Alright, this is the longest chapter up to date.

All characters from Disney and other properties are owned by their respectful owners. The OCs made here are written entirely for the story. Enjoy this fic.

Chapter 130: Everything Changes After This

Many years ago…

On a Titan, not our Titan, two brothers laid on the ground, looking up at the night sky.

"Hey look," one of them said, pointing up. "You can see the three-headed snake if you connect the right stars."

"I'm surprised you can see it, all I see is a bunch of random stars," his brother responded, frowning.

The first brother just smiled before spotting a bright, moving star. "Hey look, a shooting star," he said, pointing up.

His brother saw where he was pointing and his eyes widened. "That star… it's falling…"

"Down here?" the other brother replied, as the star became larger and larger before it hit the ground not too far away from where they laid.

"By the realms!" he exclaimed. "What was that?!"

"Must be the fallen star," the other brother said as they went to investigate the scene.

Soon the two brothers had arrived at where the star had landed. But when they found it… they saw that it wasn't a star. Rather, it looked like some kind of airship.

Or as we would call it… a spaceship.

"By the stars… what is this craft?" one of the brothers asked while stepping close to it.

"Careful, Ully," his brother warned as he watched his sibling, Ully, slide down into the crater to take a closer look at the airship.

Upon close inspection, he saw that it was silver colored, with black smooth streaks all around. The broken, crashed wings were shaped like bat-wings.

"Have you ever seen anything like this, Drac?" Ully asked his brother while inspecting the ship.

"Step back!" someone shouted.

Ully and Drac backed away as they saw a blue armored figure emerging from the wreckage while holding up a gun. The brothers held their hands up, seeing that this armored figure was hostile. "Step away from my ship!" they declared. "I demand to know where I am."

"What… what are you?!" Drac asked in fear.

"Who are you?" Ully asked.

"I am a soldier of the Colony," the figure said as they limped forward. "Now I demand that you two… ugh…" The soldier touched their side, feeling it bleeding. "Guano," they said before they passed out from their injuries.

Ully looked concerned and he went to the figure.

"Ully, step away from that guy!" Drac warned him.

"But they look injured, we have to help," Ully responded while kneeling over.

Drac sighed as he went down to assist his brother. As he joined him, Drac looked at the figure. "Looks like they received some severe injuries in the crash. We could take them to the infirmary."

Ully nodded before he removed the latch of the bat-like helmet, pulling it off… and revealing the face of a silver-blond haired woman with moonlight skin.

Her name was Astronema. And the two brothers who found her were named Ulysses and Draco…

Bzzzt

The camera followed Amity walking down the port of the Boiling Isles harbor. "Alright, this should be the way," Amity said while leading Luz, King, Eda, Lilith, Cross, and Donna.

"Ah, the old Boiling Isles harbor, this takes me back," King said while holding the camera.

"I don't think I've been here since getting back from my last expedition with Flora," Lilith reminisced

"This reminds me of when I used to rob the Emperor's Navy for treasure," Eda said before turning to King. "Um, you can cut that part out."

"Once again, I just wanted to say thanks for letting us tag along on your little venture, guys," Donna said.

"Yeah, thanks," Cross said, though a little less cheerfully than Donna.

"It's no problem, you two," Luz said. "We're lucky that Amity knows someone who could help us out with our expedition… finding out about King's dad."

"Here we are," Amity announced as they arrived in front of a large ship that was in the harbor. Already somebody was walking down the plank to the boardwalk to greet them.

"Aye, are my eyes deceiving me, or is that you, Amity?" asked the captain of the boat. He was a medium-sized, muscular lobster demon, with light, brownish-red skin and his left arm being a red and gray lobster claw. Two whiskers were hanging off from his chin and he had a two-tone maroon beak, with red horns on his head with darker gray tips, and a scar over his right eye along with a golden tooth sticking out from his lower lip. He wore a jagged, grayish-white top with a dark cyan cloth around his neck, pinned together by a gray lobster-like trinket with dark gray and yellow claws. He also wore a navy blue coat with white rings around the sleeves, and bluish-gray trim near the neck, medium-blue pants and black boots.

"Salty!" Amity shouted as she walked over to him, shaking his hand. "It's so good to see you again after so long."

"Indeed it is," Salty responded.

Cross leaned over to Luz. "So… how does Amity know a boat captain?" he asked.

'I've been wondering about that too,' Maya said in Luz's head.

"Well, back when Amity used to work for the Thians, she got to know some of the other sailors who frequented the harbor. This includes Salty, who was a friend of the Thians," Luz explained.

"Yes, the Thians were dear friends of mine," Salty confirmed. "And I've missed them around, the harbor just wasn't the same without them, and I've missed you, Amity."

"I missed the Thians as well," Amity admitted sadly. "But as for why I came here, I was wondering if we could use your boat for a venture."

"A venture? Why I'd be happy to oblige for you, Amity," Salty agreed. "I used to work for the Golden Guard, who was searching for the Selkidomus, but we had no luck in finding it. Since then, my old mates abandoned ship for greener, snailier pastures. They were like family to me too… but luckily, I hired a new pair who's looking for freelancing." He turned around and called for them. "Arr, come along, my new crewmates!"

The group was quite surprised to see the brothers who stepped into view.

"We're ready to raise the anchor when you are, captain!" reported Cups.

"Yeah! Everything's ready to sail!" Mugs replied while looking at the group with Salty. "Hey Cups, ain't that Donna over there?"

"Yeah, and I recognize the rest of these guys," Cups said to his brother. "It's Ed's sis, Amity, with Luz, the Owl Lady, and Lilith!"

"And that Cross guy!" Mugs added, pointing to Cross.

"Cups? Mugs? You guys work for Salty?" Donna asked, surprised to see the two again after having just seen them yesterday.

As the gang got ready to set sail, Donna and Cross met up with their families while Amity said goodbye to Kay.

"Sorry Kay, looks like I'll have to leave for now," Amity said while patting Kay, who was held by Eda.

"Don't worry, kiddo, I'll watch Kay until you get back," Eda said.

"Yeah, Kay will be fine with mom, Ams. Like always," Luz reassured Amity.

With the Masterskulls and Drakescales, Donna was hugging her moms. "Thank you for letting me go with Luz and Amity on their adventure beyond the Isles."

"It's no problem, Donna," Diana replied. "And with everything that has happened, maybe you could use a change of scenery."

"Yeah, and with Cross with you, we know that you'll be protected," Gladys added.

Cross, meanwhile, was talking to his family.

"You know, compared to going to Hell, the Underworld, and the Yokai Realm, sailing beyond the Boiling Isles doesn't seem that crazy," Zee snarked.

"Just promise that you'll be safe on your travels," Clair told her son as she hugged him.

"I will, mom," Cross responded while turning to his dad. "And I promise to keep everyone safe."

"I know you will, Cross," Damien said while patting his shoulder. "I'm so happy you get this chance to explore beyond the Isles, that's something I wish that I could have done when I was your age."

"Same for me," Drayden admitted. "I think you're probably the first Drakescale in a long time to travel beyond the Isles."

"And this gives you more time to spend with your cousins," Clair added while turning to Luz and King.

Eda walked over to Lilith, who was checking her list of supplies. "Hey, thanks for agreeing to be the chaperone for the kids, Lily," she told her sister.

"It's no problem, Eda," Lilith responded. "Since I'm the only one who has experience traveling outside of the Isles, it's fitting that I should be the adult that goes along with them. Not to mention, this is a chance to potentially study another culture in the Demon Realm." She then looked down with a saddened smile. "And besides, you're more welcome back to the family reunion anyway."

Eda frowned at this and patted her shoulder. "Hey, you know you're just as welcome as I am," she told her, making Lilith smile at her sister.

Amity was getting ready when she noticed Acorn flying up with her. "Acorn! Have you been following us this time?" she asked.

"Well, I was actually following Donna in the hopes she would lead me back to Tyrone," Acorn said with a lovestruck look when mentioning him, before adjusting herself. "But an adventure outside the Boiling Isles sounds just as neat. Something I can write to my mother about."

"Alright, everyone, the ship's ready to set sail!" Salty shouted. "Get on board!"

"Alright, time to potentially meet others like me," King declared.

"Hold up, guys, we're still waiting for one more to join us on the trip," Luz revealed.

"Wait, who did you invite?" Cross asked in confusion.

"I'm here!"

Hearing that familiar voice, Cross turned around and saw Lindsay on her staff, levitating down. Everyone was surprised to see her.

"I hope I'm not late or anything, Luz," Lindsay said, noticing Donna and Cross. "Oh, hey Donna, hey Cross, looks like you're going out to sea as well?"

"Yeah, we are…." Donna said awkwardly.

Lindsay turned to Luz, smiling. "Thank you for inviting me on your expedition, Luz. It would be nice to go out on an adventure with you guys again."

"Yeah, I thought you could use some sightseeing," Luz replied while Cross turned to her.

"You…" Cross said as he pointed to her, realizing what she was trying to do.

"You can thank me later," Luz told him with a smirk. "Alright, let's get off to sea, everyone!" she announced while going up the plank to the ship.

