The Luz Clawthorne Saga Presents…
"Good tiding, Boiling Isles! It's the 8th hour in the morning and that means it's the beginning of Autumn Break! The first one since the end of the Era of Belo-"
Zee Drakescale slammed her hand down on the demon radio, canceling the noise. She stretched out in her bed while she let out a yawn. After rubbing her eye, she got up from her bed and looked down on her dresser.
On it were the shattered remains of her mother's oracle stone. Placed in a small glass bowl.
Even if she could somehow put it back together, she wouldn't be able to use it thanks to the Beast-Keeping sigil on her wrist. But at the very least, she was thankful that her friends were able to find the remains.
She felt something jump on her back. Looking at her shoulder, she saw that it was her turtle Palisman. "Oh, good morning, Aqua," she greeted her Palisman, who nuzzled her in response.
As she walked through her room to take a shower, she passed by her mirror. She stopped to look at herself and saw that she was wearing a brown t-shirt with six orange eyes print, cheetah-patterned shorts, and red and blue striped socks. She looked at her own face… and saw how tired she was.
'Tired of this place…'
Downstairs was family breakfast, Zee sat with the rest of her family, eating her griffin eggs and bacon while drinking a glass of orange blood.
"So I hear that the Healing and Plant Covens have appointed new Head Witches," her younger brother, Cross, mentioned to the rest of the family.
"Yeah, Dr. Swan Harwitch was appointed Head of Healing and Mary Regal from the law firm was made Head of Plants," Damien explained. "Both are only temporary fill-ins though. Who knows if we'll even have Head Witches in the future."
"Have you thought about joining the Isles' leadership?" Clair asked him while drinking her coffee "You got along with Raine well enough during the Day of Unity."
"Eh, I'm not really into the government stuff," Damien said. "But, if they ever do need my help, I'm always available."
"Hmm, just as I know you would," Drayden said while turning to Zee. He noted her silence and looked concerned. "Are you alright, Zee?"
"Huh? Oh yeah, I'm good," she replied, looking up at her grandfather. She heard a knock at the door. "I got it!"
She got up and rushed to the door, opening it. She smiled when she saw who it was before turning around. "Cross! Your girlfriends are here!"
"Good morning, everyone," Lindsay said as she was led into the dining room.
"Morning, Cross," Donna said, giving a wave.
"Hey, you two," Cross responded with a smile as they sat next to him. "So you got my text?"
"Oh? This soon, Crossy?" Zee asked with a smirk, much to Cross's annoyance.
"Zee, don't tease your brother," Clair scolded her while turning to the girls. "It's nice to see you two joining us for breakfast."
"Yeah, it was Cross's idea," Donna said.
"We agreed that we would have breakfast together with each of our families," Lindsay mentioned.
"Yeah, that way I can get to know their families more and they can get to know mine more," Cross said before turning to Donna. "Speaking of your family, how is Jesse doing?"
"Oh yeah, Cross mentioned that your parents recently adopted another kid," Damien remembered.
"Yes, well, she's been doing fine," Donna said. "She is still adjusting, but it took time for me to adjust as well. Thankfully, she and my moms have been getting along. And I have been planning some activities we can do together as a family…"
Zee sat back down, listening with great interest and smiling about her brother Cross having such wonderful girlfriends…
'Two girlfriends… must be nice…'
Later in the morning, at the marketplace, Zee was running some errands.
"Okay, gramps needs his prescription scale ointment, mom needs more fertilizer for the garden," she listed off to herself while walking around the outdoor market before she stopped in front of a tool booth. "Hey, do you guys have a monkey wrench?"
"Sure, pick which ones you like," the booth owner said as he displayed a table full of actual wrenches made out of monkeys.
Zee picked one up and the wrench tried to bite her. "Gah! Do you have one less bitey?"
At a grocery shop, Zee was waiting in line as a cashier was checking items for another customer.
"That'll be forty snails," the cashier told the elderly witch woman.
