"Come on, Gus, move those legs! We're almost there!" Willow exclaimed.
Gus was about to pass out. After Willow had recovered from Hunter's paralyzing attack she seemed to have transformed into a war machine: she had hardly said a word anymore, but on the contrary she started running towards Mirkwood to reach Grometheus' portal. Why she was doing that, Gus didn't know; and he wasn't sure Willow knew it either. "Wait... wait, please! I'm out of breath!" he exclaimed, no longer having the strength to run after her.
But Willow grabbed his arm and dragged him. "You'll rest when this will be over! Now move!"
Gus bit his lip. He couldn't tell whether Willow was more angry or worried; most likely the second. Maybe she hoped that by eliminating Grometheus there would be a better chance of seeing Hunter alive again... and in a certain sense Gus hoped so too, even if he knew that fighting Belos was a death sentence regardless. They both knew that Hunter would almost certainly never come back to them... but still they continued to hope for it, and Willow in particular.
When they reached the entrance to Mirkwood, however, they stopped in amazement: they could in fact see Grometheus flailing furiously trying to hit what looked like a child dressed in pajamas, who was throwing... blue stars? Were those stars? The child's blows didn't seem to have much effect on Grometheus, but the monster still seemed annoyed by them. "And who is that?" Willow asked confused, not understanding what a child was doing here... even though that was clearly not a normal child.
Gus looked closely and noticed that the boy's face was painted (it was a painting, right? Or was it his real skin?) as if it were a crescent moon, which immediately made him think of something: "It could be... the Collector?" he murmured, remembering that the crescent was one of the symbols associated with him.
Willow raised an eyebrow. "The Collector? That child?" she exclaimed in surprise. "Why is he fighting Grometheus? Aren't they supposed to be allies?"
"There has been a change of factions" a voice next to them said; Willow and Gus turned, and saw that Edric and Emira had appeared from the woods next to them, both a little battered but still alive and well.
"You two!" Gus exclaimed as soon as he saw them. "Are you okay? We thought Amity tore you to shreds!"
"Yeah... you missed a few things" Edric said. "Long story short, we managed to bring Amity to her senses, but our mother came and mind-controlled her, sent her, me and Emira to do the ritual to summon the Collector, Luz got some sort of superpower from King, the ritual for the Collector is completed, and... I don't know the rest, Luz must have used her sweetness to bring the Collector to our side like she does with everyone"
"Yes, we saw them fly together above the window, then head back towards Grometheus, and then the Collector started fighting that monster" Emira concluded her brother's story. "Maybe we'll get lucky and the Collector will be able to defeat Grometheus..."
"I don't think so. Life magic is weaker than dark magic, so the Collector is weaker than Grometheus" Willow murmured, and the facts seemed to agree with her: the Collector was in fact having serious difficulty, while Grometheus didn't even seem tired. But that wasn't what was bothering Willow right now. "But... if the Collector was summoned, it means that someone obtained his essence... who is it?"
"Um..." Edric and Emira bit their lips, but they didn't need to answer: what looked like an emerald comet flew over Bonesborough and stopped in the air, revealing itself to be an Odalia enveloped by a green aura surrounded by small blue sparks, on whose body were tied some ribbons that kept the rather battered Lilith and Eda imprisoned.
Gus' head dropped in defeat. "I swear, I'll never say 'it can't get any worse' again in my life"
Odalia looked down on the town of Bonesborough. Her eyes were shining more than usual. "Tsk. We would have already finished everything by now if it hadn't been for all this interference" she grumbled, but then an evil smile appeared on her face and a bluish fire began to form in her hand. "Well, it doesn't matter. I've never been a fan of life magic, but I admit that it's really intoxicating... I'm still using the power of a supreme being. I almost regret not having opponents on my level..."
