Luz got to her feet in pain. She felt like she had just been shot from a cannonball. The wood she was made of was hard and hadn't cracked when the greater basilisk struck her, but she could feel the shockwave still vibrating within her body. "Guys... are you okay?"
As if in answer to her question, a familiar buzzing sound appeared near her ears and Willow appeared carrying Gus into the air. "Ugh! Yes, don't worry, Luz" the spider murmured to reassure her. Luckily, when the greater basilisk had sent Luz flying, Willow had had the foresight to grab her friend and fly away immediately, or they would have probably ended up being crushed by the puppet's body. "You, rather?"
"I don't know... I feel like I'm in a blender" Luz replied touching her head. She could clearly feel the wood she was made still vibrating slightly from the remnants of the shock wave. "But... I don't think anything is broken"
Willow and Gus breathed a sigh of relief. When they saw Luz fly away hit by the greater basilisk they feared for a moment that they would see her shatter. "This situation is way beyond us" Willow murmured as she watched Hunter and the greater basilisk continue to fight while Masha provided support from above. "We should go away and leave that monster to them, we're just in the way here and..."
"VEEE!" Luz screamed when she saw the basilisk's body lying nearby, immediately rushing towards her.
"...and obviously no one will listen to me" Willow finished with a grumble, but despite her annoyed tone as soon as they were close enough she jumped onto Vee's shoulder and touched her neck to check for a heartbeat. Yes, she still had it.
"Vee! Come on, get up! We have to leave!" Luz exclaimed as she grabbed the basilisk by the arm and tried to put her on her shoulders, but found that she was far too heavy. "Oh, come on! Work, weak nerd arms!"
At that point Vee finally opened her eyes, albeit with a lot of difficulty. "Ugh... Luz..."
"Oh, good, you're awake! Listen, I think it's best for everyone if we get out of here right now, before... Vee?" Luz was taken aback when the basilisk began to struggle in her hands, though so weakly that she didn't even need to tighten her grip to hold it. "Let me go…" Vee seemed to have venom in her voice. "That bitch... I have to... I have to..."
"Hey, hey, hey, calm down!" Luz exclaimed. "You don't have to do anything! Listen, I know you're angry right now and you have every reason to be, but you can't face her, you've seen her, she's too much stronger than you...!"
"Angry? Angry!?" Vee screamed with tears in her eyes. "She ruined my life! She destroyed my family! I lived in fear, pain and sadness because of her! I never had a friend, I could never go to school, I could never even have a word of comfort or a hug, all because of her! I... I'm not angry, I want... I want..." She couldn't hold back any longer: she burst into tears like a baby and fell dead weight to earth in the throes of sobs.
Luz felt bad seeing her like that. She had no idea what to say to her or how to behave. What could she say to calm a person who had just discovered that she had lost her parents because of her own aunt? Until that moment, Luz hadn't even imagined that such a cruel person could exist in the world: what kind of heartless monster would do something like that to her own family? She looked pleadingly at Gus and Willow, hoping for some help from them, but they were just as speechless as she was. That situation was something they weren't even prepared for at all. In the end Luz simply chose to say everything that was on her mind: "Vee, listen to me, please! Yes, it's all true, your aunt... no, you don't even have to call her that! That greater basilisk ruined your life, but now you can't let her ruin it for you again! If you jump into the fray now she'll slice you up! Pissing you off is exactly what she wants!"
"I... I don't care!" Vee growled as she continued to cry, and tried in vain to get to her feet, but she didn't seem to have the strength to do even that, so she began to crawl. "She has to pay... I can't leave her unpunished..."
Luz jumped on her and grabbed her around the waist, planting her feet on the ground to be able to hold on to her as much as possible. "Vee! If you do it, she'll have won!" she shouted at her. "Think... think about us! If she captures you again, she might use you as a means to deceive Hunter like she did before! Or she might use you as a shield against Masha! Or even against me... you know I wouldn't leave you in her clutches!"
Vee finally froze and stopped trying to wriggle out of Luz's grip. The puppet breathed a sigh of relief, but still she didn't let her go. Maybe it had worked, but she wasn't sure Vee wouldn't try to advance again soon. "But... but I... she... has to..."