"Oh I think I have something in my coupon book for that," she said while opening her purse and looking through. "Let's see… no, not this one." she said while she kept checking. "I know I had it on me."
Zee gave a groan, burying her face on her cart. She looked to the side and spotted a stand that had some bobbles and trinkets up on display. Zee looked at them and thought about a certain someone who would loved those kinds of trinkets…
'Emily loves those, doesn't she…?'
After she finished running her errands, Zee decided to do some volunteer work. She was wearing her hardhat and other safety gear as she paid attention to Driller Hammers, the one in charge.
"Alright, time to repair these homes," he declared as everyone got to work on repairing some of the homes that were still damaged from the Day of Unity.
Zee held some nails in her teeth while hammering in a wall along with the others inside working on repairs. She may not know construction magic, but she did know how to do hands-on jobs like this.
After hammering in one nail, she brought out another nail to hammer in. Before doing so, she noticed some of the volunteers, students from various schools, using their magic to help with repairs. Such as levitating nails or using their magic to construct structures to stabilize the house.
Seeing this made Zee feel a bit jealous before she continued on with her work.
'Could we have been constructionists like them…?'
Later, at the Beast-Keeping Coven headquarters, Zee met up with Calypso in her office.
"I am glad to finally meet you, Ms. Zinnia Drakescale," Calypso said to her.
"Please, call me Zee, it's much simpler," Zee replied as she sat down in front of her desk.
"Alright, Zee. I'm glad that you came, I've been wanting to check up on you since the Day of Unity. How are you doing?"
"Oh, I've been doing okay, Head Witch Brooke," Zee assured her.
"Mrs. Brooke would be just fine," Calypso told her. "Now, I know it's not easy being forced into a coven that wasn't your choice. It never is."
"Yeah…" Zee responded, looking down.
"But you can still make the best out of your current situation and I want to help you look into some career choices that I think you would be comfortable with," Calypso said as she pulled up a list. "Now, one of the available career opportunities in the Beast-Keeping Coven is as caretaker, would you be interested in that?"
"Hmm, what else is there?" Zee asked her.
"Well there's trainer, where you can train beasts," Calypso listed off. "There's also positions in preservation, research, animal control, firebee-keeping, venom collecting, farm-hand…"
However, as she heard Calypso list them off, Zee wasn't able to muster up any enthusiasm about her options. She didn't mind doing Beast-Keeping, but it wasn't her first choice. She just wished that there could be more paths for her… paths that would be open if she wasn't sigiled.
'Fucking Osran's fault…'
Later that day, Zee found herself sitting in a support group, surrounded by other witches who had been sigil-brand by force. Among them were Fan, Kevin, Tracy, Gnashley, and Know Doubt. The group had been set up by Gidget. However, Zee just ended up zoning out while everyone was talking.
"Before I was sigiled, I enjoyed using my illusions to prank my twin brother with every chance I got," Fanny admitted with a sigh. "I miss that. But now with this Oracle sigil, I have to start thinking about Oracle jobs and focus on the skills those require. It's… still something I have to learn how to cope with, but I can cope with it."
"Yeah, I know how you feel, Fan," Tracy responded. "There is a bright side with these sigils, which is that it didn't take away some of our natural talents. Like I can still run super-fast… and you can still turn into a dragon, Zee."
Zee didn't respond to Tracy. She just continued to space out.
"Mixing potion drinks is going to be harder with my sigil," Know Doubt mentioned while showing his Bard sigil. "I mean, yeah I can still play with my band, but I'm also known to make a good brew. Or… I was. Non-potionists can still mix potions, but it's harder."
"I wonder if anyone will find a way to remove them," Tracy brought up. "Our sigils, I mean."
"Well, I did hear from my grandfather that they're working on finding ways to reverse the effects," Kevin mentioned.
"That's right," Gidget agreed. "And he isn't the only one working on finding a way to get rid of these sigils for us."
"So when will that be?" Zee asked.