Cross groaned while staring at Luz with a deadpan look. "It's like having another Zee…"

As the ship set sail, Cross, Luz, Amity, and King were up in the crow's nest.

"I honestly can't believe that you invited both Donna and Lindsay to come with us," Cross complained with a groan, pacing back and forth.

"Oh come on, why are you complaining?" Luz asked him with a shrug.

"Do you not know how awkward this is going to be?" Cross asked her with a frustrated look. "Is that the sole reason why you invited me along? To torment me!"

"Oh Crosshairs, I'm hurt by that accusation," Luz said with a fake saddened look, before changing to a genuine expression. "But for real, dude, I do want to spend more time with you, but I also want to help you untangle the mess that is your love life before I leave the Demon Realm. Which is why I invited Lindsay here, so that you, her, and Donna can talk things out. The sooner, the better."

Cross still wasn't thrilled by this. "Why did I agree to this…"

"What's an adventure without resolving things with your crush and the girl you're apparently dating?" Luz asked him.

"Why can't it be done without it being an adventure?" Cross asked her.

"Oh come on," Luz said while hanging her arm around the unenthusiastic Cross. "What's one adventure gonna hurt?"

"With you, a lot," Cross responded in a deadpan manner.

"Come on, please?" she asked him.

"No," he responded while walking away from her.

"Please?" Luz kept asking.

"No," he said dryly.

"Just give up, you're a part of this, might as well live with it," King told him as Amity gave a nod.

"It's inevitable," Amity agreed.

Meanwhile, Eda was at the harbor, watching the ship said off into the distance. She gave a sigh as she turned to Owlbert.

"Well Owlbert, let's go rejoin the reunion," Eda declared as she turned around, only to be met with Kitsuni. "Weh! Kitsuni?!"

"Eda, I'm glad I was able to catch you," Kitsuni told her. "I wanted to see you before I made my leave."

"Leave?" Eda asked in surprise. "You're leaving the Boiling Isles?"

"I know the timing is very terrible," she admitted. "But I had no say in the matter. I'm being summoned to the Yokai Realm in order to explain my possession of Todd…"

Last Scumday.

At the Park home, everyone was now looking at Todd.

"So wait… you and Kitsuni are one in the same now?" Luz asked him.

"That's right," Todd confirmed. "To put it simply, Kitsuni's body was destroyed after her encounter with that Ninja Supreme guy she fought. Only her spirit remained, but she managed to find me." He scratched the back of his head. "Despite how little context I had about everything that was going on, I immediately agreed to share my body with her after I learned that there were kids in danger."

"I've never heard of a spirit changing their host's appearance," Odalia admitted.

"Well, with a Yokai, it works differently," Todd explained. "She can only take control for a certain amount of time, but she can also change back to me if she gets too hurt or uses too much of her magic, which is what happened earlier. While she still has her powers, there are some limitations when possessing a mortal. Of course, a Yokai has never possessed a witch before, so this is new territory for both of us. We're still not sure what the consequences will be…"

"I could end up being gone for a few days while in my home realm," Kitsuni explained. "But if you do need anything, you should go to Julia Traveler. She'll help you out."

Eda gave her a nod. "Will do, Kitsuni."

"By the way, where are your kids?" Kitsuni asked her while looking around. "Their scent was here, but they're not here anymore."

"Oh, they're on the Boiling Seas going on a trip to meet the tribe that King was apparently from," Eda explained. "But once they come back, I'll be sending Luz to the Human Realm."

"That's a good move," Kitsuni agreed. "The Day of Unity will be going down in just a few days, and despite having Eclipsa in the castle, I still don't know what Belos is doing and if it actually affects other Realms. As long as we have no proof, my colleagues can't intervene."

"Well, we'll just have to think of something," Eda replied. "Besides, without the key and Luz, Belos's plans will probably fail."

"Whatever happens, make sure that the kids are out of harm's way," Kitsuni advised. "Just in case something does go down."

Eda nodded. "Don't worry, I will, just… one question," she said. "This has been on my mind for a while. Just what is Julia Traveler?"

Kitsuni gave a visibly uncomfortable look to this. "Um…"

Elsewhere, Hunter started to open his eyes. He let out a groan as he found himself in a dark, barely lit room.

"What… where am I?" he asked, looking around. "Flapjack? Flapjack, where are you?!" he asked before realizing that he couldn't move. He looked down and saw that he was tied up. "Titan… where the hell am I?!" he asked before he started to shout. "Help! Someone!"

"No one can hear you…"

Hunter paused, looking super nervous now. He turned around and saw a hooded figure towering over him. "Gah!" he shouted, trying to back away.

"So we meet at last, Golden Guard," the figure said as they lowered themselves down to Hunter's level. They were holding up a lantern. "Now I have a few questions."

"Questions?" Hunter asked, before narrowing his eyes at them. "Where's Flapjack?!"

"I'm the one asking questions here," the figure told him. "First off, why were you at the grave of Marilyn Clawthorne? Second, why were you at Palm Stings? And third, how much do you know of Marilyn Clawthorne?" the figure demanded, grabbing him by the collar.

"Where's Flapjack?!" Hunter repeated, refusing to answer any questions until he knew what happened to his Palisman. But he then heard chirping noises. "Flapjack?"

Hunter looked around and spotted Flapjack flying down… and landing on the hooded figure's shoulder.

"Flapjack…?" he asked in shock while the hooded figure turned their head toward the cardinal.

"Your Palisman seems to think I am someone else," the figure said as they removed their hood and their mask, Hunter's eyes widening when he saw that his kidnapper was a woman who looked like she was in her forties. She had short red hair, dark magenta eyes… and scars that covered over half of her face.

"Your… your eyes and… scars," Hunter said, noticing the woman's eyes shared the same colors as his. "You're a-"

"Grimwalker? Yeah, I am," she admitted with a sad smile. "My name… is Artemis."

"What?!" screamed Felicity Fox in the Fox household. Todd was before her and her daughter, having. "What do you mean you're leaving?!" she demanded while her daughter had a saddened look.

"Look, it's just for a few days," Todd told her. "I know that this is short notice, but something personal came up so I will be unavailable."

"Unbelievable!" Felicity shouted in anger. "Just when I needed someone to help me with the coverage for the Day of Unity!" she shouted while walking away in frustration.

Todd sighed before looking down at Felicia, smiling at her. "How are you doing, kid?"

"I'm… still grieving," Felicia responded sadly before looking up to Todd. "I wish you didn't have to leave."

"Oh don't worry, kid, I should be back by the end of the week. Until then, take as much time as you need to grieve for your friend," Todd advised before she hugged him. He hugged her back, but he still felt terrible about leaving Felicia like this. "I'll see you around, kid."

Felicia gave him a nod. "Yeah, later Todd," she whispered.

After Todd was gone, Felicia just stood in place while her mother stormed back in. "Where's Todd?"

"He left," she told her mother.

Felicity sighed before she turned to her daughter, forming a smile and getting an idea. "Felicia, darling, mommy wants your help with something."

"If it's about Luz-"

"No, no, not this time," Felicity said. "I need you to dig up some dirt about that Willow Park girl from your school. Find out whatever you can about her."

Felicia looked at her mom and shook her head. "I'm not feeling it today, mom. I'm still grieving over my friend-"

"Yes, yes, but think of this as a way to get your mind off of that bee kid for a while," Felicity told her while patting her daughter's shoulder. "Besides, mommy needs this, and you need to help mommy. You don't want to disappoint me again, do you?"

"I…" Felicia looked down. "Why can't you just get some other kid to be your informant? I'm just not feeling it today, okay?"

Felicity's expression changed and she narrowed her eyes at her daughter "Oh, well, that's too bad. I guess I will have to publish my backup story."

"What's that?" Felicia asked her mother.

"It's a story that I found after some digging around," Felicity told her with a grin. "Something about a… friend of yours… with a child…"

"I… I don't know who you mean-"

"Tabrella Diamantos of the Diamanto family?" Felicity asked, shocking her daughter. "She didn't really study abroad, did she? No, she was busy having a child, while her parents and friends covered it up. You knew but decided not to tell me, and just recently last week, an old boyfriend of hers turned up dead…"

"W-What?" Felicia asked, backing away.

"If I published the story about her now, some witches might start asking questions about the death of her ex… and if it had anything to do with her or her family. It'd be quite the scandal," Felicity said while smirking.

"I… I'll… see what I can find on Willow," Felicia said while lowering her head in defeat.

"I knew you'd come around," Felicity said in triumph as she patted her daughter's head.

And where was Willow Park?

Right now, she was walking through a neighborhood while checking her scroll and reading Luz's text.

Luz: Yo, me, Ams, King, and company are following up on a lead about King's family outside the Isles. Be back and tell you all about it. Byeee!

'King's family… I wonder what they're like?' Willow thought, imagining King's family as short as him or bigger than houses. But she quickly put those thoughts away as she arrived at her destination…

The Brooke home.

Stepping onto the front porch, she gave a knock on the door. Opening it was Skara.

