While Willow and Gus were out looking for a solution, Luz and Vee had spent their time alone in the cell getting to know each other better; Since they would soon become part of the same family, they both wanted to know as much as possible about each other. After all, it was important for two good sisters to have dialogue, right? So they sat down opposite each other and began to tell each other about their respective lives. Vee had returned to her more 'human' appearance, despite Luz having assured her that there was no need; but despite knowing that the puppet didn't care that she was a basilisk, Vee still didn't feel very comfortable being seen in her true form.
Vee didn't think it was possible, but she was surprised by the amount of adventures Luz had had. She wasn't sure how many of them were true and how many of them the puppet was making up entirely, especially the part about how she'd grown her nose until it stuck out the window, but the story was so rich in detail that it made it was hard not to believe it... and the shiver that had gone through Luz's body when she had told that specific part let Vee understand that she wasn't joking at all. However, even if that was definitely the most incredible part, the rest of the story was certainly not trivial either. "Did you really almost get burned by some circus freaks to save a guy you didn't know and who even tried to use you?"
Luz scratched the hair on the back of her neck. "Well... I admit it wasn't a great idea at the time... but even if Adeghast wasn't a good person I couldn't let him die in front of me"
Vee wanted to ask her 'are you stupid or what?', but she couldn't. After all, that behavior was exactly what she would have expected from someone like Luz, who didn't care about sharing a cell with one of the most dangerous creatures in the world and who had even proposed to her to become her sister. That was Luz: a mischief and a naive girl, but with a heart of gold deep down... very deep down.
Vee realized that Luz had experienced more adventures in the span of a few days than she, a basilisk, had experienced in her entire life. Vee's life had always been bad and she had always felt like she was perpetually on the guillotine, but from the outside it was still pretty dull: all she and her aunt had ever done was go from town to town, disguise themselves, steal everything they can and then escape with the loot before anyone could realize that they were basilisks. The strategy was always the same: Vee pretended that her aunt was old and sick and asked someone for hospitality in exchange for the promise that she would work. And so she had done every time, doing every type of job, from taking care of farm animals to being a shop assistant. Unlike Luz, Vee didn't mind working at all; in fact, she wouldn't have minded at all stopping in some village and earning her living honestly. But her aunt had never wanted this, always looking for new opportunities to earn more, and so had always dragged her away with or against her will. It wasn't uncommon for her to make her feel inadequate or use guilt to get Vee to obey her, and she even hit her a couple of times. And so Vee had never been able to stay in one place long enough to have friends or even acquaintances, and her life had always been just arriving in a village, doing the usual act, stealing something and then running away, and nothing else. In a way it was a really boring, repetitive and sad life. And compared to Luz's, who had instead experienced one new adventure after another, it seemed even more boring, repetitive and sad.
"So that's how it is…" Luz murmured after Vee explained to her in broad terms how she had lived her life. "No offense, Vee, but your aunt is a real bitch"
"No offense. I understood that a long time ago too" Vee answered her, but her body still tensed as she spoke.
"You'll see, when you meet my mom, things will change!" Luz tried to cheer her up. "She's not like that, she's sweet and kind. She never gets angry even at my bad actions, and I really did a lot of them to her; you can be sure that she will never get angry with you if you have an opinion different from hers, and she will certainly never hit you"
Vee let out a smile. "Your mom seems really… sweet"
"Oh, she is. I assure you, she will make you happy. She makes everyone happy" Luz said smiling back.
Vee felt her heart warm. She had always taken for granted that there would never be anyone in the world ready to accept her, but instead there seemed to be not only a puppet ready to be her sister but also a woman ready to be her mother. Vee kept repeating in her head that she shouldn't delude herself, that she shouldn't believe all of Luz's words before they would have come true, because then if it hadn't happened she wouldn't have been too bad... but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't. Luz's enthusiasm and sweetness were contagious, and really made her feel like they were truly sisters already.
"Look, stop thinking about your aunt" the puppet told her at one point. "Don't tell me these bad things. Rather... what did you do before? When you didn't live with your aunt but with your parents?"
Vee's face darkened for a moment. Luz realized that she had been very inappropriate. "Uh... I'm sorry, I... I just wanted to... You don't have to do this unless..."