Everyone turned to look at Zee, surprised to hear her speak for the first time since the support group meeting began.
"When will they find a way to remove these sigils?" Zee asked.
"Well… we don't know, but Raine and the other Heads are using all available resources to look into it," Gidget explained. "Even teaming up with the brightest witches-"
"So no one knows how long it will take for them to get these things removed," Zee said while pointing at her sigil and looking bitter. "A month, perhaps? Maybe a year or two? That's assuming that there is even a way to get rid of them at all. But even if there is, we were all being forced to make due until then. But hey, at least it'll be easier for some of us. Tracy can still be the best field runner and the best flyer, she has a career in that." She then pointed to Kevin. "Shrubs here was already a Beast expert, thanks to his pissing contest with that Rusty kid, and his granddaddy will definitely find him a job as a researcher, right, Kevin?"
Startled by Zee's rant, Kevin looked rather sheepish. "W-Well, yeah, but-"
"Yeah, you already had your future planned out. But me, I didn't even know which coven would be best suited for me. Sure, I've dabbled in Beast-Keeping, but I also learned other types of magic. I can turn into a dragon, yeah, but what job requires me to be a dragon?! I can't even use my natural water or plant magic! I can breathe fire, yeah, and make steam from the boiling saliva through my teeth! So where does that land me? Beast-capture? Beast-handler? Caretaker?! I'll never know what I could have been. We all got our ability to make our own choices fucking robbed from us thanks to Belos's child-branding boot-lickers! And even though Belos is dead, some of us still had our lives changed forever because of what Emperor's Coven took away from us!" she shouted, finishing her rant while everyone turned to her.
After Zee's rant, no one in the group said a word, having been shocked into silence.
'None of them could understand…'
That evening, after the support group meeting concluded, Zee could be found sitting outside of her house, looking into the horizon and staring into space. She didn't even wake her Palisman. All she did was just… stare…
"Zee!"
The sound of her brother's voice snapped her out of it. She turned to see Cross standing next to her and giving a worried look. "Are you alright, Zee?" he asked her.
"Huh? Oh, I'm fine," she assured him, trying to not make him worry. "Um… so how are you and the girls?"
Cross frowned. "Don't change the subject, Zee. I'm worried about you, Zee. Especially when you stare into space like that. It's like… you haven't been your usual self lately, even your usual quips haven't been the same."
Zee looked up at her brother, knowing that he would just keep pushing the issue. She sighed. "That's because I'm not my usual self… not anymore."
"Zee…" Cross said with a worried, almost scared expression.
"Ever since I got branded, a part of me has been locked away, and I don't even know if I'll ever get it back," she said while looking down. "I've just been going through the motions lately, because I feel like I'm stuck. Stuck with Beast-Keeping, stuck being here… Titan, being here just makes me jealous of Emily and how she was just able to leave." That last slip surprised Cross. "Not to mention there is this little voice in my head that has been nagging at me lately."
"Voice?" he asked her, "What do you mean by that?"
Zee could answer, but she didn't want to elaborate. She just sighed and shook her head. "Nevermind. Let's just go home," she said, standing up.
Cross still looked worried, but he sighed. "Okay, Zee," he responded as the two headed back to the house together.
Later, it was night. Everyone was asleep in the Drakescale home. Well, almost everyone…
Inside Zee's room, she was having trouble sleeping. She stared up at the ceiling, her eyes looking into space. She could still hear that nagging voice in her house. It wouldn't stop whispering to her and it wouldn't let her sleep.
'Ah ah… ah ah…. Ah ah… ah ah….'
She got up from her bed, deciding to get out of the house for some fresh air.
"I can hear you, but I won't," she sang, looking annoyed. "Some look for trouble while others don't…"
'Ah ah… ah ah….'
"There's a thousand reasons I should go about my day, and ignore your whispers, which I wish would go away, oh oh…" she sang while leaving her room, walking through the hall.
"Ah ah… ah ah…"
"Oh oh," she sang while looking at her family pictures that were hanging on the wall.