"Hey Willow," Skara said as they hugged.

"Hey Skara, how are you feeling?" Willow asked her.

"Well, my mom's still at the Healing Coven, but dad said that life has to go on," Skara said, struggling to let Willow go. "Even if it means going back to school…"

"And how's the rest of your family doing?" Willow asked her before Skara showed her inside. Willow got her answer when she came in…

Nina kept looking at her scroll. "Lambi hasn't texted back… I hope she's doing okay," she said while looking like a mess.

"For the last time Scabrina, you cannot take your potions to school," Slasher told his youngest daughter as Scabrina just sat on the chair while crossing her arms.

"I'm not going without them," Scabrina argued. "I will not go without being prepared for when Skara gets picked on."

"Sweetie, she's not going to get picked on…" Slasher tried to reassure her before noticing Willow. "Willow! Good to see you, how's your folks and… did you do something with your hair?"

"My dads are fine and it, uh, grew," Willow responded. "How are you feeling, Mr. Brooke?"

"Well, I'm still worried for Cali," Slasher replied with a sigh. "And I guess everyone is still coping in their own ways."

"I can be of help," Willow said while turning to Scabrina. "Scabrina, are you worried for your sister?"

The little girl nodded. "Yeah, I don't want anything bad to happen to her, but dad said I can't take my toys with me in case someone tries to do something."

"Well, you don't have to worry about that, cause me and my friends will help protect Skara from anyone that tries to pick on her," Willow told her.

"You will?" Scabrina asked her.

"Of course," Willow said with a smile before turning to Nina. "And Nina, are you worried about Lambi?"

"Yeah," Nina responded. "I can't get a hold of her. I hope she's doing okay, and not in trouble or anything."

"Well, maybe when we get to school, you can ask her how she's doing," Willow suggested. "You can't really be thinking of sitting on the couch all day with your scroll, are you?"

"What? No…" she denied while standing up. "Just um… let me get my backpack," she said as she quickly rushed up the stairs to get ready very quickly.

Later, after Nina was ready, she along with Willow, Skara, and Scabrina headed out. Using their staffs, and Scabrina getting a ride with Nina, they flew toward Hexside.

Meanwhile, Hunter was shocked to learn the identity of his kidnapper. "No… you're Artemis?!"

"So you have heard of me," Artemis realized.

"Yeah, from Hatesew… but he told me that you died," Hunter explained. "How are you alive?"

"Oh, I faked my death." Artemis said while giving a closer look to Hunter. "Hmm… well, I'll be," she said while looking at his eyes. "Belos sure did his work. You do have some resemblance to William. Not identical though."

"I… I can't believe that…" Hunter was still processing his thoughts. "You're a Grimwalker… and you know that you are one."

"Yeah, apparently my source was Marylin Clawthorne," Artemis said, making Hunter's eyes widen.

"Marilyn… so that's why Flapjack landed on your shoulder," Hunter said while turning to his Palisman. "Because you look like her."

"Oh? This little pal of yours knew my source?" she asked while nudging her finger on the cardinal.

"He knew Marilyn long ago," Hunter explained. "After he lost his owner, he stayed with Marilyn until the day she died. He told me about her and that's the reason why me and Lilith went to her grave." He then remembered who he and Lilith saw while at the grave. "It… it was you! You're the same hooded figure that we saw!"

"Yeah, which is why I asked the first question," she replied to him. "As for the second…"

"I was visiting Lilith at the Clawthorne family reunion, I had no idea that you were at Palm Stings," Hunter admitted before realizing something else. "Wait… why were you there?"

Artemis didn't answer that question, instead she gestured to his artificial arm. "Where did you get your scars… and that arm?"

Hunter's eyes widened while looking down at his arm. "I… I don't want to talk about it."

"Answer the question," she told him. "Answer and I can let you go."

"I… I can't…" he said while looking away, shutting his eyes.

"For Titan's sake, just tell me already!" she demanded, pressing the issue.

"It was an accident, alright?!" he told her. "I got them from an accident."

"Just accidents?" she asked him as he gave her a nod. She sighed in relief. "Well, that's a relief. For a moment, I thought those scars were the result of Grimwalker deterioration."

He gave her a look of surprise. "You… think I'm a Grimwalker?" he asked her.

"Well, it's pretty obvious, kid. I mean, your eyes are a dead giveaway," Artemis pointed out.

"I guess hearing that from you is a relief, since I have been wondering about that myself," Hunter admitted before thinking back about what she said. "Wait… what do you meant by 'Grimwalker deterioration?'"

"Oh… yeah," Artemis winced when she saw that he didn't know. "Okay, try not to worry too much, but you see my scars?" She pointed to her scars. "Well, they were the result of the flaws with the process that created me. Over time, my body began to weaken and rot. I have to drink potions regularly just to keep the deterioration at bay, otherwise I would have completely rotted away a long time ago."

Hunter was alarmed by this. "Titan… that's… I'm so sorry."

"Hey, don't apologize," Artemis reassured him. "Honestly, it's pretty manageable."

"So… how did you learn that you're a Grimwalker?" Hunter asked.

"Oh, that's a good question," Artemis said. "Well, my origin story began when I was just a little scout. Back then, I was led to believe that I was the Emperor's 'niece', the daughter of his dead sister, all of that flim-flam. You were probably fed a similar lie. Eventually, I started to get suspicious about my so-called 'uncles', especially when I overheard Belos talking to himself." She lowered her head while looking down on her knees. "I've always felt like they were keeping secrets from me, stuff that they were not telling me…"

"Yeah, I know that feeling too well," Hunter responded sympathetically.

"Eventually, I went to Hank Hatesew for some questions, and then went to a group called the Shadowy Secret Exposers for help," she said while feeling her own scars. "But… that was when I realized that my health was getting worse," she admitted. "I've always had health issues, but they were getting even worse and I didn't know why at the time. Eventually, I snuck out around the castle basement, and I found a book about making Grimwalkers…"

Hunter was getting more curious as Artemis continued. "Suspecting that was what I was, I snooped around some more… and eventually found a secret burial ground filled with other, imperfect Grimwalkers." She saw Hunter and Flapjack's shocked looks and sighed. "That was when I learned about Grimwalker deterioration and figured out that was what was happening to me." She then gave a scoff. "And not only that, but I realized that Belos and William had to have known this would happen. Can you believe that?! Despite having done this so many times before and knowing how it played out every time, they still brought me into the world knowing that I would eventually rot away like the rest!" she ranted before calming herself down. "Sorry, I was a little mad for a bit."

"It sounds like you have every right to be mad about this," Hunter responded.

Artemis nodded before she continued. "I was horrified by my true nature, and I knew that I had to get away from my uncles. But they would come after me, even find me… unless I pulled the old faking-the-deadaroo. They couldn't track down a dead witch. So I faked my death using some Abomination goo, some organs from the Healing Coven, don't ask how, and the help of an Illusionist that I was friends with. He helped me make my death look convincing and dramatic."

"So… you've been in hiding for years?" Hunter asked her.

"Pretty much," Artemis pointed out before she sighed. "I thought that after my 'death', they would stop making Grimwalkers… but now you're here." She looked at Hunter sadly.

He gave a worried and scared look. "Wait, am I… going to end up with Grimwalker deterioration as well?" he asked her.

"Oh no, don't worry about it, you're fine," she reassured him. "If you had it, you would be showing signs of it by now. But since you don't, it looks like Belos must have perfected the process somehow, although I don't know how he did it."

Hunter sighed in relief. "Well, that's good news at least…"

"But now that you know all of this, I have to do something," she said as she pulled out a knife, which alarmed him.

"Gah!" Hunter screamed in a panic at the knife, closing his eyes as it drew closer… to cut out of his bonds. When he reopened his eyes, he realized that he was free. "You're… freeing me?"

"Well, there's no need to have you tied up anymore," she pointed out. "Besides, we have a lot more to talk about, so you should probably make yourself comfortable."

Elsewhere in the Boiling Isles, Willow and the Brooke girls had arrived at Hexside. As they went in through the front entrance and walked down the hallway, many of the students noticed them and stared at them when they passed by.

Skara felt nervous as she held Willow's hand tightly, while Nina simply glared at the students looking at them, making them look away. Scabrina was holding Nina's hand while they walked down the hall.

"Hey," Willow said to Skara. "It's going to be okay."

"It's something you'll have to get used to, Skara," Nina responded as she spotted their friends walking over.

"Hey, Willow, Skara, Nina," Viney said as she, Edric, Emira, Bo, Cat, Amelia, Barcus, Jerbo, Matt, Dusty, Boscha, Simon, Andrea, and Tamme walked over.

"Guys, glad to see you all again," Skara replied as Cat and Amelia hugged her.

"We are here to help escort you guys to your classes," Viney said.

"Yeah, and make sure nobody bothers you guys," Edric added.

Boscha and Matt turned to glare at the students looking at them.

"What? What are you all looking at?" Boscha barked at them.

"There's nothing to see here!" Matt declared while Barcus growled, causing the other students to walk away.

