After Luz returned reporting that Hunter had finally been convinced, Masha began making preparations to implement their plan. It had to be admitted that despite being a very young girl, she was a very good leader: all the members of the resistance listened to her without even needing to receive explanations, since her charismatic voice was enough to give them the impression that she knew perfectly well what she was doing.
Luz noticed that Vee was staring at the whole scene with a lot of intensity. "Is it just me or do you seem strangely interested in Masha? What happened between you and her while I was gone?"
Vee blushed rather brightly. "Don't get any weird ideas, we just talked. Oh, and by the way, Masha's pronouns are they/them"
Luz was silent for a moment. "Uh... really?"
"Yes, they told me so themselves" Vee replied.
Luz scratched her head in embarrassment. "I guess I'll have to apologize to her... even though I never actually mispronounced her, I took for granted that her pronouns were she/her" she said to herself, but then she immediately returned to the main topic: "But that doesn't change anything ! What did you two talk about?"
"Well... we talked about ourselves... I told them something about myself, and vice versa..." Vee answered.
"Oh, so you've already started to get to know each other thoroughly..." Luz said with a smirk.
"S-Stop it!" Vee said embarrassed more than ever. "I'm just interested in them, I'm impressed by their leadership skills"
"Uh, sure. And when I came back and found the two of you conversing strangely close to each other, and your fingers seemed to be casually reaching for their hand… was you impressed with their leadership skills there too?" Luz prompted with a even bigger smirk.
Vee pushed her away. "Mind your own business!" she exclaimed, but the only result she obtained was to make her laugh even more.
To be honest, Vee herself wasn't sure how she felt about the young resistance leader. In fact, she no longer knew how she felt about anyone: in the last few hours she had received much better treatment from strangers than from her aunt in all her life. It was possible that she was confusing her sense of gratitude and the desire to feel accepted with something different. Of course, this didn't explain why she felt very different things about Masha than she felt about Luz... but in any case, she didn't want to get het hopes up. And then it was quite obvious that Masha didn't see her as anything other than a nice acquaintance, so it wasn't worth thinking about such things. Even if she was a little sorry that she hadn't managed at least once to sink her hands into that wonderful raven hair or to touch that skin that was like...
She shook her head vehemently. Okay, now things were getting weird. She had to stop thinking about it right now and focus on what was about to happen.
The preparations lasted all night; the next day, all the members of the resistance abandoned the Bat Queen's lair for the first time in months, who greeted them and wished them good luck. All of them would have preferred the giant bat to have joined them, but this wasn't her fight after all, and besides, her presence would have been almost useless since all it would have taken was a whistle to knock her out. They sneaked into the town, where several guards were patrolling the streets: apparently Vee wasn't mistaken, her aunt had already unleashed her henchmen to find her. Fortunately, these guards, despite being very physically strong, had more or less the intelligence quotient of a coconut, and in fact sneaking into the town was very easy. Once there, everyone spread out and reached their designated positions. In the end, only Hunter, Masha, Vee, Luz, Gus, Willow, and Flapjack remained together. "I'll hide in that steeple" Hunter said, climbing onto his staff. "As soon as the Inspector is unmasked, I'll take care of her. Don't interfere with the fight, you'll only be in my way" and with that he flew off with Flapjack in tow.
"Ugh, what an exhibitionist. Okay, if he wants to do everything himself, so be it" Masha grumbled, then they looked at Vee. "Are you still sure you want to be bait? You don't have to if you don't want to"
Vee scratched her head dubiously, but she answered anyway: "Don't worry, I'll be fine. You... just think about saving your town, okay?"
Masha seemed to have second thoughts, but then they lowered their head. "Okay. But at the first hint of danger, run away immediately. Don't play hero"
"Don't worry, Masha! I'm with her! Escaping from danger is my special skill!" Luz said wrapping her arm around Vee's neck.
"And we're here too" Willow and Gus said emerging from Luz's collar. "It may not seem like it, but this isn't our first rodeo. If anyone tries to attack Vee or Luz puts herself in danger as we're pretty sure she will, we'll be there to help them"
"Hey!" Luz exclaimed indignantly.
"Sorry, Luz, but you're the living example of a trouble magnet" Gus told her.
"And most of them are because of your attitude" Willow reminded her.
Both Masha and Vee snickered at the squabble. Even in anticipation of what was about to happen, that puppet still managed to make them smile again, even if indirectly. "Okay, then I'll leave you two alone. As soon as the building has been emptied I'll go and get the real Inspector" Masha said.
"Are you sure you can find her?" Vee asked her. She had described to Masha in which room her aunt had locked the real mistress of the town, but there was no guarantee that Masha would find her or that during those months her aunt had not locked her elsewhere.