"No, no, it's okay" Vee sniffed. "Remembering them hurts me... but you're right, good things happened to me with them, not just bad things. And I don't mind telling you about them"
Luz looked a little surprised, but smiled and remained silent waiting for her to tell her. Vee didn't know what was happening to her: since her parents were gone she had never even wanted to think about them, because it hurt too much to remember those happy moments that could no longer return... and yet it was enough for her look at Luz's face to feel encouraged to open that door she had kept sealed for so long and face what was inside. It was as if Luz, with her mere presence, had the power to instill courage and confidence in people's hearts. "My father... he had yellow skin and white spots like mine, and his ears were similar to the fins of a catfish. His eyes had blue irises and completely black pupils, and the fins on his back, head and tail were dark brown. He had extremely sharp teeth with which he could shred a piece of wood and reduce it to sawdust in a matter of seconds. When I was only four years old, he took me to a remote swamp and taught me to swim there. Together we had done somersaults, jumped like dolphins, and we had even had a competition to see who could catch the most fish. That time I even got scared: while I was swimming I moved a little away from him and a crocodile tried to to attack me, but dad jumped on him and absorbed his life force, immobilizing him. Poor dad... mom was furious with him when she found out what had happened. She made him sleep outside the tent for a week... you know, we traveled continuously, so we moved around with a sort of cart and when we wanted to sleep we pitched a tent and slept there all together. Although there were a few times that mom and dad would stay together outside the tent for a while before coming to sleep and forbid me to follow them... they said it was because they were trying to give me a little sibling, but they never wanted to explain how they were doing it, and they always told me I would understand when I was older"
"And now that you're older, have you understood?" Luz asked her. She too was curious about how basilisks were born.
"Well, actually, no… I never asked my aunt and she never told me about it" Vee replied. "I know that little basilisks are born from eggs, and that the mother creates the eggs, but I have never understood how she creates them or what role the father has in all this. But I remember that once, when I was five years old, I woke up for a moment and peeked out of the tent, and I saw my father standing on top of my mother and he was moving like he was jumping, and from the way he was breathing he seemed pretty tired. So I guess the purpose of the dad is to hit mom's belly until she spits out an egg, a bit like when someone swallows something that gets stuck in their throat and you have to hit them to make them spit it out"
"Wow... it seems complicated" Luz commented. "When we return to my mother we should ask her to explain to us. She is an adult, she will surely know how to do these things. And if she doesn't know either, we will ask Eda: she is a fairy, she knows everything about magical creatures!"
Vee nodded. It actually wasn't a bad idea. Then something came to her mind: "And you? What's your father like? So far you've only told me about your mother"
"Oh, that's because I don't have a father, I only have my mom. She is the one who made me" Luz replied.
"Uh… I see" Vee murmured. Evidently puppets, even animated ones, were born differently from basilisks and didn't need both parents.
"And your mother? I told you about my mom, but you didn't tell me about yours. Up until now you've only talked about your dad. What was she like?" Luz asked her.
Vee cracked a smile. "She was... sweet, just like yours. She had red skin and darker spots than mine, and her fins were sharper and dark red, and her ears were identical to mine even if they were from another color. Her eyes had green irises and like my father her pupils were also completely black. When I was little and I was afraid of the dark, she always sang me the lullaby, and every time she invented a different one. She had the sweetest voice, more melodious than you could ever imagine. And when she and dad went to some town in disguise to work and earn something, she always gave me a big hug and told me never to leave the tent and not to talk to strangers... and she assured me that in the evening she would come back and bring me an apple, or a cake, or a lollipop... and every time she kept her promise... she came back to me and always had something in her hands... always... except that... that..." her voice died in her throat, and no matter how much her lips continued to move, not a sound emerged from her mouth again.
Luz grabbed her hand; the basilisk made a sound of surprise at the touch, but she didn't move away. "It's okay, Vee. That's enough" the puppet told her. "You were already strong enough to tell me these things. You don't need to go any further. You'll finish to tell me your story another time"
Vee trembled slightly. She hated appearing so fragile, but in front of Luz it was as if all the armor she had built up over the years was cracking and breaking until it crumbled. The mere touch of that puppet's fingers was like a shock wave that crashed on her heart, creating loopholes through which all the sadness that she had contained and buried until that moment began to flow out. Before she knew it her eyes were filled with tears and sobs were coming out of her mouth. Luz said nothing at that scene: she simply approached her and pulled her into a hug again. Vee couldn't believe that something made of such hard and angular wood could be so warm and comfortable at the same time. "Thank you" she whispered.
"Well... that's what sisters do, right? They support each other in bad times" Luz replied with her usual sweetness. Vee smiled and started to hug her back, but the next moment there was a 'SCATASBRANG!' that rang throughout the prison. Luz and Vee looked at each other confused. "Um… is this a common thing here?" the puppet asked.
"No, not at all" Vee said, standing up and walking towards the bars of the cell. More explosions rang out from outside the corridor. "I've never heard..."