The young basilisk didn't have time to say anything else: under her eyes and the terrified ones of Luz, Gus and Willow, the greater basilisk threw a powerful tail against the house above which Masha was standing. The wall cracked and then it began to collapse, and with it the roof; the leader of the resistance found themselves falling with a scream. Hunter started to intervene, but Vee was faster: with a strength that until a few seconds before she didn't seem to possess, she pulled herself up and stretched out her limbs to give herself more push, dragging Luz with her who almost flew away halfway street; as soon as she was under Masha, Vee modified her body and expanded until she became a huge sheet no more than a few centimeters thick, except for her head which remained normal. Masha bounced off her, breaking their fall and, although a little shaken, got up without physical damage. "Urgh… thanks, Vee, you saved my life!" they said.
"Yeah, but warn me next time!" Luz exclaimed, her hair all messed up due to the sudden acceleration earlier.
Vee regained her original form, and although she hadn't suffered much damage, it was clear that blocking the fall of a person with Masha's weight had done her at least some harm, because her back was slightly bent. "Hey, are you okay?" Masha asked her worriedly, grabbing her shoulders to check that she hadn't broken a bone.
"Mph, yes... just a little pain, it will go away soon" Vee said, blushing slightly at seeing the girl worrying about her like that. But that moment of happiness was short-lived because the greater basilisk's laughter, continually interrupted by coughs due to the strain she was putting on her already damaged heart, burst into the square. "Ha ha! Cough! I should have known you'd save that human! A basilisk saving a human... cough... it's like a human saving a steak! Ha ha! You'll make me laugh out loud! You're pathetic!"
"Oh, and shut up! When you fight, you fight. You don't talk!" Hunter exclaimed as he jumped on her head and hit her in several places, bringing her attention back to him; the last thing he wanted was for there to be another interference. Within seconds the two were once again immersed in their deadly dance.
But even though Hunter pushed the greater basilisk away from Vee, it didn't stop her from seeing red. She ground her teeth so loudly that you could hear them from three meters away. She was about to try to jump on the greater basilisk again, but Luz quickly intervened and grabbed her arm, and Masha did so too, and even Gus and Willow grabbed some of the fins on her head in an attempt to hold her back. "Let me go! I have to... I have to at least punch her!"
"Wow, wow, girl, as much as I appreciate the fighting spirit, this is not the place nor the time! You will be able to punch her once Hunter has her pinned down!" Masha exclaimed. "Vee, stop now... you're not like that!"
"What do you know about what I'm like!?" Vee screamed. "You don't know me! And I'm tired of going through everything and never doing anything! I can't stay here and... and wait, like I always have! Like I always have my whole damn life!"
"This is not true!" Luz said. "You weren't always waiting, you just didn't have a chance! That bitch took it all away from you..."
She quickly realized she had made a mistake, because Vee became even more furious and thrashed even harder. "Exactly! She took my chance from me! And now I want to make her pay! She... she must die...!"
"Really? Is this what you want? After you insisted so much that Hunter didn't kill her? After your wooden sister here had to give who knows what kind of speech to that stubborn hunter to convince him?" Masha reminded her. "You're not like that, Vee, you don't really want to kill someone! You never wanted to! It's true, I don't know you, and I don't have the arrogance to say otherwise, but the girl who came into my tent yesterday afternoon wasn't a murderer! She was good, kind, fair, shy, nervous, fearful of others but at the same time courageous, and many other things, but not a murderer! If now you throw yourself into the fray, and even if by miracle If you manage to kill that big snake... this act will haunt you for the rest of your life! Don't let that bitch ruin you even more than she has done so far!"
Vee's body trembled. "But... but my parents... they..."
"They wouldn't want this!" Luz exclaimed. "You told me about them! Your father taught you to swim and played with you, and protected you! Your mother was loving and loved cherry blossoms! Would they want you to kill someone for... for what? To honor their memory? Wouldn't they rest in peace better knowing that you didn't get your hands dirty, that you didn't let that bastard corrupt you to that extent?"
Vee opened her mouth, then she closed it, and then she opened it again and closed it again. She didn't seem to know what to do anymore. But just at that moment Masha let go and took up their bow, and aimed it at the greater basilisk's back. "I'm no champion with this thing, but I've had a lot of practice in the forest. From this distance I can't miss, and she's got her back to me right now. I can hit her right in the heart" they said, then they looked at Vee. "Answer me truthfully, Vee: do you want me to do it?"
