The ballad of newt and owl: chapter 2

Marcy spat dirt out of her mouth, and opened her eyes.

"Where am I?"

She looked around in wonder. Red trees, red grass, giant bones erupting from the ground.

"Aaaah, crud, I haven't got a new journal."

Then she remembered something. "Hang on, those elves said they were Luz's friends! Maybe i should go look for 'em."

And she walked up to the house next to her.

"Woah, it's so awesome!" She opened the door, a strangely pink starry one. She walked inside the house only to find an even more rustic looking living room, with candles all around.

"Huh, a human."

She turned around, to see a pale elf with one arm and grey hair.

"AAAHHH!" Marcy shouted, running out of the house. "I'M SORRY! I'LL LEAVE!"

The elf tried to stop her. "Wait, kid, i'm not gonna hurt you-"

But marcy was already gone.

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Luz couldn't believe it. She knew it was wrong to read someone else's journal, but… it was so interesting. A whole other multiverse out there? How foolish of her to assume it was just earth and the boiling isles.

"Luz? Is marcy there?"

"Uuuhmm… no," she responded. "Can i ask you something?"

"Sure."

Luz walked downstairs.

"Hey, do you know about any story marcy was writing? Only i found a journal she wrote about some frog world."

The man stiffened up. "Ah."

He sighed. "Well, the jig is up. She would never have kept the secret forever. Honey?" He called mrs. Wu.

"Yes?"

"Come in."

And they sat down on the couch. Mr. Wu began. "So… the truth is that Marcy-"

"Spent months in a world inhabited by talking amphibians?"

"…yes. How did you know?" Asked mrs. Wu.

"Well," Luz said, "you told me her secret, so i'll tell you mine. About 5 or 6 months ago, i stumbled across another world."

"Wait," Mr. Wu said, "5 months ago? Was it-"

"No, it wasn't amphibia. It's a set of islands called the boiling isles. Imagine all of marcy's fantasy books, but less… friendly. Fortunately, i still have access to it. I'm afraid I can't tell you where it is, but i might be able to get marcy allowed in. But that's not a problem right now. You know where marcy is?"

Mr. Wu repeated, "i have no idea. I thought she was in her room."

Mrs. Wu looked at him sternly. "What? I told you she had headed off to Luz's house!"

Luz turned pale. "Hang on… if she's at my house, then…"

And she ran outside to the car.

"Hey, mija, where's marcy?"

"Mom, there was a misunderstanding. She thought she was going to our house. We need to get back NOW."

"Why-" and then she remembered the fact that over there were 5 individuals, and 4 of which had no idea how to act human. "On it."

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Marcy ran into some sort of town. "Wha- what is this place?"

And a voice behind her said, "wow, another human," it said sarcastically.

Marcy turned around, to see a pink-haired girl with three eyes. 'You know what, i've seen weirder,' she thought.

"Hey, girl, ehhmm… where am I?" Marcy asked.

"Ugh. I forgot how oblivious humans are to such obvious things," and she gestured around her, "welcome to the boiling isles."

———————————————

Luz ran to the portal door and jumped through into the owl house.

"Guys, have you seen-"

"A human girl? Yeah. Currently trying to find her. She snuck up on us when we were going through the door and greeted herself without any warning." She paused. "I may have accidentally thrown her through the door with abomination goo."

"Oh no," Luz said, "and after that?"

"Well, I found her," said Eda."

"Great-"

"She ran away, shouting about how she was sorry for trespassing. I tried to tell her it was fine but she ran anyway. She headed for town."

"Oh no. Do you think she'll be okay?" Asked willow.

"Yeah, she will. She's done this before. But i'm worried that she's somehow gonna offend someone by calling them an elf."

"Ah," said Gus.

"Quick!"

———————————————

"So, Skara, why is everything… under construction?"

"Well, i'm gonna be honest with you, if people around here seem suspicious of humans, It's probably because the last human other than the one here nowadays tried to drive everybody into extinction via possessing the literal island itself."

"Ah, that'd be it."

Suddenly the pale lady, as well as the people who were at the portal dropped down on… broomsticks?

"Kid, we're not gonna hurt you. We just wanna he-"

"I SAID I'M SORRY FOR TRESPASSING! IM SO SORRY!" She shouted, running away, into a forest.

Amity rolled her eyes. "Why is this so difficult?"

———————————————

Marcy ran through brambles and bushes.

"Well, at least the flora is recognisable," She said to herself. She then found some sort of clearing.

"What is this place?"

"Ah, a human."

"Why has this happened three times today?" Marcy muttered, turning around.

"Hey, whe-" and she then paused, as anybody would if they turned around to a giant human head with bat wings.

"Hello, human. I am the bat queen. And you are marcy, yes?"

"Uuummm, yes?" She said. "How did you know-"

"I just do. A lot of things about me are unanswered for no apparent reason."

Marcy paused. "Sooo… what is this place?"

She smiled. "A nursery."

And from all corners of the clearing, little animals, made of wood for some reason, crawled, slithered, stumbled out.