"Thanks guys, really," Skara told them, smiling.

"Honestly, Skara probably needs you most. I'll take Scabrina to her classroom," Nina said, feeling a bit nervous around Boscha.

"Hope you don't mind us escorting you, Nina," Andrea spoke up, walking over to Nina.

"Yeah, it doesn't hurt to have a buddy system," Dusty pointed out as he came over.

"Really, you don't have to. I'm more used to this kind of treatment than Skara and Scabrina," Nina insisted.

"But it doesn't mean that we are willing to leave a fellow soldier behind," Tamme declared as she joined Nina's side.

Nina couldn't help but smile at her friends. "Suit yourselves," she said before she looked around. "Where is Lambi, by the way? Anyone seen her?"

"No, we haven't seen her this morning," Bo replied as Cat nodded.

"Yeah, she doesn't miss school usually," Jerbo pointed out.

Nina looked worried by this, but then she spotted Puffer walking up to them. "Puffer, hey."

"Hey, Nina," Puffer replied to her. "I was hoping I would catch you, since I thought you might want to know about Lambi."

"Is everything alright with her?" Nina asked.

"She's fine, but her mom grounded her for missing temple service during the weekend," Puffer said, which alarmed Nina.

"Oh no…" Nina said while looking down in guilt. "Shit, she got in trouble because of me…"

As they heard the bell scream, everyone headed to class. Skara was escorted by Willow and the rest of their friends, while Nina went to drop Scabrina off at her class before going to her track with her friends. However, unknown to them, Felicia had been following them and was now tailing Willow and Skara, making herself inconspicuous.

'Sorry Willow,' Felicia thought while following them.

Out at sea, everyone had some time to kill before they reached their destination. At the table-barrel of the deck, the trio of Cross, Lindsay, and Donna were sitting on chairs, an awkward atmosphere hanging over them.

"So you're Luz's cousin, huh?" Donna asked him.

"I had no idea you were a Clawthorne this whole time," Lindsay admitted.

"Yeah, I'm a Clawthorne from my mom's side," Cross responded awkwardly. "I didn't bring it up before now because…"

"You have your reasons, we understand," Lindsay replied to him while Donna nodded in agreement.

"Thank you," Cross said, looking a bit relieved. "But Luz wanted me to talk to you two about… well, all three of us."

Donna and Lindsay understood what he meant and they exchanged a look.

"Go on…" Donna said cautiously.

Cross took a deep breath. "Okay, so Donna, you know that I liked Lindsay, but I felt like I had lost my chance with her." When Donna heard this, she looked down while Lindsay blushed slightly as Cross turned to her. "Lindsay, you were the one who motivated me to go save Emily from the Underworld, even after I felt like I failed her. After that, I saw you as a completely different witch. Someone who was compassionate, brave… and inspiring. I wouldn't have been able to save Emily without you, but you made me believe that it was possible."

Lindsay smiled at Cross before he turned to Donna.

"And Donna," he began. "We never got a fair chance, did we?" he asked while Donna lowered her head. "Our first date was a disaster and our second date got interrupted by a bunch of snake demons… and then some Yokai." Lindsay looked intrigued by that comment, but did not interrupt. "But I do greatly admire you and what your friends have done, and like Lindsay, you accepted me when you saw my dragon form. You weren't afraid. After everything that we went through… I do care about you, Donna. And I want to help you with what you're going through right now, just like you would help me if I needed it."

He looked at both girls. "I care about both of you and I don't want to hurt either of you. I thought I lost my chance with you, Lindsay. It turns out I didn't, but even though I still like you and I liked you first, I also like Donna and I don't want to be unfair to her."

While he was talking, Donna and Lindsay had the time to reach their own conclusions. Donna spoke up first.

"I understand, Cross," she replied while looking down. "And I know where this is going, even if you are too nice to say it. I was the one who roped you into my own mess for selfish reasons, and then you got mixed up in all my baggage with my evil uncle." Once again, Lindsay looked intrigued by this. "And I don't want to hurt you or Lindsay either." She sighed. "If you want to break up with me, I'll be okay. You don't have to feel obligated to stay with me, especially if you want to be with Lindsay."

Cross looked over at Donna. He didn't know how to respond. And before he could respond… Lindsay spoke up.

"Actually, I think I might have a suggestion," she said, getting their attention. "Donna, it doesn't have to be a break up at all. Perhaps, maybe… he could just date both of us."

Cross and Donna did not expect this, especially from Lindsay of all witches. "Um, say that again, Lindsay?" he asked her.

"I mean, did you and Donna ever agree to be exclusive?" Lindsay pointed out. "Last week, your sister gave me advice about how to deal with my feelings, that I should be allowed to explore them and figure them out at my own pace… and I think that should apply to all three of us," she admitted. "Honestly, I'm fine with dating you while you're dating Donna if that's okay with the both of you. That way, I could explore what a relationship between me and Cross could be like while you two can continue to explore what a relationship between you two could be like."

"Oh… wow, really Lindsay?" Donna asked her in surprise.

"Yeah, I… never thought you'd suggest something like this," Cross admitted.

"I just… think it is the best option," Lindsay said, blushing slightly. "There could still be a break up in the future after a relationship has run its course, but it doesn't have to be now, Donna. Not while we're still discovering ourselves and figuring things out." She looked down. "I'll admit, this is new territory for me as well, but I'm willing to take a risk and explore it. And right now, I don't see why what me and Cross could have has to come at the expense of what you and Donna could have," she told them both. "If you end things now, you wouldn't know. But we don't have to put definitive labels on anything. We can just be together." She looked up and reached out to hold both of their hands. "All of us."

The two teens were definitely surprised by Lindsay's suggestion and they took a moment to gather their thoughts.

"Well… I'm willing to give it a shot," Donna spoke first. "What do you say, Cross?"

"Um… well, this is sudden, but… I guess, if you two are okay with it, then I could give this a try," Cross replied with a blush.

"Well, I'm glad that we settled this," Lindsay replied with a smile. "Because I care about you both and I do think you two make a cute couple."

At this, both Cross and Donna blushed.

After that talk, Cross went up to the crow's nest. There he spotted Luz leaning back with Atticus on her shoulder, both of them noticing him.

"So, how did it go?" she asked

"We talked and… me and Donna agreed that we could still date, just not exclusively, which means that I can date Lindsay as well," Cross admitted.

"Wait, you mean you're dating two girls now?" Luz asked with a teasing smirk before she patted his back. "Alright, I knew that if I was gonna be someone's love coach, you'd be my first client. Congrats, my man!"

Cross looked at her with a deadpan expression before sighing. "By the way, I have one thing to ask from you."

"Hmm? What's that? Is it love advice?" Luz asked him. "Cause I can tell you how I won over Amity…"

"Not that," Cross clarified. "I want to ask… what did you mean earlier when you said you wanted to help me before leaving the Demon Realm?"

Luz paused, looking at Cross before looking at Atticus and sighing. "Guess it's time for me to share something," she said. "You know how my mom used to sell Human Realm junk? Well, she got it using this portal key which activates a portal door to the Human Realm, which is where I'm originally from. A while back, I lost the key, but then I regained it back and had to build another portal door after Belos took the first door."

Cross looked shocked by this. "Access to the Human Realm… so you had the portal key this entire time?"

"Yup," Luz replied. "You know my human mother, Camila? Well, she's in the Human Realm right now waiting for me. Once I settled things here, I planned to leave the Boiling Isles to live with my human mother for a while, which is why this adventure means so much to me. Because it will be my last one in the Boiling Isles for a while." She smirked. "Not forever though. But I would like to bring you with me to the Human Realm someday. My step-brother, his family, and my godfamily would get a kick out of meeting my cool cousin."

"I… think I would like that," Cross replied with a nod. "I was already curious about the Human Realm because of the dragons you said they had there, but I think I would also like to meet other humans… and see if they are anything like you."

Luz chuckled. "Well, wait until you see Gravity Falls. I'm very infamous there," she said with a grin.

"I think I know why…" Cross said.

"But hey, at least I'll be out of your hair for a while," Luz joked before noticing something in the distance. "Say, are you seeing this?"

Cross looked in the direction where Luz was looking and he saw it too.

"Land ho!" shouted Cups. "Land ho!"

"What did you find?" Amity asked as she flew up in front of him, startling Cups.

"Gah! Well, there's land over there!" Cups shouted as he pointed in the direction of the land.

"He's right," Luz declared as everyone gathered to see the tall object they were rapidly approaching.

"Is that… a finger?" Donna asked.

"It's a long way from our Titan," Lindsay said.

"That's 'cause it's not from our Titan," Salty said as he looked at the large, skeletal finger towering before them. "This be part of a different beastie."

"This is where the map leads to," Lilith said while King looked at the small stone in his paws, gripping it tightly.

"Then what are we waiting for? Let's go check it out," King declared.

And so Luz, Amity, Lilith, Cross, Donna, and Lindsay flew toward the Finger on their staffs, Acorn flying behind them. Salty called out to them from the ship. "Come back with a good story, sea squirts! If ye come back at all!"