The young basilisk looked at Masha in amazement, but the determined look in the girl's eyes showed that he was not joking at all. Even if they had the chance to eliminate the threat once and for all, they wouldn't do so without her consent. Vee watched the greater basilisk continue to fight Hunter, and anger welled up in her heart; she wanted to see her dead, she absolutely wanted it. That woman had done too much harm, both to her and to everyone else. She was a monster. Vee wanted to tell Masha to strike her, to pierce her once and for all, to make her disappear from the face of the earth. The world would have been a better place without her. Yet she couldn't. The voice didn't come out of her mouth.
Why did she hesitate? That monster deserved it. She wanted to get her revenge... she wanted it, right? She looked at Luz's scared and worried look, but found no fear towards the greater basilisk, only fear towards her, or rather for her. Why? It was the greater basilisk who would die, yet it was as if Luz feared that it was her, Vee, who would get hurt. She then looked at Masha, who had their eyes focused on their target, yet Vee still saw a strange light in them, as if at that moment an emotional storm was taking place in the young leader's mind and she was praying to every known and even unknown deity that she didn't told them to shoot the arrow. And even Gus and Willow, who were still holding her by her fins (or at least, they were trying), were staring at her as if they were afraid that at any moment she would start walking on hot coals. Why? Why were they so worried about her? She just wanted to get rid of that greater basilisk that had ruined the lives of so many people... it was the right thing to do... right?
She just had to say it. She just had to say 'do it', and Masha would shoot the arrow. It was her choice, hers alone. The anger in her chest burned like lava, and the pain she felt was even more terrible. She wanted to give vent to all those raging feelings, yet something held her back. Is it possible... is it possible that she didn't really want it? After everything that monster had done? After her parents were... after they were...
Their faces appeared in her mind for an instant, but to her it felt like a century. She remembered their loving gaze, all their sweet words, so in contrast to the cruel and mean ones her damn 'aunt' (she felt bad just calling her that) had always directed at her. And not just her parents... even the smiling faces of Luz, Willow, Gus, Masha, all the members of the resistance, even the grumpy look of Hunter... everyone who looked at her so lovingly, unlike now who just seemed to be afraid for her... Vee looked at the tip of the arrow Masha was holding, and for a moment she tried to imagine it piercing the heart of the greater basilisk... if that had happened... would she have been happy?
"No" she finally whispered with an inhuman effort. "Don't... don't do it. I... I'll be happy to see her die... when the law sentences her to death... but I still don't want... anyone... to become a murderer... because of her..."
The faces of her companions seemed to light up and they sighed in relief. "This is the Vee I knew" Masha said lowering their bow.
"Yeah. This is my sister" Luz murmured as she hugged her. She was out of breath as if she had just run a marathon.
Vee wiped the tears from her eyes. "We have to end it here, now. This story has gone on too long" she said. "Look... if I can sneak up on her... I can rush her and use my power to absorb some of her life energy. She'll be able to counter me as soon as she recovers from the surprise, that's for sure... . but I can guarantee you at least a few seconds to do... whatever you want to do"
"Vee, you don't have to..." Luz tried to tell her, but the basilisk shook her head. "I want to do this. I'm tired of running away, and I'm tired of being afraid of her. I want to end this story now"
Luz wasn't convinced at all, but Masha nodded. "It's okay. I trust you" they told her. "A few seconds is more than enough to sever the muscles and nerves that control movement. But how are you going to sneak up on her?"
"I can do this" Vee replied, and her body twisted into a ball the size of a human head. "As long as the brain is intact, I can reduce the rest of the body to minimal size. If you hide me under your clothes and get closer, she won't notice me"
"Okay, then I'll carry you" Luz said grabbing her, but discovered that the ball had more or less the weight of a block of marble. "Ugh... how much do you weigh!?"
"My transformations don't change my body mass, you know. Even though I've compressed myself to the max now I'm still the same weight as before" Vee replied.
"Ugh... that doesn't work!" Luz gasped, then she had an idea. "Wait... you stretched out your arms earlier; could you do it again and strap yourself to my back like a backpack? And maybe even make a propeller or something that counteracts your weight and makes you easier to carry?"
"I can try" Vee amswered, and her appearance changed again: two long tentacles emerged from the ball and wrapped around Luz's shoulders, and through them she crawled under the puppet's shirt and flattened herself onto her back; after which some fins also emerged and shook, creating a slight upward motion, which allowed Luz to finally manage to lift her even if with a lot of difficulty. "Looks like it's working. Well, let's do it then!" Masha exclaimed, and then they ran to back up Hunter, who although he was fighting well enough was completely inexperienced with Flapjack's powers and couldn't use them properly, and in fact still wasn't able to serious damage their enemy.