"Ah ah...ah ah…"
"You're not a voice, you're just a ringing in my ear. And if I heard you, which I won't, I'm spoken for I fear," Zee sang while heading for the back door. "Everyone I've ever loved is here within these walls. I'm sorry, secret siren, but I'm blocking out your calls."
She took a step to the door and was about to open it, but she hesitated. "I've had my adventure, I don't need something new. I'm afraid of what I'm risking if I follow you…
She opened the door and stepped out as she continued to sing. "Into the unknown! Into the unknown~! Into the unknoowwn!"
"Ah ah, ah ah… ah ah, ah ah… oh oh…"
"What do you want? Because you've been keeping me awake," Zee sang as she walked down the road, passing some other buildings. "Are you here to distract me so I make a big mistake?" she asked as she looked at the glass in the window of one of the houses. "Or are you someone out there who's a little bit like me?" She saw that place of her own reflection… was Emily, who smiled at her. "Who knows deep down I'm not where I'm meant to be?"
She stepped up to the window to reach out to the Emily inside, only for Emily to disappear, leaving Zee with her own reflection. She sighed and continued her walk..
"Everyday is a little harder, as I feel like I'm at my low," she sang as she closed her eyes and fantasized about being able to cast water spells again. "Don't you know there's a part of me that longs to go…?
"Into the unknown!" she sang as she fantasized about having her full magic unlocked once more, spreading around a flash of orange light from her hands.
"Into the unknown~!" she declared as she imagined spreading water magic around her, making herself seemingly fly as she sparkled light.
"Into the unknown~!" she sang while spreading water wings, shooting sparks of flames, and throwing flower petals around. "Oh oh, whoa oh!"
"Are you out there? Do you know me? Can you feel me? Can you show me?" she sang while getting lost in her own fantasy. A splash of water turned into steam, which then took the form of… Emily, who was flying on her staff while drawing closer to Zee. "Ah ah, ah ah!"
"Oh oh, oh oh!" the Emily steam illusion sang as she flew away from her fantasy.
"Ah ah, ah ah!" Zee sang as she changed into a dragon to follow the Emily illusion.
"Oh oh, oh oh!" the Emily illusion sang while flying with Zee.
"Ha ah, ah ah(Oh oh, ho oh!)!" they both hollered while flying around over the fields of the Isles. "Ha ah, ah ah(Oh oh, ho oh!)!Ha ah, ah ah(Oh oh, ho oh!)! Ha ah, ah ah(Oh oh, ho oh!)!"
As the Emily illusion flew away, Zee followed. "Where are you going? Don't leave me alone! How do I follow you…" She flew all the way to the edge of the Isles, stopping herself as she watched the Emily illusion fly away from the Isles and vanish. "Into the unknown~!?"
And as she stared out at the Boiling Seas, Zee finally realized what she wanted to do…
The next morning, at the harbor, Zee was dressed up and had her bags ready. With her were her family, who was there to see her off as she got ready to board the boat that would take her away from the Boiling Isles.
"It's still hard to believe that you've decided to leave, Zee," Cross said. "At least, it's hard for me to believe."
"Yeah, I know that I sprung this very suddenly on you guys, but… this is something that I need," Zee argued. "I just feel like by staying in the Isles, I'd just be stuck. I don't want to be here. At least, not right now. I just want… to get away from it all and to be with who I want to be. That is something that I think my inner voice has been trying to tell me."
"We understand your situation, Zee," Damien said as he patted his daughter's shoulder, reassuring her. "And we will support your decision."
"That's right," Clair said while walking up to her. "We all love you, Zee, and we understand that you do need to follow your own path… wherever that takes you, even if that's away from us."
"Just as cousin Eda says," Cross brought up with a smile. "You gotta be your own witch."
"Couldn't have said it better," Drayden said before he turned to his granddaughter. "But Zee, you are your own witch. Now, don't be afraid of asking others for help, and try to help others as much as you can. Remember that while the world beyond the Isles can be harsh, you can't let that harshness get to you. And whatever you're looking for… I hope it'll bring you peace."