"Excuse me, can you please kill us first and then do the villain monologue?" Eda murmured. Even though he had several bruises on his face, he had not lost his fighting nature. "Your voice is really annoying"
"Oh, come on, why should I kill you now? You don't want to miss out on all the fun, do you?" Odalia replied, and then she added in a much more threatening and sadistic voice: "You two fairies have been a problem for me for too long. You will forgive me if instead of giving you the final blow now I prefer to have a little fun with you when this story is over. It's over. Believe me, I have a whole carnival of horrors ready for you two". The witch raised her finger towards one of the mirrors that were reflecting the airship's light, chasing away the Abominations. "Let's see if I remember correctly... that was the guy you had a certain feeling with, right, Eda?"
The fairy's eyes widened as she realized she was aiming for Raine. "Don't you dare...!"
"Too late" Odalia told her with a sneer, and what looked like a spinning star shot out of her hand. Raine fortunately noticed the danger in time and they jumped down from the tower where they were, jumping from one ledge to another with the agility of an ibex, an instant before the top of the building was reduced to ashes.
Eda's eyes flashed. "You really are disgusting!" she screamed.
"Yes, I know. Thanks for reminding me" Odalia replied without the slightest remorse, then she became serious: "Well, now I don't have time to play. This ritual must end as soon as possible!". She raised her finger towards the glowing balloon: "Sorry if I break your toys, 'dear husband', but I warned you not to get in my way!"
A beam of blue light exploded from her palm and hit the light-emitting orb, causing it to explode; the giant balloon trembled, but fortunately it didn't get punctured and avoided falling, but the light it emitted still disappeared, throwing Bonesborough back into darkness and giving free rein to the Abominations again.
Willow, Gus, Edric and Emira had watched everything from a distance with furrowed eyebrows and a big lump in their throats. "Okay... does anyone have any ideas about how we can stop a witch that not even the combined strength of two fairies could defeat?" Edric said in a small voice.
Just then what looked like a blue shooting star fell a short distance from them; as soon as the dust cleared they could see the Collector get up again. He looked very tired and judging by the way he was moving Grometheus must have hit him in the stomach. The four kids rushed to help him; the Collector seemed surprised by their sudden intervention, so much so that he wasn't even sure what to do. "Are you okay?" Willow asked him.
"Um... yes... thanks? That's what they say among mortals, right?" the Collector murmured quite unsurely. "You were kind, but you don't have to worry about me. I'm a superior being, I can go back to fighting now"
"Well, a little help certainly never hurts" Gus replied. "Look... can you tell us what happened to Luz?"
"Huh? Are you her friends?" the Collector immediately seemed interested. "The last time I saw her, she was with King and she was entering the mind of that young witch"
The four kids' eyes widened. "Okay, better not ask questions. You'll explain everything to us later" Willow said, preferring to avoid blowing her brains out with any explanations. "Anyway... you're one of us now, right?"
"Yes. Luz was right, what we're doing is wrong!" the Collector replied determinedly.
Despite the situation, none of them could help but smile a little. It really seemed that Luz had once again implemented her extraordinary ability to make her way into the hearts of even the most reluctant. "If so, then you should stop her!" Willow said pointing to Odalia in the distance. "She is destroying our defense, and this will allow the Abominations to bring more fear to Grometheus and make him pass through the portal..."
"I know, but I can't! If Grometheus stops focusing on me, he will definitely attack Luz and King! I don't want them to get hurt!" the Collector replied with a slightly trembling voice.
The four kids understood his reasons; after all, they didn't even want Luz and King to get hurt, but if they were near the portal then Grometheus would have attacked them for sure if no one had attracted his attention. It was at that point that Gus had an idea: "Well, let's help each other out then! We all have faith in Luz and whatever she's doing right now, so let's let her do it and make sure there's no interference! Collector, if you care about keeping Grometheus busy, then we can take care of Odalia, so that monster gets no more fear! We just need... a little magic! Can you give us your essence like you did with her?"