"Gee, sounds a bit morbid, don't ya think, Salty?" Mugs asked.

"Ya just gotta have faith that they'd make it back, Mugs," Cups replied.

"He's quite supportive, isn't he?" Lindsay asked Donna and Cross before they made it to shore.

Once they were at shore, they walked up a flight of stairs that led them to a wall.

"Is anyone there?" Luz asked, looking around.

"Maybe we're early," Amity suggested.

"Or maybe they got sick of waiting!" King indicated, looking down sadly. "That letter was over a month old…"

Acorn then noticed a hole on the wall and she flew over to point at it. "Say, what's this hole for?"

Donna and Amity noticed the hole Acorn mentioned. King also noticed where Acorn was pointing to and he looked down at the stone on his paw. He walked over to the hole and inserted the stone into the wall. This caused a bright, golden flash to spread around them. The gang were shocked as some ancient mechanism whirred to life. Archaic symbols glowed around the finger and it began to spark from the tip, opening a bright, yellow portal above it, with lightning bursting around and a blue light beam of energy shining through the portal and dragging the group of eight upwards.

"Whoa!" King shouted.

"Ahhh!" Luz and Amity screamed as they held onto each other, while Acorn tried to fly down but was pulled away despite her struggles.

"What's happening?!" Donna exclaimed.

"It appears we've activated some kind of mechanism that opened up a vortex!" Lilith cried out as Lindsay screamed while Cross used his wings to catch her.

"Hang on!" Donna shouted as she grabbed Cross, while Luz still held onto Amity. Lilith grabbed King protectively, then held onto Amity while Acorn held onto Lilith's hair.

"AAAAH!" they cried out as they went up through the portal…

…and ended up falling down onto the black ground.

"AAAH!" they cried out as they landed.

Lilith got up first. "Is everyone alright?" she asked the kids.

"Yeah, we're good, Aunt Lily," Luz groaned as she helped Amity up.

"Yup, still in one piece," King confirmed.

Cross groaned as he looked down and saw that he was on top of Lindsay. "Gah!" he exclaimed as he immediately got up. "Lindsay! Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Thanks to Donna breaking my fall," Lindsay said while on top of Donna.

"No problem, Lindsay," Donna groaned while Cross and Lindsay helped her up. "What… what just happened to us? And why is it… night?"

Lilith looked up while adjusting her glasses. Sure enough, the sky was now dark and filled with stars. "That device… it must have been an ancient teleporter," she realized. "Fascinating…"

"Guys, look!" King shouted, pointing to a pile of bones and skeletons lying in the sea not that far away from them. They saw a large skull with horns and a long snout under the night sky.

"We're not in the Boiling Isles anymore," Lindsay realized.

"You certainly aren't," said a voice.

Everyone turned around and saw a tall demon standing before them. He had the same kind of skullcap as King did, but with longer fangs and curled up horns. He also had a large beard, large wings, and was donning a yellow robe.

"Welcome to the other side of the world," he declared.

At the end of the school day, the students of Hexside all began to leave for home. Willow and Skara managed to find each other outside.

"Hey, Skara," Willow waved as she walked over to her before holding her hand. "How was your day?"

"It was… pretty decent," Skara responded. "Thanks to Ed, Viney, Nina, and Cat, I managed to make it through the day without incident. Of course, my other classmates do feel awkward around me now…"

"Well, at least you're okay. That's all that matters," Willow assured her.

But Skara still looked down in worry. "Maybe today, but what about tomorrow?" she asked her. "I don't really now what me and my family are going to do now. Now that my family's outed, I'm… I'm scared."

"Skara…" Willow said while looking concerned for her.

"It's only a matter of time before somebody tries to hurt me, or my dad, or Nina, or even Scabrina," Skara said as she teared up and sniffed. Willow embraced her girlfriend, trying to calm her down.

"It's going to be alright, Skara," Willow promised. "I'll protect you and my family."

Skara looked down, not seeming to be entirely convinced. "Can you just… take me home?"

"Of course," Willow replied as they were about to go, but then they saw Nina and Scabrina showing up. They noticed Scabrina looking roughed up.

"Scabrina!" Skara shouted as she rushed over to her sister. "What happened?!"

"She got into a fight," Nina responded with a sigh. "Some brats decided to mess with her…"

"They were saying mean things about you and daddy, so I beat them up," Scabrina admitted.

"Scabrina…" Skara said in a worried tone while checking up on her sister. "You shouldn't have done that."

"I don't like it when they talk bad about you," she replied.

Nina then smelled someone approaching and she tensed up when she noticed an unmasked scout walking toward them. "We got company…"

Skara, Willow, and Scabrina looked up to see the scout coming toward them, Nina instinctively putting herself in front of Scabrina while Willow stayed in front of Skara. The scout paused when she was noticed, she had an awkward and uneasy expression on her unmasked face. "Um… hi," she said, waving to them.

"Can we help you?" Willow asked.

"I'm Le'Belle Case," she introduced herself. "And… I came here… because I was at the gala last Frieday…" she said, mustering up enough courage to look Skara in the eye. "When your father transformed, Ms. Brooke, I… was the one who shot him with a spell."

"What?" Skara asked, giving Le'Belle a glare.

"I didn't mean to hurt him!" she quickly claimed. "I… everything happened so fast, I acted on my training and put him down." She took a deep breath. "Look, I came here because I want to make amends. I can help escort you girls back home-"

"No," Skara told Le'Belle, still glaring at her. "I don't need help from scouts like you."

"But Ms. Brooke-"

"Fuck off," Skara told her off as she walked away with Willow. Nina shot a glare at Le'Belle before walking away with Scabrina, following Skara and Willow.

Le'Belle was left with regret on her face, watching the Brooke girls leave. "I just…" She looked down at the ground, thinking about what had just happened.

Meanwhile, at the Clawthorne Ranch, Eda was inside the ranch building with the Drakescales when she spotted one of her old wanted posters up on display on the wall.

"No way," she said, seeing the illustration of her. She looked nostalgic. "Back when I was only worth two thousand snails."

"Yeah, I remember how surprised I was when I first saw your face on one of those posters," Brolin said while walking over. "Back then you had been operating around Palm Stings. You could've visited, you know?"

"I wouldn't have recommended it," Eartha advised as she joined them. "I may or may not have turned you in."

"Oh Auntie, you don't mean that," Eda said to her aunt.

"Depends on my mood…" Eartha said, narrowing her eyes at her.

"You married a ruthless one," Drayden whispered to Brolin, who nodded.

"Well, I didn't visit because I didn't want to be a bother, and at that thought I had estranged myself from the entire family since I'm a wild witch and all," Eda explained. "The Owl House was somewhere I could go to whenever the heat got too hot, but I operated all over the Boiling Isles, including Palm Stings for a while."

"What did you do in Palm Stings?" Damien asked her.

"I was trying to find a new place to sell some of my Human Realm junk. This led to me having run-ins with the F.N.G. from time to time. Besides that, I would occasionally hit the slot machines, sell photos of celebrities to tourists, and shake drinks without a permit," she said before she remembered something. "And even though I was estranged from the family at the time, there was someone who claimed to be a Clawthorne who helped me escape the law one time…"

"Someone from the family?" Clair asked her, curious. "Who were they?"

"I still wonder that myself," Eda admitted as she recalled her meeting…

A young adult Eda was on the Boardwalk, playing her old lute while Owlbert danced. They had a jukebox playing next to them.

"Hold me closer, tiny dancer!" Eda sang along with the jukebox music "Count the birdy-birdy/headlights on the highway~! Check out my Owlbert dancing! Ain't he adorable?" Eda asked while earning some snails from some tourists.

"Hey!" shouted a green rabbit demon in a scout uniform. He pointed at Eda. "No Bard playing on the Boardwalk without a license! Get her!" he ordered some nearby scouts.

"And that's our cue to run," Eda said while Owlbert turned into her staff, allowing her to fly away while the law was chasing after her.

The rabbit captain held his crow. "FNG, it's her… the Owl Lady."

Eda flew through town while the scouts kept chasing after her. Fortunately, she knew how to shake them. Once she had lost them, she landed.

"Hehehe, outfoxed them again," Eda said before a shadow loomed over her. "Heh?" she asked as she looked up.

Above her was a masked witch man wearing a blue helmet with an orange visor, a blue shoulder guard, and a black bodysuit. He was riding on a bat-winged glider connected to a chair, controlled by control handles on the arms of his seat. He tapped on a trigger and a mechanism underneath the seat shot out nets towards Eda.

"Crap!" she shouted as she dodged the nets, using a fire spell to blast them. But more nets kept falling towards her. As she made a run for it, her path was blocked by a large, bulky figure wearing a silver helmet with a red visor and a red bodysuit. "You two must be the FNG."

"Surrender now, Owl Lady," the bulky scout ordered.

Eda stepped back, but before she could do anything an arrow hit the ground near her. From the tip of the arrow came webs and Eda ended up falling into the sticky trap.

"Ah crap," she grumbled.

"Thank you, Q-Pitch," the flying FNG member said to an archer on the rooftop.