"Omigosh they're so cuuuutee!" She squealed. "What are they?"

"Palismen," the bat queen said, smiling. "I used to thing lowly of humans, but I didn't give them a chance. I now help these little ones find a new home."

"What are palismen?" Asked marcy, "they all seem so different."

"Both a good friend and a powerful weapon. And… you seem kind, Marcy Wu. I want you to have one."

"You mean-"

"I'm just looking for an excuse."

"How do i choose?"

The bat queen gestured her to a stump to sit down on. The palismen crowded around.

"Tell of your deepest desires, your goals, and your friend will find you."

Marcy paused.

"I want to learn magic!"

Nothing.

"More specific," said the bat queen.

"… I want to make more friends?"

Nothing.

"Don't we all?" Said the bat queen, deadpan.

Marcy took a deep breath.

"I made a mistake. Many mistakes. And i feel horrible for them. And no matter how much people say that i'm forgiven, i know i'm not. I want to make up for it. But i'm not gonna be mopey and sad about it, i'm gonna make up for my mistakes and be happy about it." And she paused. "I want to make up for my past mistakes."

The bat queen smiled. "A kind heart, haunted by their past, and wishing to redeem themselves. Dreas approves."

"Dreas?" Marcy asked. "No way-"

And a small blue newt wearing a comically tiny crown crawled up to her and turned into a staff.

"Hey, old friend," Marcy smiled.

The bat queen only smiled.

Marcy stayed silent for a second. And then burst out. "YOU DIDN'T TELL ME IT WAS A MAGIC STAFF!" The bat queen chuckled.

They heard shouting in the distance. "Kid? Kid! Marcy, was it? I promise, I don't wanna hurt you. I just want to keep you safe."

"Looks like somebody cares for you still," said the bat queen.

"Really?"

"That is Eda, the Owl lady. She is a kind soul. Go to her, and keep dreas safe for me, yes? He has been here for a long, long time."

"Thank you, bat queen."

And she ran towards the voices, and back into town.

"You know, you could have flown."

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"Marcy! Marcy!" Eda shouted, Luz standing nervously next to her.

"You think she's gonna be ok?" Asked Amity.

"Yes, she will. She's done this before."

"She has?"

"That's her story. She doesn't have to tell any of us anything if she doesn't want to."

And suddenly Marcy ran toward them, emerging from the tree line.

"Hey! Sorry for the misunderstanding, the bat aueen told me you were nice-" she took a look at the crowd. "Luz?" Then she thought. "Oh. That three eyed girl did say something about another human." She chuckled. "Never thought it'd be you!"

Luz chuckled nervously. "Yeah, there was a misunderstanding. I was gonna collect you, and then we were gonna pick up the others to avoid suspicion. I was actually gonna tell you today."

Marcy smiled. "Really? Because i was gonna tell you something too."

"Amphibia?"

Marcy spluttered. "Ho- how did you-"

"Your parents spilled the beans when they told me to go into your room. Don't worry, I didn't push for the story, i thought you should tell me if you want to."

"I'll tell you. At the convention." Marcy smiled at Luz.

"Wait, we're still going? I don't think a car is gonna make it-"

"Well, i have a now, don't I?" And she gestured to her palisman.

"Oh my titan, you have a palisman already?" She asked. "I had to wait for two months!"

"You have one too?"

"Of course!" And she took out stringbean.

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They flew to the convention, Gus shielding them with an invisibility spell, and marcy nearly falling off a total of nine times. When there, they all got dressed, (except marcy, who was in her ranger suit already) into their suits. Hunter, Gus and surprisingly Camila changed into cosmic frontier suits, Luz got into a recreation of her titan suit, (which looked awesome, by the way) and the others just getting into cool looking clothes and having the freedom to show their ears. Eda changed into her harpy form. With free time while the others were changing, Eda pulled Marcy aside.

"Marcy, I have something to tell you. Something important. Are you in any way related to any sort of cosmic being?"

"…no, why?"

"Because the bat queen told me that you had some sort of cosmic energy eminating from you. Distinctly green. And the last time we had a run in with a cosmic entity, it didn't end well. Do you know of the collector?"

"Wait," said marcy, "she sensed a cosmic energy? Green?"

"Yes," Eda said, "I trust you, new kid, but i feel that you know something about this."

"I still have it," mumbled marcy, "but the stones were shattered! Unless they transferred the energy…"

"Kid, what are you taking about?"

"I think i might have a special type of magic, one i thought i lost."

And she looked up at Eda.

"One of a calamitous nature."

Heyoo!

So I won't be uploading every day, because I don't have the time nor the willpower to finish a perfect chapter in a day. It's just i have some chapters saved up, so i'm uploading them one at a time.

What you might have noticed from tower buddies if you read it, is that i am not very good at writing filler. I'm working on it, because I appreciate filler is used to connect to characters and make a story longer. I'm hoping to work on that with this, and it's the perfect opportunity because there's no real threat (yet) there's a lot of time i can use to make filler.

Hope you enjoyed this chapter,