, Kiki," Pugsley corrected, only to earn a hit in the stomach from her. "Ow…"

"Shut up, Pugsley," Kiki told him as she gave a stressed sigh. "I traveled all the way to this backwater town to look for a witch and I will not leave empty-handed."

"Um… what witch are you looking for?" Bloom asked. "Cause we can reassure you that there's no one you would be interested in here…"

But Kiki and Puglsey marched into the house anyway, accompanied by some scouts. "Oh there is… because you have a covenless witch in your house!"

Lindsay's eye widened and she exchanged a nervous glance with Henry. "Um… the only covenless witches are ones who have been out of school for a while. I'm hardly of age."

"Yeah, and I'm already in a coven! Look!" Hendrick shouted as he raised his arm up, showing his fake sigil.

Kikimora looked at his sigil on his wrist, noting the oracle coven sigil. "Why does your sigil look faded? And like it is peeling off?"

"Um… it's a special kind of sigil?" Henry smiled nervously before he suddenly tried to make for a break to the door.

"Pugsley, grab him!" Kiki ordered as Pugsley drew a spell circle to shoot up a rope, grabbing Hendrick and bounding him up.

"Henry!" Lindsay and her family shouted, seeing Henry being pulled back by Kikimora and Pugsley. They tried to help, but the scouts got in front of them and prevented them from intervening.

"Leave my baby boy alone!" Bloom cried out while the scouts summoned shields to push the family back.

"Hendrick Shystream, by the order of the Emperor's Coven, you are under arrest for not joining a coven," Kikimora declared before a cloud of red smoke appeared before them. "YAH! What the Titan?!"

The red smoke came as a surprise to the family and when it cleared away, standing there in the room with them… was Emily.

"Emily…" Lindsay whispered as Emily got between Henry and Kiki.

"Emily Tricks?!" Kikimora exclaimed, falling on her behind. "But… but you're supposed to be dead!"

"Is she a ghost?!" Pugsley responded, looking in fear. "Cause I'm really, really afraid of ghosts!"

"I was… dead," Emily said while walking towards Kikimora and Puglsey, both of them backing away. "But I was given a… second chance of life. A chance… to help you."

"Help… me?" Kiki asked in confusion.

"Think about this," Emily suggested. "Let him go and I will go with you instead."

"What are you doing, E-" Lindsay spoke up but Emily spoke over her.

"Rather than take in just another covenless wild witch like him, I am a much higher priority witch, since I was the apprentice to a Head Witch. If you take me in, just think of how you, Kikimora, would be rewarded, perhaps even promoted to a higher position than just a common scout. Because you succeeded where nobody else did, not even the Golden Guard…"

Kikimora looked at Emily while humming to herself. She then looked at Henry. Nobody would care about her if she brought him in, but if she brought Emily in it would be a different story. It could even help her get her old job back…

"You know what? I think I like your idea," Kikimora said. "Puglsey, let go of the simpleton. We have a bigger bounty to turn in…"

"But wouldn't it make sense if we turn in both Tricks and the guy we just caught?" Pugsley asked, only to get smacked in the head again. "OW!"

"Leave the logic to me!" Kikimora shouted while turning to Henry. "You, um, Harry, right?"

"It's Hendrick."

"Whatever, we'll let you off with a warning," Kikimora told him as the rope disappeared from him. "Just remember to go to your local coven office to get yourself registered to join a coven. Got it?"

"Y-Yeah, I promise I will this time," Hendrick nodded as he got up.

"Come along, Ms. Tricks, we'll be taking you then," Kikimora said as she led the way, Emily following her and the scouts.

"No… nononono." Lindsay said in shock, looking horrified as she watched Emily being led away.

"Emily's… leaving?" Jojo asked as Lindsay rushed out of the house.

"Lindsay, wait!" Aunt Dorothy called out to her, but Lindsay ignored her.

"Emily, stop!" Lindsay shouted as she ran after Emily, who stopped just as Lindsay caught up to her. "You don't have to do this! You can't go back to the Emperor's Coven!"

"Lindsay…" Emily said as she turned to her, seeing Lindsay tearing up.