"Gramps…" Zee said as she looked up to him. "You know that I'm going to look for Emily, right?"
"Yes, but it's not Emily I'm referring to, but somewhere you'll find a calling to you-"
"Yeah, but did you mean who?" she asked him.
"I was trying to be wise and metaphorical. Though, I guess my metaphors don't make as much sense these days," Drayden admitted.
Zee couldn't help but laugh before she hugged her grandpa. "I'm gonna miss you, gramps."
"Me too, Zee," Drayden responded, hugging her back.
She then went to hug her parents. "Goodbye dad, goodbye mom," she said as she hugged them.
"Good luck on your journey, Zee," Damien told her.
"I'm gonna miss you so much," Clair said as Zee turned to her. "And… don't forget this." She pulled out a small vial and Zee's eyes widened when she saw that in that vial was the fragments of her birth mother's oracle stone. "I didn't want you to forget to take this with you. That way, you'll have a bit of your mother with you."
Zee took the vial, holding it close. "Clair… you are my mom," she reaffirmed.
"I know," Clair said with a soft smile. "And I'm grateful to have been a part of your life, Zee."
Zee nodded and then turned to Cross, the two siblings hugging. "See ya little bro."
"You too, sis," Cross responded. "Tell Emily I said hey."
"I will, and here is some last sisterly advice to you," she told him while bopping his nose. "Try not to knock up one of your girls, right?"
"I won't…" Cross told her while looking at her with a deadpan expression.
"But seriously, take care of Lindsay and Donna. They're nice girls," Zee told him.
Aqua and Elio, meanwhile, communicated in their own way. "Good luck on your travels, Aqua," Elio told her.
"Thanks Elio," Aqua responded. "And make sure Cross stays out of trouble."
"Don't worry, it's not my first Drakescale rodeo," Elio mentioned as Zee picked up Aqua.
Zee walked up the boarding ramp to the deck of the ship, where she turned to see her family one more time. She gave them a smile as she waved to them. "Goodbye, guys!"
"Goodbye, Zee!" they waved to her as the ship Zee was on set off.
Her future was uncertain… but she was starting to feel better about that.
Welcome to the Inwell Isles, the closest neighboring Titan to the Boiling Isles.
This was the new home of Emily Tricks, who could currently be found on the beach. She was sitting back in her beach chair while wearing sunglasses, a sun hat, and a white short gown with a black waistband. She was getting some sun while running around nearby were Cups and Mugs, who were shooting water spells at each other.
"I'm gonna getcha, Mugs!" Cups declared in his red trunks.
"Bring it on, Cups!" Mugs in his blue trunks replied as they played around.
Emily paid no attention to them. She was allowing herself to relax, perhaps for the first time in a long time… until a shadow loomed over her, blocking her sun.
"Hey, do you mind?" Emily asked with a frown as she took off her sunglasses… and gave a look of surprise. "What the…"
"Hey, Mily!" Zee announced. She stood in front of Emily while wearing an orange t-shirt and blue bikini bottoms and sandals.
"Zee?" Emily asked as she got up from her chair and embraced Zee. "Oh my goodness! I can't believe… what are you doing here? Are the rest of your family also here?"
"Nah, just me," Zee told her. "I'm here by myself, but my folks know that I'm here. And I'm not just visiting… I'm staying."
Emily was taken aback by this. "Staying?"
"Yeah," Zee replied with a smile. "I've decided that I should get away from it all for a bit, just like you are. Plus, the more I thought about it, the more I realized that I wanted to be with you… if that's okay with ya?"
Emily was flattered, but she nodded. "Of course, I would be glad to have you around, Zee."
Zee smiled before she looked down and frowned. "Although… I also wanted to leave the Isles because… I wasn't sure what I could do there." Emily looked concerned for Zee, who explained what she meant. "I was already uncertain about my future, but then Osran destroyed my mother's stone in front of me and then he branded me, stripping me of my options."