"Don't worry, I have a good sense of direction. And once in school we studied the architecture and construction scheme of the buildings in this city. It wasn't my favorite subject, but I remember it well enough, enough to be able to navigate the corridors" Masha replied.
"Heh heh! See, Luz? These are the results of diligent study!" Willow took the opportunity to tell the puppet.
Luz glared at her. "Stop it! I understand, I was wrong not to go to school! You don't need to hold it against me at every opportunity!"
Masha laughed heartily. "Okay. I'll go then" they said, then they looked at Luz and nodded at Vee. "I entrust her to you. Take care of her". And with that they disappeared behind an alley.
Luz smiled. "Well... it seems like they're become quite fond of you, Vee. Maybe you should... Vee?"
Luz noticed that Vee was wringing her hands nervously and that several beads of sweat were rolling down her head. "Uh… oh, sorry, Luz, I wasn't listening"
The puppet's face darkened. "Vee, you heard Masha. You don't have to do it if you don't want to"
"No, Luz, I have to do it. I have to and I want to do it" Vee replied. "Even if my aunt is the evil one, she's still part of my family and I helped her get this far. Even if you keep telling me otherwise, this is my responsibility. So... I want to resolve this once and for all"
But even though she was speaking confidently, her body was shaking like a leaf. Luz put a hand on her shoulder, "Vee... are you sure?"
"Y-Yes. Don't misunderstand, it's not for... my aunt... that my voice shake. I'm nervous for another reason" Vee said, then stared into the puppet's eyes. "Luz… I think it's time I told you how I lost my parents"
Luz was surprised by that sudden declaration. "Really? Right now?"
"Yes. I want that you know and none of us is sure that will come out of all of this alive. I trust you, and... you have the gift of making bad memories sweeter. And I don't want to have secrets with... with my sister" Vee said, wiping away a tear. She realized it was the first time she had called Luz her sister; as much as she tried to resist she ended up accepting it. "It happened when I was about six years old. As I told you, sometimes my family would go to a village or a town to earn money and leave me alone. But one day, they didn't come back; the only one who came back was my aunt, who told me that people had discovered the identity of my mother and father and that they had accused them of killing three people. I know it was false, my mother and father would never harm anyone... but I also knew that no one would believe in basilisks. My aunt and I fled without looking back. I only returned to that town once, when I was nine, and I went to visit their graves; at least the inhabitants had had the heart to give them a burial after hanging them. I brought them some cherry blossoms... they were my mother's favorite..."
Vee froze for a moment when she saw Luz's expression: the puppet's eyes had become wide and shiny and her mouth was slightly open, so little that not even an insect could have fit inside it. She wasn't moving a single facial muscle, if she had any since she was made of wood. Vee scratched her head trying not to let her emotions overwhelm her: "Sorry, it's just... don't get me wrong, it's been years and I've accepted their deaths now... but I've always wondered how the inhabitants of that town had discovered that they were basilisks. I always imagined someone jumping on top of a statue in the middle of a square and pointing an accusing finger at them... and now... I'm here... and I'm about to do exactly this to my aunt... I'm luring her out and I'm going to accuse her of being a basilisk... I mean... I know she deserves to be punished and I want it to be that way, after what she's done I can't ask for her to come let go... but... anyway..."
She didn't know what to say; she was unable to understand her emotions enough to be able to give voice to them. But she didn't need to: Luz's hands rested on her shoulders, and their eyes met. "Vee, you've already been through too much. Forget it and stay here. I'll act as bait instead of you"
Even though Vee's heart was shrouded in darkness, a smile still formed on her face. She couldn't help it: Luz managed to bring light even with the smallest gesture. The name her mother had given her was absolutely appropriate. "Thank you" she murmured, wiping away a tear. "But my aunt won't come out for you, only for me. And I... I want to do this. I'm tired of living in fear. I want to at least try to be a brave person"
Luz raised an eyebrow. "Are you really sure?"
"Yes. I just need you to be by my side and support me" Vee replied, then her smile widened. "Luz, in the unfortunate event that something goes wrong... I want you to know that I am grateful to you. I have started to be happy again since you appeared in my life. I am happy to have been able to call you 'sister' even if for a short time"
Luz shook her head forcefully. "Don't talk nonsense! Everything will be fine today, and you will call me 'sister' until you become old, sick and decadent! Have you started to be happy again? Well, then prepare to spend every other day of your life in happiness! Because I'm not letting you go that easily!" she exclaimed. "Today we will win, and then we will go home and I will introduce you to my mother and Eda, and you will gorge yourself with whatever you want! And then tomorrow we will go to school together and learn many beautiful things!"
Vee was silent for a moment, then she couldn't help but giggle. "I'm pretty sure you'll be the worst student in the class"
"Oh, that's for sure. But you'll be at the best student in the class, so we'll be evenly matched!" Luz replied, and then she pointed a finger at her: "And also... I'll make sure you never miss any opportunity to be even happier again! Which means when everything goes back to normal we'll come back here and you'll ask Masha to go on a date with you!"