"You don't have to go back to them… you're already doing so much better," she told her while tearing up. "You don't need to-"

"Lindsay," Emily spoke to her, trying to reassure her with a smile. "It's okay. It's going to be okay," she told her. "Tell Cross and Zee… thank you, all of you, for being my friends." She then walked towards the coven wagon, getting in with the scouts behind her.

Lindsay watched helplessly with a shocked look as the wagon began to move away from the farm, also taking Lindsay away from her. She fell to her knees, tears leaking from her eye as she started to cry…

---

Later, at the Emperor's Castle, Adrian Graye waited in his office. When he heard the knock on the door, he took a deep breath and composed himself, assuming a stoic expression. "Come in."

The door opened as Kiki and Pugsley brought in Emily Tricks, who went along with them willingly. "Here she is, Head Witch Graye," Kiki spoke up. "Your apprentice."

Adrian kept his stoic expression as he looked down at Emily, who matched it with stoicism of her own. "So it is true… you live, apprentice."

"I do," Emily replied, her face and voice neutral.

"And I was the one that found her!" Kikimora declared. "Oh and um, Pugsley was involved."

"I'll make sure that you and your partner will be rewarded," Adrian told them, while turning to Emily. "But I wish to be alone with her."

"Right, right, come along, Pugsley," Kiki said as she and Pugsley exited.

"Alright, Kiki," Pugsley responded as he followed.

Once the door was closed, the two were left alone. Emily looked up at Graye, unable to read his face. When she saw him moving in, she braced herself and prepared for the worst… only to feel him giving her a hug. This caused her eyes to widen in shock, shattering her stoicism. And she wasn't the only one who let it slip.

"Thank Titan you're okay!" Adrian cried out, tears streaming from his eyes. "I… I am so sorry… for everything!"

"Head Witch…" Emily said. She didn't know how to process this, since out of everything she was expecting from Graye… this wasn't one of them. She blinked in confusion as he let go of her.

"I promise you that things will be different from now on," he said to her. "I had a lot of time to think about how I treated you, about our… relationship. And I regret it," he told her while gripping her shoulders.

"I…" Emily said as she tried to process how emotional Adrian was being over her, since she had never seen him like this before. "All I want is a second chance, sir."

"Alright," Adrian nodded as he wiped away his tears. "Just… how is this possible? We all thought that… you were dead after you were dragged away by Melinoe."

"I was taken to the Underworld," Emily responded. "But I was saved… by the ruler of the Underworld himself, Hades."

"Hades?" Adrian asked.

"Yeah, he made his daughter return me back to the Isles," Emily lied, hiding the true story. She paused. "But… what are you going to tell Belos about me?"

"I'll think of something," Adrian reassured her as he started to think. "With the golden boy's return, you can't go back to your old position, and there's no way we could use the Drakescale boy again…"

Emily looked around and noticed a DVD box on the shelf, going over to pick it up. "Wait, is this… BIG?"

"Hmm? Oh that's just something I found in the lounge some time ago," Adrian said, noticing her holding the DVD box containing colorful costumed heroes. "The Golden Guard is for some reason obsessed with this show from the Human Realm, so I gave it a watch and, well, it did give me the idea of pitching the Boiling Isles Guardians…" And then, a new idea popped in his head and he snapped his fingers. "That's it! I just realized how to pitch your big comeback!"

Emily wondered what he could mean by that, hopefully it was nothing corny…

---

And with that, we are all caught up.

"-FUCKER!"

As Nina cursed, everyone's eyes were glued onto the CB in Geist's bar, shocked at the reveal of Emily's unmasking as the Silver Sentry.

"What… what is she doing back there?" Cross asked in shock.

"We need to call Lindsay," Zee told her brother.

"And now, a word from Emperor Belos."

It was then that Belos appeared, unmasked, for all to see on their CBs.