"No problem, Gri- I mean, Wing-Storm," Q-Pitch replied. He was wearing a purple helmet with a green visor, a purple hood and poncho, and a black bodysuit with green lines across the chest to his pant legs. He also wore purple boots and gloves, and was holding a bow and carrying arrows. "We did it, we caught the Owl Lady!"

"Alright, Scalp-Metal you grab the Owl Lady," Wing-Storm ordered.

Scalp-Metal marched up to Eda. "Alright, time for you to-" But before they could reach her, a potion bottle hit the ground between them. This resulted in a large cloud of smoke blanketing the alleyway. This was noticed by both Wing-Storm and Q-Pitch.

"What was that?!" Q-Pitch asked.

"Scalp-Metal, do you copy?" Wing-Storm shouted.

Scalp-Metal coughed as they waved the smoke away from them. They managed to make out someone cutting Eda free and carrying her and her staff out of the alley. Scalp-Metal ran to give chase, looking around through the smoke.

"She escaped!" Scalp-Metal shouted when they couldn't see Eda and her rescuer anymore, not noticing the sewer lid closing nearby.

Wing-Storm used his wings to clear away the smoke, but saw no sign of Eda. "Dammit!"

Down in the sewer, Eda and her cloaked savior were hiding out. Once they were were they weren't being pursued, Eda turned to her rescuer.

"Uh, thanks for the save," Eda told the figure.

"No problem," she responded before groaning. "Ugh…"

"Wait, are you alright?" Eda asked her, concerned.

"Just need my medicine," the figure asked as she removed her hood and mask, revealing the scarred face of Artemis. She stuck a hand in her robe and pulled out a gold-liquid potion that she quickly drank. After she finished, she looked at Eda "What? Something on my face?" she asked, pointing at her scars.

"What? No, no," Eda said, shaking her head. "That potion you just drank…"

"Yeah, you could say that it helps me curse with my curse," she admitted, which made Eda's eyes widen in realization.

"Oh my… you too?" Eda asked her. "Um, by the way, what's your name?"

"You can call me… Marilyn," Artemis introduced herself, shaking Eda's hand.

"Nice to meet you, Marilyn," Eda said. "And though I am grateful you saved me up there and all… why?"

Artemis hesitated before she answered. "Well… I had to look out for a fellow Clawthorne."

Eda was caught by surprise by the name drop. "Clawthorne? I… I don't think I recognize you or have heard of you before."

"Well… you could say that I'm sort of a black sheep of the family," Artemis explained, looking down.

"Hey, just like me," Eda said with a smile. "Nice to meet you, Marilyn…"

"'Marilyn' never really said much about herself," Eda explained. "In fact, I don't even think Marilyn was even her real name, since she never treated it as such. I did see her a few more times, but then I couldn't find her anymore. Almost like she was a ghost." She frowned. "Honestly, I've had my doubts that she even was a Clawthorne."

"Actually, she is," Eartha interrupted, causing Eda to turn to her aunt and uncle.

"Or at least, she claims to be," Brolin admitted. "She never showed up at any family reunions, but she has visited the ranch a few times."

"She did?" Eda asked them, surprised.

"Never said anything about how she was related to the family, but she never tried to get anything out of us," Eartha explained. "So we never suspected her of trying to con us. So either she's crazy and only thinks she's a member of the family, or she really is a Clawthorne."

"But a Clawthorne who wants to keep to herself for the most part," Brolin added.

Hearing this, Eda looked down, quietly reflecting about all of this and wondering what this 'Marilyn' woman's deal was, especially since she now knew that she shared the same name as a past member of the Clawthrone family. But she could worry more about that anymore.

"Well, enough about me and my shady past," Eda said as she changed the subject, turning to the Drakescales. "I want to get to know you guys more. As someone who lived with a dragon family for several years and helped a close friend of mine hook up with her human love, I want to know how you two met."

Clair and Damien looked at each other… and smiled before they began to tell Eda their story.

"Well, we first met each other when we were kids," Clair explained.

"We were both going to attend the same school, and well, I was still trying to figure out what track to join," Damien admitted.

Years earlier…

A young Damien was running errands for his fathers and was in a rush.

"Aw fog," he hissed as he looked over the list. "I gotta find these herbs somewhere," he said, so focused on the list that he wasn't paying attention to anything else and he ended up accidentally bumped into someone. "Gah!"

"Ah!" cried out a girl with orange hair, a young Clair, who was knocked to the ground. "Ow…"

"Oh man, I'm so sorry about that!" Damien apologized, looking worried for her. "A-are you okay?"

"I'm fine, just-" She winced, spotting some scrapes on her elbow and knees. "Just a few scrapes."

Looking at her injuries, guilt flashed across Damien's face. He wanted to help her, but he had no healing patches with him. Suddenly, he got an idea.

"W-what are you doing?" Clair asked when she saw him place his hands on her scrapes.

"Improvising," Damien said, performing an ice spell to treat her wounds. Clair looked tense at first, but she soon relaxed as she started to feel less sore and no stings.

"How are you feeling?" he asked her afterward.

"It doesn't sting, thanks," Clair replied with a smile. "You're a pretty good healer."

"Huh, you think so?" he asked her.

"Well, you did cause me to get hurt in the first place, but besides that, yeah," Clair said.

"Yeah… you're right!" Damien perked up, startling her.

"W-What… I am?" Clair asked.

"I've been trying to figure out what track I should join when I start school," Damien said while turning to Clair. "I wasn't sure what track to choose, but now I think I should take up healing." He then gave Clair a hug, surprising her. "Thank you for the suggestion, and again I'm sorry about bumping into you."

"I… It's no problem," Clair replied as he then looked at the time.

"Crap, I gotta go. Nice meeting you!" Damien shouted as he ran off, leaving behind an awestruck Clair, her face tint with a blush.

"At the time, I didn't even know his name or that we were attending the same school together," Clair explained, fawning over the memory. "But I was left smitten by him. After we started school, we introduced ourselves and became friends. Over the course of our school years, I was drawn to my Dami's dedication and compassion. I fell for him hard, even if I was too shy to confess to him."

"I was focused on my studies most of the time, but Clair would often help me out, even if we were both from different tracks. However, it wasn't until I was sixteen that I started to reciprocate Clair's feelings," Damien continued.

"We then became school sweethearts," Clair added. "We dated up until we graduated and had to join our covens. Plant for me and Healing for Damien."

"We weren't able to remain close due to our work," Damien admitted. "We split off, and years later I met Anna, Zee's mother."

"I did attend their wedding," Clair said. "I still remember seeing that baby bump of hers through her wedding gown."

"Um… it was an accident, but I don't regret bringing Zee into our lives," Damien clarified, causing Eda to snicker.

"Sounds like your daughter takes after you," Eda told Damien.

"Well, hopefully she's more careful than I was," Damien said as Clair gave a small laugh.

"I did go on to see other people, though," Clair said with a sigh. "I wasn't confident that I could move on, but out of respect for Damien and Anna I decided not to pursue. Anna was really nice and good for Damien…" She looked down sadly. "And then came Anna's funeral. It was unfortunate what happened to her and I went to pay my respects. That's when I met Zee for the first time. And I knew that I wanted to stay with them."

"Of course, we didn't immediately pick up from where we left off," Damien said. "We paced ourselves. We had to readjust to being together again, but around eight months later, we got married. And you can figure out the rest."

"Hmm, but when did Clair find out about the whole 'dragon' thing though?" Eda asked them. She hoped that Clair didn't learn until after they had married…

"That was actually my fault," Drayden spoke up. "It was back when Damien first introduced me to her when they were young…"

A teenage Damien and Clair walked in on a middle-aged Drayden. "Hey dad, I want you to meet my girlfriend, Clair."

"Hi, it's nice to finally meet you, Mr. Drakescale," Clair waved to him. "He's told me a lot about you and your dad."

"It's nice meeting you, Clair," Drayden said in a kind tone. "And it's nice that you're okay with us being dragons."

Damien's eyes widened while Clair looked surprised. "Oh, that's a good one, sir," she said, trying to laugh it off, but when she realized that no one else was laughing, she turned to Damien. "Wait… you're serious…"

"Dad," Damien said to his father before looking at Clair. "Okay, let me explain..."

"Aw, screw it," Drayden said as he rolled up his sleeves, his hand changing into a white dragon claw with some rigid blue curve spikes.

Clair stared at it with a blank look. "Y-You…" she said before she then fainted, with Damien having to catch her.

Eda snickered at this. "Oh my Titan, that's hilarious!"

"After I woke up, they explained everything to me about their whole dragon heritage," Clair said. "I promised to keep it a secret, although after I processed everything I was pretty amazed. I even asked Damien if he had a dragon form like his father."

Eda turned to Damien. "Do you?"

"It skipped my generation," Damien said sheepishly. "I never inherited the dragon-gene, but Zee and Cross did."

"Huh, that actually reminds me of Susan back in the Human Realm," Eda pointed out. "Her dragon lineage skipped her generation as well. I guess Human Realm dragons and Boiling Isles dragons have more in common than I realized."