Luz took advantage of the moment to approach the greater basilisk, trying not to notice that Vee was hidden under her shirt, but the monster noticed her and roared at her; due to fright, the puppet ended up upside down. "Pff! Ah ah, and you... cough... what would you think you were doing? Ah ah... cough... you're... cough... ridiculous... you don't even know how to fight and... Uh!?"
Taking advantage of the fact that the great basilisk was busy laughing, Vee jumped out of Luz's shirt and without even changing shape she positioned herself firmly in front of the monster's mouth and began to absorb her life energy; a stream of blue flames emerged from the great basilisk's throat and funneled into Vee's gaping mouth. For a moment, the greater basilisk froze completely, as if she had been petrified. "Hunter, now! Target the muscles and nerves of movement!" Masha screamed as they pulled out a knife and lunged at the greater basilisk.
"I had already thought of that myself, but thanks for the suggestion!" Hunter responded, and in turn rushed at the monster and moving Flapjack like a sword he used his beak to cut every possible muscle and nerve he could find. In a matter of seconds he and Masha had transformed the greater basilisk's body into an almost complete sequence of cuts and wounds. The greater basilisk managed to recover from the surprise and freed herself from Vee's grip, making her fall to the ground, but it was too late: an instant later the monster's body became rigid and fell with a thud, unable to move.
Vee returned to her original form and got back to her feet. Her gaze and that of the greater basilisk met for an instant. "Come on... do it! I know you want to do it!" she hissed at her. "Kill me! Be a real basilisk!"
But in response Vee punched her in the eye, making her scream in pain, and then she spat in her face. "Not a basilisk like you!" she answered her.
"Yes! Go like this, Vee!" Luz exclaimed behind her as if she was cheering her on; too bad that the next second the greater basilisk hissed at her, and even if she then failed to move, that brief threat was enough to make the puppet fall to the ground again, which caused the monster to burst into a new outburst of hilarity. "Ah ah... cough cough... look at the kind of... ah ah... cough... idiots... you surround yourself with... you disgust me... cough... AH AH! URGH!"
That final laugh was the last mistake of the greater basilisk's life: her heart, already too damaged and tired, couldn't bear further efforts. With an almost imperceptible pop, a vein tore out, and her chest turned black; the greater basilisk barely had time to let out a strangled sigh and a look of horror, before the life left her eyes forever. Her head fell to the ground, and this time she didn't move again anymore.
It was over.
Vee remained still for a moment observing the corpse of the one she had until recently considered her aunt; then, without even understanding why, she burst into tears. Luz and Masha hugged her and Gus, Willow and even Flapjack, who had returned to his original form, rested on her shoulders and rubbed her face to comfort her. Hunter remained aloof, but even though hidden by his mask, a flicker of pity and sadness passed through his eyes as well.
In the original book, Pinocchio after being released from prison encounters a giant snake blocking his way, which then laughs at the puppet's clumsiness until it tears a vein in its chest and dies. This is clearly a metaphor, given that the snake represents the obstacle (it is practically the devil!) who however hurts himself without realizing it because his own perfidy turns against him. Here it is the greater basilisk that plays a similar role (even if, as I specified, this whole arc after Pinocchio ends up in prison does not exist, I added it to add more characters from The Owl House and make the plot more compelling), and in fact she dies not because she was killed by someone, but because of her own perfidy which turns against her (so in fact what Vee wanted, given that no one became a murderer). Also since a vein bursting with laughter is a bit unrealistic I made Hunter damage her heart during the fight. In The Owl House canon, the greater basilisk in her only appearance was a creature that represented greed and gluttony in their purest form, pursuing the nature of basilisks as magic-consuming creatures, unlike Vee who instead immediately had chosen a different path; here the greater basilisk maintains an almost identical personality, given that as in the canon here too she is a representation of greed and gluttony that don't stop even in front of family ties, and justifies all this by defining it as something natural (precisely "kill, consume and conquer", which are the basis of life forms on Earth). I already warned you that she won't be the only villain to justify their actions like this. Oh, and in case anyone didn't catch the quote, the phrase that Vee shouts at her aunt after defeating her is a reference to the movie Tarzan, where the protagonist shouts practically the same thing at Clayton ("Not a man like you!")