"Children of the Titan," Belos spoke, having prepared his speech. "I will admit, this is a long time overdue. You've all been wondering about Emily Tricks, long before her return. After all, she is a very controversial figure and you have been demanding an explanation ever since she was unmasked as the Golden Guard, a shocking turn of events to be sure. And though we may have been silent on the issue before now, let me rectify that…"

---

Back at the Shystream farmhouse, Lindsay and her family watched their CB, all shocked while a sad Lindsay received comfort from her parents.

"The truth is, Emily was just a stand-in for the true Golden Guard, my nephew Hunter, while he was recovering from an injury he sustained in the field. And though she was just his stand-in, she still performed just as the true Golden Guard should, risking her life to protect others…"

---

After coming home, Boscha and Tom watched the broadcast while sharing shocked and concerned looks.

"Whether it be during the Coven Day parade, the Scarfish attack, or when the Grim Goblin attacked St. Epiderm, or even when it was during Melinoe's attack…"

---

Ukla watched from her crystal ball while at home. "Shit!" she exclaimed, wondering just how bad this could be…

"And lives were saved because of her. She has committed countless crimes, but the Titan told me that Emily Tricks had talent and potential, that she just needed proper guidance and the chance to atone for her actions. After all, she is also a victim of the Tarot Guild's manipulation…"

---

Watching from the streets of Latissa on the large CB, Gavin and Angmar gave shocked looks. Angmar looked to Gavin, who glared at this as he tightened his hands into fists.

"She was misguided. And the Titan has forgiven her, choosing to judge her for her most recent actions, protecting the Isles and the children of the Titan, rather than her past ones. And wouldn't it be wrong if we didn't recognize that Emily Tricks, like every other witch, is a child of the Titan? A lost one who only needed to be led back home, like she has been now?"

---

Tito was on the couch glaring at the CB, while behind him Napoli and Mosquita looked at each other with worried looks.

"She is similar to Eda, in a way."

---

"Oh that shit-stained nutjob using me for his agenda again!" Eda ranted in anger, punching the counter. "Son of a-!"

---

"After all, Eda was once seen as nothing more than a criminal. Yet the Titan asked me to pardon her, since the Titan foretold that she would redeem herself as a hero. So shouldn't we extend Emily the same courtesy that we gave Eda? Especially since it was the Titan who saved Emily from Melinoe and returned her to us."

Watching from his cot, Cain looked at the CB and listened to Belos's speech, his eyes narrowing.

---

"I know that I ask a lot of you, children of the Isles, but please trust me…"

Glinda saw the broadcast from her home, feeling conflicted about Emily's return. She felt relieved that she was okay and yet at the same time she felt worried.

---

"And trust the Titan by looking past Emily's crimes, just as you looked past Eda's. The Day of Unity is almost here and the faithful will be rewarded when it comes."

Watching the broadcast in a crowd were Kadabe and Dolly. The two were wearing cloaks to hide their faces as they watched with worried looks. After Belos finished his speech, the crowd they were in cheered for Belos… and for Emily.

"Oh, I guess that makes sense," one spoke up. "The Titan has forgiven Emily."

"If it's from Belos himself, then I guess it's okay," another replied, as they all cheered for the Emperor and the new Silver Sentry.

"We need to get out of the Isles," Dolly whispered as she held Kadabe's hand.

"Yeah," Kadabe agreed, squeezing Dolly's hand gently. The two then ran off together, still holding hands.

---

Meanwhile, in a rented out office tavern, a bunch of witches began to walk out while Batters tried to stop them.

"W-Wait! Don't leave!" Batters cried out. "What happened to the Melvins?!"

"Oh, sorry little dude," spoke a witch who suspiciously looked a lot like Soos. "But since Belos says that the Titan saved Emily Tricks and forgave her, well that reignites my beliefs again." He wiped the M marking off his face before walking out. "See ya!"

"Just like that?!" Batters ranted. "She can't keep getting away with this! The Melvins are supposed to be the new religion! I have to make sure to lead the right path!"

"Excuse me," spoke a coven scout, who made himself visible. "Are you the leader of this Melvin cult I've been hearing about?"

Batters looked at the scout in shock. "Uh…oh, Newtburgers," he said while looking down, realizing he was going to get grounded… again.