She sat down on the now empty beach chair. "That old bastard may be dead… but I still have to carry with me a reminder of what he did and how he hurt me." She looked down at the sigil on her wrist, her hand tightening into a fist. "I just felt like I needed to get away from the Isles, since while in the Isles I was regularly reminded of what was taken from me and I… felt at a loss."
Emily looked at her own sigil, then at Zee. She sighed and sat down next to her. "Yeah, I might know what you mean…"
The two fell silent while looking down at the sand. For a moment, none of them said anything. Then Emily glanced at Zee and decided to start to sing…
"So things look bad, and your back's against the wall. Our whole ambition seems kinda hopeless," Emily sang while looking out at the Boiling Seas. "You're feeling empty, like you're in endless freefall, can't face the world all glum and joyless…"
Emily stood up and walked around Zee. "You've lost your way, you think your life is wrecked. Well… let me just say, you're correct…"
"Wait, what?" Zee asked while Emily moved her hips.
"You're… a… loser, baby, we're losers, oh yeah baby," Emily sang as she shook. "We're a pretty fucked up, crazy pair. Yeah, you're a loser just like me."
"Wow, Mily," Zee replied in shock.
Emily pulled Zee up, the Drakescale girl looking confused as Emily kept singing. "You're a true blue bruiser, A smoking hot, scaled seducer. You've got charm and grace, the matching body and face, and now you've got company."
"Well, I am hot," Zee admitted with a smile.
"There was a time I thought that no one could relate to the gruesome ways in which I'm damaged," Emily sang about herself. "But letting walls down, it can sometimes set you straight! We're living in the same shit-sandwich."
"I lost myself to those genocidal freaks," Zee sang in response.
"And you think that would make you unique? You wish," Emily asked in song as she showed Zee her sigil while dancing with her. "We're both losers, baby, we're losers, it's okay to be a-"
"Fire-breathing, charismatic pan?" Zee asked.
"Baby, that's just fine by me," Emily said with a smile.
Zee, feeling better about herself, also sang. "I'm a loser, honey, proud beauty, and I'm funny, but at least I know I'm not alone,"
"You're a loser just like me!" Zee and Emily sang together.
The two stood back-to-back as Emily sang. "I got a bad habit for slaying!"
"I got a bad habit of swaying for this jaded, jade, bloody-handed lady of mine!" Zee sang.
"Yeah, go ahead and sing that song, Zee!" Emily declared while Cups and Mugs were shown playing their own instruments in the background.
"I'll adventure past my darkest hour!" Zee declares.
"I've gone through hell, but I will not cower!" Emily sang. "But though I'm free of the diva's grasp-"
"These brands trapped us, and it's outside of our power!" they both sang while raising their sigiled arms.
"You're a loser, baby," Zee sang as she and Zee shook and danced.
"A loser, but just maybe if we-" Emily replied.
"Keep moving forward, things will end up differently!" they both sang as the two looked at each other.
"It's time to lose your self-loathing, excuse yourself, let hope in, baby," Emily sang as she and Zee kept dancing together before Zee jumped into Emily's arms. "Play your card."
"Be who you are!" Zee declares.
"A loser… just like…" the two sang as they looked each other in the eyes while sporting a smile.
However, watching from a distance was Maleficent, who was hidden in the shade of a building as she sported her own smile.
"Me…" they both sang.
A new chapter for Emily and Zee began…
Brimstones and Broomsticks
Alright, some notes.
Thank Crash X Fusion for sending in the alternate lyrics for Emily and Zee's "Loser, Baby."
Now in the process of writing the prologue, we've decided to use "Into the Unknown" from Frozen 2, which got us inspired to make this prologue showing what led to Zee's decision to leaving the Boiling Isles and follow Emily. This also helps cement her promotion to one of the fic's two main leads.
The first, actual chapter will be up in a few days.