"If you don't mind, I think I'd like to know more about the Human Realm's dragons," Damien told Eda.

Eda just smiled. "Sure thing. Let me tell you about the Dragon Council they have…"

Back on the other side of the world with the others, Luz and the others were being confronted by the King-like demon.

"You dare trespass on this sacred-" He then gasped when he spotted King amongst them. "By the Huntsman, 'tis King!" he said excitedly before he bowed his head. "Greetings, my name is Tarak. Hail and well-met!"

"Uh, y-yeah! 'Tis King!" King replied.

"Hey King, introduce us!" Luz whispered.

"Right! Uh, this is Luz Clawthorne, my human-witch sister. And this is my aunt Lilith, and my like-a-sister Amity Goodfellow, and my cousin Cross Drakescale, and his lovers Donna and Lindsay."

'Lovers?' Cross, Donna, and Lindsay thought while Luz held her snicker.

"Oh, and the flying pixie is Acorn," King said as he pointed to Acorn, who bowed to him.

"Your warrior-ship," Lilith greeted, bowing her head. "It is an honor to meet someone from King's tribe."

"Did you send me the letter?" King asked Tarak, showing a hopeful look. "Are… are you my-"

"Father? Alas, no. Nor is he here," Tarak said regretfully. King looked dejected, while the others looked saddened. "But I did send the letter to you," he said after walking up to squat down to King's level. "And by the sight of you, I know he was one of us. He passed down that handsome skull of yours, didn't he?"

"Heh, yeah, he did," King replied, feeling his skullcap.

"And now, we celebrate! Everyone will be so happy to meet you!" Tarak declared.

"Who's everyone?" Lindsay asked.

Tarak led them up a hill and the fog parted to reveal a settlement town on a barren landscape. They saw wooden houses with organic roofs that looked like giant turtle shells. In the middle of the settlement was a large, white tower with spikes sticking out and a golden observatory.

"Welcome… to Titan Trapper Island!" Tarak announced as he showed them the town.

King gasped at first… but then he paused. "Wait… Titan Trappers?" he asked, just as shocked as the rest of everyone else.

"Why would you have a name like that?" Luz questioned.

"It really does sound rather blasphemous…" Lindsay admitted.

"Oh right, I forgot that all of you are corpse worshippers," Tarak said. "You see, we are Titan Trappers, under oath to protect the world from giant monsters of death and destruction."

"Um… last I checked, all of the Titans are extinct," Luz pointed out, looking at Tarak questionably.

"Not all of them," Tarak told them. "The Great Huntsman says one remains, so we sharpen our spears and train ourselves so that when the vile creature rears its head, a new hunt can begin!"

"Vile creature? How can you say that? Titans are not monsters of death and destruction. They were creatures of life and creation. All life in the Demon Realm spawns from the Titans. Our magic was granted to us by the Titans," Donna pointed out to him.

"Yeah, how can you claim that the Titans were evil?" Cross asked him.

"Have you ever seen one before?" Lilith questioned.

"Well, not a live one, but-"

"Then how do you even know that there are other Titans left?" Lindsay asked.

An argument quickly sparked between the Boiling Isles residence and Tarak. They kept arguing about whether the Titans were evil or not, the argument becoming more heated. Amity didn't join in on the argument, but when she saw King's conflicted look and him holding his own tail, the Fae-witch girl knew she had to do something about this. So she held up her staff and sparked purple flames, getting their attention.

"Enough!" Amity shouted at them, getting them to stop. "Would you all stop arguing for a second and think! Look, both of you are from different parts of the world with different cultures and different beliefs. None of us should be getting into an argument over it, especially when we're all here for King." She pointed at him. "He came here to learn more about where he came from, but now that we are here all you want to do is argue over religion? Can you please just set aside your religious disagreements and remember why we are here King?"

Everyone looked over to Amity, then the Boiling Isles residents and Tarak both looked at each other. They knew that Amity had a point, this argument would get them nowhere and this was not the reason they were here.

"She's right," Luz said while looking to Tarak. "We're here for King. So we have to tolerate your shit if you can tolerate ours. Is that cool with you?"

"Well, you are all guests here," Tarak said. "And I do want King to feel as welcome here as possible. Come, let me show you around."

And so, Tarak led his guests down to the settlement. It was night, so most of the Titan Trappers were asleep in their homes, but there were a few King-like villagers out and about, each of them noticing the new guests that Tarak was leading. Luz was the one carrying the camera now, moving it around to make sure she got everything.

"Wow, look at all the mes here," King said as he looked around. "I can't believe that I'm here among so many mes!" He spotted some warriors training nearby. "Look at them go!" he shouted, pointing.

"Yes, we train rigorously, even at night. We have to be ready for battle at a moment's notice," Tarak declared as he showed them around. "But we are also always ready to show hospitality to others. Let it not be said that the Titan Trappers aren't great hosts in addition to warriors! If you ever need refreshments, we have a tavern," he said, pointing to the tavern to the left, which had a sign that read 'The Broken Nail.'

"Do you serve apple blood there?" Luz asked.

"Apple blood? Nah, we don't get such a thing here," Tarak said before he pointed to a temple. "Over there is our own temple of worship, where we worship our god, the Great Huntsman."

"Good tidings, Tarak!" shouted the shaman there. "Who is with you?"

"Just some corpse worshipp-" Tarak noticed the BI residents' glares. "I mean, some guests who came here with a lost Stray, good shaman Tork!"

"Wonder what their god is like?" Lindsay asked herself out of curiosity before noticing a stable. "Ooh, is that your beast-keeping stable?"

"Yes, but here we just call it our animal keep," Tarak said while leading them over to show the animals. "We use kirins to get around the island." He pointed to the demon chickens and devil cows. "And we have livestock." He then pointed in the distance. "But our true pride of joy is our exotic selection."

Lindsay's eye widened when she saw all the exotic animals, most of which she didn't recognize. Most were in cages while tribe members fed them and cared for them. "I have never seen creatures like those before…"

"Yes, they are from other parts of this realm. During our travels, we occasionally capture rare and powerful beasts and bring them back to our island for research or training purposes. Some of them help protect the island or even go on hunts with us," Tarak said before he continued to show them to a training ground that had an obstacle course, multiple sparring dummies, and a deep fighting pit where warriors could battle each other. "This is one of our training grounds, where we train our warriors in the ways of the hunt. It isn't very busy now, but you should see it during the day."

Cross noticed a weapon stand nearby. "So do you guys make your own weaponry?"

"Yes. Our blacksmith, Smick, is the one who forges our spears from the strongest metals in this realm," he said as he pointed to another skullcapped demon wearing a brown apron and pushing a cart filled with weapons. "But we train in all weapons, including ones that we collect, so that we are formidable in every form of combat. However, we all start at the spear, with our youngest beginning their training the moment they can hold a spear in their hands," he said as he continued the tour. "A building may serve multiple purposes. One building can easily serve as a school house one day, an inn the next, and a jail house the day after that. Of course, rarely do we lock up one of our own, but misbehavior still happens."

"What kind of misbehavior?" Donna asked him.

"Oh you know, drinking too much, ranting about our god, and poor form in combat," Tarak explained.

"So who runs this settlement here?" Amity asked him. "Do you have a leader?"

"Yes, and he is the eldest among us," Tarak explained. "However, most of the time he remains in his study at the top of his tower."

Lilith looked up at the aforementioned tower. "Perhaps we could have a meeting with him later."

Tarak showed them more of the settlement. "We grow all of our food here, enough to serve the entire village, even through the harshest of weather," he said as he pointed to a nearby field of fruits and vegetables. "Who wants a sample?"

Cross, Amity, and Donna walked over to pick out the fruits from a tree and a bush, taking some bites. "Mmm, hey this berry is good," Cross said.

"Yeah," Amity agreed as Acorn grabbed a berry. "They've ripened to perfection."

"I can only imagine the delicacies you can make with these," Donna commented.

Acorn ate a berry, finding it delicious. "Mmm, it is good!"

"Who said that?" Cross asked, looking at the two.

"You mean Acorn?" Donna asked, pointing to the pixie before she then realized that Cross could understand her. "Wait, you can understand her?"

"Oh yeah, he can," Amity realized before she whispered to Donna. "Dragons can speak to pixies like I can."

"Huh, that's interesting to know about you, Cross," Donna told him.

"Honestly, I'm just as surprised as you are, since I didn't know that was a power I had," Cross admitted as he turned to Acorn. "I just assumed someone was muttering. Wait, how can you understand her then?"

"My keyblade lets me understand her," Donna said as she pulled out her key and showed it to him.

"So Tarak, what is the deal about this… Great Huntsman of yours?" Luz asked him.

"Oh he was the one who founded the Titan Trappers, back when the Titans still walked amongst us," Tarak explained to her. "Even now, he still helps to direct our hunts, which is why we sometimes leave our island and go into the work, to search for the last time and for worthy prey to slay in the meantime."

"You… hunt… animals?" Lindsay asked while her iris shrank, followed by a vein popping up.