---

Back at Geist's bar, they could hear the crowd cheering from the CB. Nobody said anything at first, they just sat there in stunned silence.

"What just… happened?!" Amity was the first to ask.

"I didn't think Emily would return to the Emperor's Coven," Willow indicated, confused. "Why would she go back?"

"Crap!" Luz exclaimed as she sat down. "She must have learned about Sonya. Of course she would return to them…"

"Sonya?" Willow asked. "Oh right, you said that she died…"

"This just got cranked up to a hundred," Gus said.

"I… how is Emily back?" Donna asked, trying to comprehend what she had just seen as she turned to notice Zee and Cross quickly leaving.

"Fucking hell!" Nina shouted as she kicked a game machine. "Shit! Shit! Shit!"

"Nina, calm down," Skara said as she tried to calm Nina, but she was too mad to do so.

"Wait, what are you kids talking about?" Slasher asked.

"Okay, so here's the thing," Eda spoke up, explaining to the parents. "When we went to save King and Edric… we also went to save Emily since it didn't feel right to leave her…"

"She was staying with Lindsay Shystream and her family, but I think the reason why she returned was because I couldn't keep my promise to her," Luz said as Nina turned to her.

"Promise? What promise?" Nina asked her.

Luz turned to Nina. "Okay, you may not like this but… the reason we found your siblings and mom was because Emily told me where Sonya could be, but in exchange I promised that I wouldn't kill her or let her die."

"You promised her that?!" Nina exclaimed.

"I mean, I didn't know if I would be able to keep it or not," Luz claimed. "If the Emperor's Coven caught her, her fate would be out of my hands. But Emily must have heard that she's dead and thought that I was responsible, so she went to rejoin the Emperor's Coven… crap, she's gonna want revenge on me."

Nina was silent, just standing there in shock. It was then that Eda cleared her throat.

"Alright, I know that this is a lot to take in, but everyone should just calm down," she said. "Look, we should all just return to our homes. It has been a long, stressful day for everyone and we are not in the right headspace to approach this."

"She's right," Slasher agreed as he patted Nina's shoulder. "We should all just head home."

"But what about Emily?" Nina asked.

"We're not in a position to do anything about her right now, Nina," Skara said, looking down. "Now that she's a coven official alongside Hunter, she's… now treated as a hero."

Nina looked like she was about to argue, but then she felt Lambi's hand holding hers. She turned to Lambi and started to calm herself down while Lambi looked at her in concern. "It… it's not fair," Nina said while in tears as Lambi and the Brookes helped escort her out.

"Come on, we should go too," Gilbert said as he and Sully led Willow and Gus away. "It was good to see you again, Amity."

"Yeah, same," Amity replied, waving to them as she saw them leave.

"Cross and Zee already went outside in a rush," Clair noticed.

"Yeah, and Donna was following them," Diana said, looking concerned. "Do you think something happened?"

"I may have an idea," Eda admitted.

---

Outside of the bar, Cross and Zee were contacting Lindsay.

"And after she left, she told me to tell you guys… thank you for being her friends," Lindsay spoke from the crow as the Drakescale siblings listened. "I told her that she didn't need to go back there, but… if I had just-!"

"It's okay, Lindsay. It's not your fault," Cross reassured her.

"We did our best to help her," Zee replied, looking down with a saddened look. "But it sounds like she did it to help your brother…. right?"

"I guess we just have to wait and see what happens next," Cross admitted.

"What?"

The two paused before they turned and saw Donna standing there, having overheard their conversation. "Did you guys… know that Emily was back? And you and Lindsay helped her?"

"Is that… Donna?" Lindsay spoke from the crow.

"Donna, look, just let us explain…" Cross attempted to say.

"How come you and Lindsay didn't tell me about her?" Donna asked. She didn't look mad, just… hurt, which Cross hated to see.

"We're sorry that we didn't tell you, Donna, but Emily requested that we didn't tell you," Cross explained. "She was afraid that you would retaliate because of what she did to Nina." His explanation didn't seem to make Donna feel any better. "Donna, you have to understand…"

"I… I'll just talk to you later, Cross," Donna responded, turning around and walking away.