But the Collector shook his head. "I can only share a fragment of my soul at a time. If I overdid it, I would shrivel up and dissolve"
"Well... then just give us powers!" Emira said. "We know a djinn, Darius, who could grant powers with a wish. And djinn are made of life magic, and you are life magic!"
The Collector nodded, suddenly more jovial. "Oh, yes, I can do that! I can give you any power you want. But you still won't be able to stand up to someone who possesses my essence"
"Unless we outsmart her" Gus said with a smirk. "We just have to imitate what Adrian and Terra did! Just give some of us the power to create illusions, and others the power to grow plants! We can coordinate these abilities and we can confuse Odalia enough that we can at least keep her busy for a while!"
The Collector clapped his hands as if satisfied. "So be it! To which of you should I give the illusions and to which the plants?"
"Give the plants just to me" Willow said with a strange light in her eyes. "It's better if only one of us carries out the physical attack, or we risk clashing with each other. The others will worry about creating the stage"
Gus suspected that at that moment Willow had a great desire to hit someone to vent, but he couldn't deny that his reasoning made sense. "Yeah, that sounds like a good idea. Do you agree, guys?"
Edric and Emira nodded in unison. "That's it! Come on, let's go annoy mom a little!"
"Well, looks like you're all in agreement! That's it!" the Collector said snapping his fingers. Immediately Willow, Gus, Edric, and Emira felt as if a volcano had just erupted in their chests, and a strange heat began to course through their veins. "Good, then you can go to do your part. I'm counting on you, friends! We're friends now, right?" the Collector told them, and then he darted back towards Grometheus without waiting for their response.
The four kids looked at each other for a moment; then Willow raised her hand; in front of her a small vine appeared, growing into a two meter high vine. "Well... it looks like it actually worked. Let's go!" she said, sitting on the vine and motioning for the others to do the same, and then the plant rose up on its roots and began to run towards Bonesborough.
In the meantime, Odalia was busy destroying one by one all the mirrors that Darius had placed with the aim of countering the Abominations; even though they were no longer a problem now that there was no light, she still wanted to make sure that there wasn't the slightest chance of anyone causing more trouble for her. It was at that point that she felt a strange magical energy behind her, and saw a large plant composed of strange fruits similar to balloons growing right in the middle of the city square; the fruits aimed at her and suddenly opened, spitting out jets of water. The witch acted instinctively and immediately protected herself with a shield. "What the...?"
Edric and Emira appeared from behind the plant and moved their hands together, creating a perfect circle; as soon as they did, reality seemed to distort before the witch's eyes, and the town seemed to go upside down. "An illusion...? Since when do you have powers like that?" Odalia murmured in confusion, but this confusion didn't prevent her from thinking clearly and to avoid any danger she raised her hand and generated a blue flame in the place where she had seen the plant an instant before, so that it couldn't7 spit out any more jets of water. But even though she clearly hit something, a bucket of water came crashing down on her from above; her instinct warned her in time and she conjured up protection, but still some of the cold liquid ended up on her, causing burns all over her body. "ARGH! WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO!?"
The witch's power exploded in every direction, creating a shockwave that knocked Edric and Emira as well as Willow and Gus to the ground, extinguishing the illusion for an instant. This was how Odalia understood their plan: the two twins had in fact deliberately made the first plant invisible only after the first attack so that she would focus on that precise point, while instead Willow, hidden by Gus, had created another plant behind it her and raised a large amount of water with its branches to attack her from behind. "Edric and Emira Blight, you two are in so much trouble!"
"Sorry, mom, but this time you went too far!" Emira answered her with Edric's assent, and they both again created an illusion around her; several copies of themselves formed in every direction, preventing her from understanding which ones were the right ones, while instead Gus hid Willow again. Odalia's eyelid quivered in anger, and she again sent out a shockwave to break the illusion, but this time the kids were ready, and Willow protected them with her soles. With one swift movement the girl's vines wrapped around the witch, but green fire emerged from her mouth and burned them to ash. But another vine splashed some water at her again, burning the right side of her face.