Vee blushed and let out a sob. "What? But..."
"No buts! You will!" Luz said. "You've already lost too much of your life, you can't afford to refrain from experiencing new happiness, so you'll ask them out! At most they'll say no!"
Vee hid her face in her hands out of embarrassment, but she still didn't stop smiling. Shr remained in that position for a few moments, then she decided that it was no longer worth holding back and she hugged her new sister tightly. It was the first time she had taken the initiative for one of those hugs and she didn't mind at all. She liked it a little less when Luz took advantage of that hug to pat her on the head. "Oops… did I ruin the moment?" the puppet asked.
Vee glared at her. "Of course you ruined it! You're such a bad girl!" she exclaimed, but she didn't do it in an angry voice.
Luz giggled without showing the slightest regret. Obviously. "Come on. Let's go save this town" she said, holding out her hand.
Vee took a deep breath, then she grabbed the puppet's hand. "Okay. Let's do it!"
The two climbed up a gutter until they reached the roof of a house that overlooked a large square not far from the central building, and there Vee shouted with all her strength: "Aunt! Your niece is right here! Come and pick me up, and let's have a chat!"
In case anyone was wondering, yes, this is a medieval-like world but gender identity and sexuality are considered normal, so no one is surprised if someone is homosexual or identifies as non-binary. Let's make one thing clear: this could NEVER happen in the real world, because things like homophobia, as well as other cancers of humanity such as racism and sexism, are not caused exclusively by society and religion as people like to believe, but are a derivation of our natural instincts. Every life form on Earth has the instinct to fear what is different, or in general what it does not know, because what is not known can potentially be dangerous. That snake slithering in front of you may be harmless, but it may also be poisonous for all you know; therefore natural instinct requires you to avoid it or even kill it. And this also applies between members of the same species: if a member of your pack behaves strangely, then there is a possibility that it has developed a disease, and therefore it should be immediately ostracized or even eliminated. Nature dictates that animals hate everything they don't understand. And we humans, even if we like to think the opposite, are not detached from our natural instincts, we have only mitigated them. Whenever a human sees another person behaving in a completely different way than everyone else, the first instinct he feels is fear and disgust; only later, after understanding it well, can he accept that behavior as normal. This is why throughout our history certain behaviors carried out by minorities have always been ostracized; particularly things like homosexuality. The only way to make homosexuality acceptable to humans is for humans to get used to considering it normal, ergo they are aware of numerous homosexual people around the world, since in that case the natural instinct to fear that behavior would be automatically mitigated, because that thing would no longer be anomalous for our brain; and in fact, coincidentally, homosexuality began to be accepted only after the means of communication were provided to everyone, because now all you have to do is go to the Internet to hear about homosexuality, to the point that now even those who do not tolerate it consider it however an integral part of our society. If things continue like this and there are no interruptions in our technological capacity, it is practically certain that within a few centuries any trace of homophobia will vanish from the face of the Earth, because humans will be used to seeing homosexual people around from an early age and their brain will therefore no longer identify them differently from heterosexuals. But this obviously could not happen in the Middle Ages, because in the Middle Ages people lived in villages or towns of at most a thousand people, and given that homosexuals were still a minority, of those thousand people only one was such, and therefore it was obvious that homosexuals others saw her as someone wrong. And before anyone in the comments tells me that the Greeks and Romans approved homosexuality, no, they didn't: this myth was born from a cultural misunderstanding. First of all, the homosexual stories of Greek heroes that are often used as examples were actually seen as training: the hero had the task of training his students also in sexual practice. But none of those heroes ever married one of his students, much less declared his love. Another mistake, the Greeks made a profound distinction between lust and true love, and homosexuality was considered lust, not true love. To give an example, lust was what pushed Zeus to look for new lovers, but his only true love was his wife Hera; although we translate both terms as "love", because for us the meaning is similar, it was not for the Greeks. If in Ancient Greece one of you had publicly declared that you loved a person of the same sex and wanted to marry them, you would have been treated like a plague victim in the same way as happened in the Middle Ages. So no, the ancient Greeks didn't tolerate homosexuality, at least not in the way we think of it. Therefore a medieval world where homosexuality is tolerated is something impossible realistically speaking; but since this is a fantasy world, just take it for granted that with the presence of magical creatures and with the strong intervention of some of them such as fairies in favor of homosexuality, humans have ended up accepting it anyway.
Ok, I apologize for this little outburst: but I needed it since I have met too many people who don't understand why certain evils afflict humanity and reduce everything to "it's Christianity's fault!". Remember, no problem ever has just one cause, especially those that have been going on for thousands of years.