Cross wanted to talk to her, but knew that she needed to be left alone. He sighed while turning to Zee. "No comment on this?" he asked.

"Honestly, I think I want to go home too," Zee responded, looking just as sad.

"Everything alright?" Lindsay asked them.

"Yeah… we'll talk later," Cross said to Lindsay before he let the crow fly off, ending the call.

---

Later, Luz, Eda, King, Amity, and Lilith had made it back home to the Owl House. Going inside, they spotted Star, Vee, and her Basilisk siblings are there.

"Hey, you're back," Vee said. "Did you guys settle what you needed to do?"

"Yeah, we did," Amity replied.

"Though there were a few setbacks…" Luz mentioned.

"And you must be the rest of Vee's siblings," Eda indicated while bringing out her key.

"Yes, we are," Megan replied. "I'm Megan, and these are Ivy and Tres."

"Aka my new friends!" Hooty cheered, wrapping himself around the trio of basilisks, who looked very uncomfortable as he did so.

"Does this mean we'll be heading to the Human Realm now?" Ivy asked after they got Hooty to let go of them.

"Yes, I think it is about time to return Vee home," Eda said as she activated the portal door. "And are you three going back with her?"

"I'll be staying, actually," Tres admitted. "I still want to make sure that Belos and his Coven get taken down for what he did to us."

"I'll take you and Star back to HQ then," Lilith said as the portal door opened.

Vee turned to Star before she left, holding her hand. "I'll be seeing you. Hopefully our next date isn't as chaotic."

"Let's try not to jinx it," Star smiled as the two shared a hug.

And with that, the basilisk trio of Vee, Megan and Ivy made their leave, the portal door closing shut behind them.

"Hopefully they'll be alright," Eda said before turning to Amity. "So how about you, Amity?"

"Me?" Amity replied.

"Yeah, now that you're back in the Isles, we were wondering if you plan to stay with us here or if you want to go spend the night with your family," Luz said while patting her girlfriend's shoulder.

"It's up to you, kiddo," Eda said. "As much as we would love to have you here again, me and Luz will understand if you want to prioritize your family right now after everything that happened today."

"And don't worry about me, Ams," Luz said with a smile. "You know I'll be okay."

Amity looked between Luz and Eda, then at King who formed a smile of his own despite his skullcap. She was finally back in the Owl House… but was this really where she wanted to be?

---

Later, at Geist's Bar, as Edric, Emira, and Geist were closing up shop.

"Alright, the dishes are done and the chairs are folded," Edric commented.

"Though the game machine needs to be fixed," Emira commented, seeing the dent Nina made.

"I might be able to help," said a familiar voice.

The Blight twins paused before they turned to see Amity coming into the bar.

"Mittens…?" Emira said with a surprised look.

"Hey, we thought you'd be staying with Luz," Edric said, only for Amity to go up to hug him.

"No, I decided that… I'm not going to leave again," Amity said while Emira walked over, the twins hugging Amity.

Geist came in from the back and saw Amity there. Watching the siblings hug it out, he smiled. "Glad that you're here, Mittens," he told her. "I'll set you up a room for you."

"Thank you, Uncle Geist," Amity replied, smiling as well.

Yep, she definitely felt like she was home.

---

At CATT headquarters, Lilith had returned, bringing back Star along with Tres with her as they went inside.

"Took you guys long enough," Steve commented as he, Raine and Odalia walked up to them.

"Tres? Is that… you?" Raine asked in surprise, recognizing a familiar face.

"Hey, Raine," Tres waved to them with an awkward smile. "I heard you went missing after the raid. Didn't know if you were alive or dead."

"My situation was… complicated," Raine replied while looking down apologetically. "The raids… Tres, we were compromised back then… I was compromised and it led to BATTs being exposed. What happened was my fault and I am so, so sorry…"

"I… won't hold it against you," Tres reassured them. "Meg is safe, if you're wondering."

"That's a relief," Raine said. "I would like to hear what you and Meg have been up to."

"Yeah, wait until you hear the day we all had…" Star said.