When Odalia opened her eyes again, her pupils were flashing. "Ok... now I'm tired of this childish behavior!" she shouted, and she raised her arms upward; the road split under the kids' feet, turning into several stones that began to swirl around her with a hurricane; the four kids lost their base of support and found themselves spinning in the air. Willow tried to create a plant for her to grab, but both she and Gus and the twins were moving so fast that it was very difficult to catch them.
Odalia made them fly very high, and then the stones stopped and so did the kids; Gus tried to create an illusion to hide them, but the witch was quicker and locked all four of them in a cage made of all the swirling rocks. "There, now stay inside there" Odalia snapped. "I'll make sure to teach you a lesson as soon as this is over... WHAT!?"
Alador's giant balloon suddenly appeared next to them and emptied itself, throwing out a good part of the gas it contained, which broke the cage of stones and threw them away, while instead the boys did nothing to themselves thanks to a protection made with thousands of vines that wrapped around them. Alador had in fact noticed the situation and noticed that his children were in danger; so, despite not having much of a chance, he diverted the balloon towards them. Normally he would never have been able to get close enough to do anything, since Odalia would have pushed him away first, but luckily Gus had noticed him before anyone else and created an illusion to hide him, and then told Willow to protect them from the 'impact. A series of fortuitous coincidences that had allowed the Blight patriarch to free the four kids. "Go, dad! You're finally making yourself useful!" Edric exclaimed with a laugh as Willow created a large flower underneath them for them to land safely.
"Alador, won't you stop being an idiot!?" Odalia growled, and green fire exploded from her fingers, hitting the ball squarely and hurling it away; fortunately Alador had foreseen this eventuality and diverted the balloon towards the countryside, and he jumped out with a parachute before it crashed to the ground.
Edric and Emira moved their hands together again, and created an illusion that enveloped the entire area where they were, imprisoning Odalia in a sort of kaleidoscope of colors that disoriented her quite a bit; Willow took the opportunity to hurl dozens of thorny plants at her, but the witch responded by emitting lightning from her hands and frying them all in an instant. But she didn't have time to do anything else because a fist landed right on her cheek, followed by a bottle of water that exploded directly on her face, burning it, making her scream in pain.
Raine hadn't stood by and watched: after fleeing from Odalia's first attack they had turned back, and as soon as they noticed an opportunity they intervened. They had climbed onto one of the plants and used their agility on each of them to avoid the witch's lightning, hidden by Gus' illusions, and then they had hit her first with a kick and then with some water. At that point they had pulled out a knife and cut the ribbons that imprisoned Eda and Lilith; only then did they remember that they were at least ten meters high and they had risked falling, but fortunately Eda had caught them on the fly and brought them to the ground safely. "I thought I would be the one to carry you down like a princess" Raine said a little embarrassed.
"Tsk! Keep dreaming, Rainestorm" Eda replied with a small smile, which however clearly showed the gratitude she felt for them.
Odalia made a furious noise. "Okay, how many more of you assholes do I still have to fight before you decide to stop interfering!?" she growled. "You really are..."
At that moment, what sounded like an explosion was heard; a column of purple magical energy erupted above Mirkwood, so violently that the clouds in the sky shifted. Everyone looked towards that point in amazement, including Odalia herself who had widened her eyes. "Mittens...?"
That's how in this AU Willow, Gus and the twins get their powers (which would also be the right moment since in the next arc they will have to face Belos, and going against him without the slightest power would have been quite suicidal... not that now I don't either still, but at least they have that extra half chance). In the canon they already had them, but here they get them thanks to the Collector (who, possessing the same magic as the djinn, also has the same powers, or rather, has superior ones) and because Gus remembers the previous clash with Adrian and Terra and understands that they can beat Odalia with cunning rather than brute force