Under the astonished gaze of the two, a guard flew across the corridor as if he had just been fired from a cannon. Other guards followed him shortly after, smashing themselves on the walls and rolling on the ground with at least four or five broken bones, while flashes of red light continuously appeared from the point from which they were thrown. Very soon the guards stopped flying across the corridor, but instead did so by running: "Run! He fights like a demon! I'm not paid enough for this!"
Luz and Vee weren't understanding what was happening, but suddenly a person appeared in front of their cell. It was a guy wrapped in a white cloak and with a golden mask on his face, who was holding a staff on which there was a red orb that emitted an evil light. Vee and Luz stepped back when the stranger turned towards them and instinctively shook hands, but then a familiar voice exclaimed: "There they are, it's them! Luz, Vee, don't worry, he's on our side!"
Luz and Vee's eyes widened when they saw Willow, Gus, and the red cardinal-shaped Palisman emerge from beneath the man's cloak. "What are you doing? And who is that?" Luz exclaimed.
Even though the man's face was covered by a mask, Luz could still feel his gaze on her. For a moment she shivered: she felt as if the person in front of her was studying her and considering what to do with her, a bit like a wolf licking his chops after finding a rabbit. Luz clearly noticed the man's grip tighten around his staff and the orb above it vibrate slightly. For an instant she thought he would attack her, but then the guy didn't bat an eyelid. "You're slow on the uptake, huh, talking puppet? Your friends just told you that I am on your side and I've spent the last ten minutes bashing all these half-asses who dare to call themselves guards, so in your opinion what are we doing?" he asked her rhetorically. "We're breaking you out, dumbass! Now stand at the sides of the cell if you want to keep all your body parts in their current position"
Luz wanted to ask for explanations, and judging by the look on Vee's face she too would have appreciated some more information, but they obeyed the stranger's orders anyway. And they did well, because the next moment the guy lowered his staff and a flash of energy emerged from the red orb that exploded not only the iron bars, but also the entire wall on the opposite side of the cell, opening a hole towards the outside through which a grown man could have passed. "What... what did you do!?" Luz exclaimed.
"I created a shortcut" the stranger replied entering the cell without appearing to be in the least shaken by what had just happened.
"Sorry, but if you could blow up the wall, why didn't you do it from the start instead of making your way through the prison all by yourself?" Gus asked him.
The stranger remained silent for a moment, and Luz, despite the mask, was sure that he was embarrassed. "Uh... and miss the chance to teach these ridiculous guards how to fight? A little training won't hurt me"
"I my opinion you just didn't think about it" Willow said smugly.
A tremor ran through the stranger. "Silence, cricket! As if you could understand my great deeds! Don't think about it, tsk... I could never make such a mistake! It was all planned!"
Willow rolled her eyes. It was clear that the guy hadn't even thought about the possibility of blowing up the wall until that moment. But since they were technically still in the middle of a prison break, she decided it was best to avoid arguing. "Luz, Vee, this is Hunter. I know it doesn't seem like that, but I can assure you that behind this mask there is a kid like you"
"Hey! I'm not a kid and I'm older than them! Much older! I'm already... sixteen!" Hunter exclaimed, then he lowered the staff and placed it under his legs. "Enough chatter, come here now!"
"Here... where?" Vee asked.
"On the staff, that's obvious! I'm getting you out of here before anyone who actually knows how to fight comes along" Hunter answered.
Luz and Vee looked at each other dubiously, and then at Willow and Gus, who shrugged and gestured for them to obey. Albeit reluctantly they climbed onto the staff, and as soon as they were above that it began to fly and in a flash they passed through the hole in the wall and found themselves several tens of meters above the town. "Wow! Can this thing fly?" Luz exclaimed. "Who are you? A wizard, or maybe a sorcerer?"
"This staff can do many things," Hunter replied. "And no, I'm not a wizard or a sorcerer. I'm just a hunter"
Luz expected that the guy was joking, but when she realized he was serious she laughed. "Seriously? You're a hunter and your name is Hunter?"
"I didn't decide this, okay!?" the guy responded with a growl. "Now shut up, I need to concentrate! I need to find a safe place where we can talk calmly and I can then collect my share... uh? What is it?" he asked, looking at the red cardinal-shaped Palisman, who was chirping something. "Do you know a safe place? I hope for you it will be so. Lead the way"
Luz didn't like what she was hearing. "Guys, what is he talking about? What should he collect from us? And why can he talk to that Palisman?"
"It's a long story. And by the way, that Palisman's name is Flapjack" Willow replied. "Let me explain..."
Again, in case anyone didn't realize, the design of Vee's parents is also present in The Owl House canon: they are two of the basilisks with which she is shown escaping from the Emperor Coven in a flashback. Just like the greater basilisk we don't know if they were actually related, but given that they literally gave their lives to save hers, it's pretty obvious that there was a very strong bond between them.