Lilith, meanwhile, turned to Odalia. "So how are the… prisoners doing?"

"They're currently processing the news about Emily," Odalia said, leading her to their makeshift cells.

"I don't believe this!" Weaselton shouted as he along with Ruth, Goregon, Zepher, and Brian were locked up in a cell with anti-magic cuffs. "Emily's alive?!"

"Wait, does that mean she'll be able to find and free us?" Goregon asked

"She probably won't bother," Zepher pointed out.

As Lilith and Odalia returned to the others, Lilith noticed something. "Wait, where's Darius?"

"Oh, he said that he needed to go out for a bit," Odalia answered.

---

Meanwhile, Gavin was walking back home, his eyes on the ground while he still processed the news about Emily. However, watching him from afar, just out of sight near some bushes, was Darius. He was making sure that Gavin made it home safe. As he watched his son, Darius felt tempted to approach him, to try to talk to him. But as he reached out in his direction, his arm started to fall off and he had to quickly catch it before hiding himself.

Darius watched as his son entered his home. He saw Sheila at the door, letting Gavin in. Darius could sadly only watch, all the while trying to keep himself together and stop himself from falling apart.

---

"There's also one more thing," Odalia mentioned. "It's about the Hellhound you brought in, Blazer."

"Is he alright?" Lilith asked her.

"He's stable, and he's awake now," Odalia told her. "Hikari has been with him, but I thought you should know about them."

"Thank you, I'll go check up on him then," Lilith replied as she felt to the part of their base that was like a makeshift healer room.

Once Lilith made her way there, she saw Blazer still on his cot. He was covered in healing patches and bandage wraps, but he was awake and sitting up. When he heard Lilith coming in, he turned to her and started to shrink away. "Who are you…?"

"Hey, easy," Lilith said as she slowly approached him, raising her hands. "I'm Lilith, I'm the one who found you and brought you here to get treated."

"Lilith… oh, I remember you now," he replied, still on edge. "If this is some kind of revenge scheme for what Mel did-!"

"I can reassure you, it's not," Lilith told him.

"Well, how do I know you're not gonna hut me and lock me up again like you already did?" he asked defensively, growling slightly. He did not want to be put in a cage again.

"If I wanted to do that, you would have woken up in a cell rather than here," Lilith told him. "And by the way, you have Emira to thank for healing you."

"Ed's sis?" he asked in surprise. "She helped me?"

"Because she is a Healer," she told him. "That's what she does."

"Oh…" he said as he looked down at his own bandages. "So… what's going to happen to me?"

"I'm not sure yet," Lilith replied truthfully.

"Let's just put him in a doggy cone and drop him off at the Conformatorium. He's caused enough trouble as it is," Vina suggested, but Lilith ignored her.

"Well, whatever you decide what to do with me," he said as he gave her pleading eyes. "Please don't send me back to Hell, back to her…"

"Her?" Lilith asked him.

"My foster mother Cruella De Vil," he told her, shivering at the mention of the name. "I-I can't go back to her, I can't!"

"Then you won't," Lilith tried to assure him. "Even if I had a way to access Hell, I wouldn't send you back."

"Thank Lucifer," Blazer sighed in relief.

"But I can promise to help you however I can," Lilith said, much to Vina's shock.

"Again?!" Vina exclaimed in frustration.

"Help me?" Blazer asked her in disbelief. "After everything me and my so-called friends did, why would you go out of your way to help me?"

"Because… you need it," Lilith replied simply, while Vina just gave a grunt of frustration.

"Where did I even go wrong with you?" Vina muttered.

Blazer looked surprised by this, but at the same time he looked… relieved. "Thank you," he said quietly.

---

Later that night, Lilith was heading to an isolated area in the park. Looking around, she went to a specific statue of a minotaur where she saw a hooded figure.

"Wonderful night we're having?" Lilith asked the figure.

"Just admiring the marble of this statue," he replied before turning and showing his face to her.

"I got your message, Ulrich," Lilith said as he looked around.

"I'm taking a big risk by doing this," he said before handing her a piece of paper. "But I couldn't stop thinking about our last talk. I started asking myself more questions, so I did some more digging and I just wanted to let you know… you were right, about everything," he said as he handed Lilith a piece of paper.

Lilith unfolded the paper and saw that it was describing a spell. It contained a large circle of different colored hues, with a center. When she saw the title of spells, it made Lilith's eyes widen and Vina's as well…

It was a draining spell.

---

Meanwhile, Emily was heading to her newly assigned room. However, she heard someone calling for her.

"Well, well, back from the dead I see," spoke Terra Snapdragon, whom Emily turned around to face. "I was surprised and… happy to hear that you're back and well. I had thought that you had perished by that awful Fae goddess."

"Thank you for your concern, Head Witch Snapdragon," Emily responded respectfully.

"Please, call me Terra," she insisted. "I'm just stopping by to say welcome back. Though, I do wonder, why did you come back? Was it… loyalty? Or ambition?"

"I came back because my sister's dead and I want justice for her," Emily declared as her eyes narrowed. "Especially since I know that Luz Clawthorne is responsible for this. She broke a promise. Now… I'm coming for her."

Terra gave a grin, looking delighted. "Between you and me, I honestly agree. That girl needs to get knocked down a peg or two and I think you are the perfect witch for that job," she said, patting Emily's head. "We can keep this between us, sweetheart."

As Terra left, Emily watched her go, narrowing her eyes at the Head Witch. She then turned to enter her new bedroom, closing the door behind her.

Alone now, Emily let out a sigh. She walked over to her bed and sat down before pulling down her sleeve and looking at her Illusions sigil. After checking, she opened the palm of her hand and summoned a red flame from her hand. And as she stared at the red flame, she realized that it was real. That it wasn't an illusion. She did that.

And it made her smile.

---

Like the Usher song, we've caught up.

We've had originally thought of how Emily will return to the Emperor's Coven, as she just return there out of revenge. But it was thanks to the theories from the readers, we thought it'd be interesting that she came just to help out Lindsay's brother.

This chapter is pretty much a conclusion to a short arc where we focus each of the characters in their own day of the limelight, up to this point. Hence why this chapter is called "Caught Up". Nicole's return has always been a plan for her and Boscha to face off again.

If anyone can take a gander at who were those masked teens with keyblades are… congrats, you're minds have exploded.

And yeah, we did threw in the SSE mentioning the Emo-Teens to Hunter cause it's a way to show that there's no strife between them. And besides, the Emo-Teens are emos, they just hate life more. And also to shut down someone's paranoid worries that some minor characters will come back for revenge which isn't necessary.

Zee's dragon form I've taken inspiration from many dragon designs, specifically inspired by Ember from My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic.

Pretty is the name of Sonya Mera's lion palisman, which we've decided to bring back after disappearing from obscurity.

So how will the heroes deal with this one? What is Emily's scheme this time? Well stay tuned cause this chapter is going on a break, as we'll be tuning in to Helluva Dad.

Now for reviews:

BlueKnight-X2: That's already happened at this point.

Guest: 1) I think you meant Tina, and well… she's got some ghostly powers from her mom side.

Crash X Fusion: Yeah, out of all of Boscha's friend group, Angmar's the only one without any angst. No problems at home as his parents are pretty weird in a Videodrome-like thing going on(that's where the new flesh mantra is from).

OMAC001: Getting warm.

Matteso585: 1) Well we've had some ideas in how she can get reinstated, but we figured this turn of events will be good for her to be back in the team. 3) Eh, probably not. He's got Mr. Krabs-level of greed… or David Zaslov.

Xndelongchamps: You can do that.

Darroq: The Inner Demon doesn't take over bodies. He just influence people into doing harm to themselves. He does not have body possession, he just got lucky with Puck that one time since his dust meld with the mist in the Forest of Fear. As for Felicity… yeah, the Emperor's Coven would probably cover it up since she's still useful to them. Even if she's exposed, they'd still use her.

Ultimate-drax: His time will come soon

Shuffollower: Honestly, I think Terra wouldn't even bother to tell Emily her true heritage, cause she's that much of an evil bitch.