Cross looked at her in a panic, rushing over. "Lindsay, it's okay. Um, I'm sure they don't hunt down every animal they see…"

"Hopefully they don't." she hissed while glaring at Tarak.

"Just don't mention hunting and killing animals in front of her. She gets real scary about it. Trust me on this," King whispered to Tarak.

"Okay…" Tarak said before he kept walking. "Moving along!"

He stopped in front of a dwelling. "When I am not on excursions like the one where I found out about you, King, I work here, in the House of Strays."

"Strays?" Lilith asked him.

"You called me that," King recalled.

"Well, in your terms, Strays are lost members of our tribe like you, King. Usually they are orphans who either lost their families or have been abandoned. When we find these Strays, we take pity on them and bring them to our island, where they are kept here. The tribe becomes their family, helping to nurture and raise them, even help train them in our ways. Passing our skills to the next generation is just as important as the hunt for Titan Trappers."

"Huh, reminds me of the orphanage back home," Donna said with a smile.

Tarak went through the front door. "Kids! Wake up and come meet our guests!" he announced.

"Come on, we just fell asleep, Tarak!" someone shouted from inside the hut.

"Guest? We have guests here?" another voice asked.

"I'm up anyway," someone groaned.

A few minutes later, a group of 'Strays' came from the hut.

"So are these the guests?" asked a female demon with a skullcap. She was donning a white robe and blue skirt, and had blue grieves over her furred body. She had golden eyes. "They don't look much to me."

"They're definitely not from around here," said the other female demon. She had a skullcap that had some cracks in it, green eyes, and she wore a furry brown jacket with an armored red top and red dress skirt, with metal grieves. One of her horns appeared to be broken and around her neck was a necklace with a bright jewel on it.

"Are they new Strays?" asked a male demon who wore goggles over where his horns were. He had gray eyes and wore a green apron with a mint-tank top and gray pants, along with fingerless gloves.

"I don't think they're Strays, Nate," said the last of the Strays, who was a blue-eyed demon with a skullcap, a gray tunic with gray sleeves, black pants and bunny slippers. He was holding a stuffed monster bear toy, which he noticed and immediately hid. "Hehe, you saw nothing."

"These are the Stays who are currently in their training to become full Titan Trappers," Tarak explained as he began to introduce them. "This is Raven." He pointed to the first girl. "I found her living in a bird nest of all places. She is spry and filled with wit. She is my finest pupil."

"I'm one of the best fighters on this island," Raven declared while crossing her furry arms. "I can probably take on all of you with my hands behind my back."

"Bet I can beat her," Luz whispered to Amity.

"And this one is Crasha," Tarak said as she pointed to the cracked-skull girl. "She's a head-strong little lady who specializes in bringing things down."

"Crashing is what I do," Crasha declared with a smirk.

"Wait, so you're named after the thing you do?" Cross asked her.

"Better than being called 'Hard-Head' a lot," she said while tapping her skull cap.

"Next is Nate, our young genius," Tarak said as he introduced the goggles-wearing boy. "He specializes in making weapons and traps. Of course, compared to our best trapper, he's quite an amateur."

"Good thing he's my teacher," Nate said.

"Is it just me, or does he sound like Kyle?" Donna whispered to Cross and Lindsay.

"No, I hear it too," Cross said.

"Same," Lindsay agreed.

"And last but not least, Conner," Tarak said as he proudly patted Conner's shoulder. "He can be a bit rough around the edges, but he has the makings of a great Trapper."

"You flatter me, but I'm not that good, Tarak," Conner replied. "Also, you're forgetting the bravest among us Strays." He turned to the door. "Come on out, Gallantor! Come meet our guests!"

Everyone turned and saw a green cat with pink stripes appeared in the doorway. Its pink iris eyes looked at the Boiling isles residents, who all waved to him.

"Hi," Amity greeted.

"RAH!" Gallantor shrieked before stumbling around and running to hide by a nearby tree. He looked at the guests with a shiver.

"He's… not used to new faces," Conner told him. "But he's the bravest cat I know."

"Now then, young Trappers, let me introduce you all to King Clawthorne," Tarak said as he pointed to King, who looked excited to meet them. "King here has come from the other side of the world to learn about his roots and meet his home tribe. Perhaps you can help initiate him…" he spoke to them with a wink.

Hearing this, Luz looked slightly alarmed as she grabbed King's hand. "Excuse us for a moment," she said while walking a safe distance from them.

"Luz, what's the big deal?" King asked her.

"Sorry, King, but when someone plans to 'initiate' with you, it usually leads to some frat-house style hazing," Luz told him.

"I've seen the college movies, Luz, and I'm sure it's not that bad," King assured her.

"But are you really sure you want to go through with this?" Luz asked him while glancing at Tarak and the Strays. "I mean, I know they're your tribe, but we weren't expecting this tribe to be Titan Trappers."

"Luz, it was not that long ago when we learned that your godmother's family were witch hunters, but we're still cool with her," King pointed out. "And besides, there's no Titans around anymore, so it's not like they're actually hurting anyone now."

"Well… that is true," Luz admitted, though she still looked concerned.

"And besides, this is my chance to learn more about where I came from and about my roots, just like you did," King pointed out as he patted her hand. "So please, Luz, just let me spend some time with them. Let me get to know what they're like."

Luz looked down at King before she gave a sigh. "Alright, just… be careful, little big bro."

"I will, big little sis," King replied with a thumbs up. "And you know, this could be your chance to learn about your new powers as well…"

"Yeah, I know," Luz acknowledged. "But we just met these guys, so I don't want to tell them everything about myself right away."

"Yeah, I don't completely trust them," Maya said.

"That was Maya agreeing with us, by the way," Luz explained.

King nodded. "That's fair," he said before he and Lilith walked back to the group, where Lilith was speaking to Tarak.

"You wish to see our leader now?" he asked her.

"Of course, I am very curious about the transportation mechanism with the Finger, and I have a lot of other questions as well," Lilith explained.

"Very well, I shall take him to you," Tarak declared. "Does anyone of your group wish to come with you?"

"I'd like to go with you," Amity volunteered as she walked up. "I am curious about the observatory."

"If Am goes, then I go as well," Luz said. "In case you two could use some muscle." She then turned to Cross. "Yo, Cross, think you and your girls could watch over King with the other kids?"

"Yeah, we'll keep an eye on him," Cross responded before narrowing his eyes at her. "And don't say they're my girls like that."

"But we are your girlfriends," Lindsay pointed out while Donna hid her laugh.

Tarak led Lilith, Luz, and Amity to see their leader. They all gasped when they were brought inside the large tower building.

Hanging above their heads was a large skeleton of an unknown creature and model planets. Also above everyone was a spiral staircase that led up the building. They also saw some Titan Trappers carrying around scrolls and maps.

"This is… amazing," Amity said while looking around.

"This would put the museum back at home to shame," Lilith commented as she looked up.

"Alright, I'll admit this looks pretty cool," Luz admitted, getting it all with the camera.

"Indeed, it is cool," Tarak agreed. "Now then, let me take you to meet our eldest, the wisest hunter of them all… Bill!"

Luz's eyes widened upon hearing the name. All she could think about now were flashbacks to her meetings with Bill Cipher. In fact, when she looked up the spiral stairs, she could almost hear Bill's laugh and see his eye popping out.

"Well, well, well, well, well, welly well!" Bill's voice echoed through Luz's head.

She shook her head. "No, no absolutely not! I'm not calling him that."

"Pardon?" Tarak asked while Amity and Lilith looked at Luz.

"Look, no offense, but I have a thing against Bills," Luz told him. "One moment they act like they're your friend, but the next they want something from you and mess you up and hurt those closest to you." She sighed. "Is his name short for something at least?"

"Well… no, it's just Bill," Tarak clarified.

"Then his name will be Liam," Luz declared.

"Yeah, I think you should just roll with it," Amity told Tarak, who still looked confused.

"Very well," Tarak replied as he led them up the stairs "Bi- I mean, Liam, is the coolest, he actually met our god, the Great Huntsman! He's my best friend. Eh, it's no big deal."

"I'm sensing a pattern…" Lilith noted, finding something familiar about Tarak's fondness for his leader.

As Tarak led them up the stairs, he showed them around the floors. "This tower is also a repository for all of the knowledge that we have collected during our travels in this realm. For example, our grand library is over there."

When Lilith saw where Tarak was pointing, her eyes shone. Through a doorway was an enormous library filled with so many books. "Those books…"

"All from famous literates across the Realm. We want to keep up to date on artifacts of power, geographies of different islands, research on deities from those islands, and science," Tarak declared. "Liam has said that knowledge is power."

"All those books… so much knowledge…" Lilith was pretty much hooked about it. "Are outsiders allowed to study there?"

"Well, usually you'd have to give the Trappers something first," Tarak said. "Us Titan Trappers value a good trade."

Luz spotted another room that was being guarded by two Titan Trappers. "What are they guarding?"

"That will be our treasure room," Tarak explained. "It's filled with objects that we collected during our travels. We use it for trade."

"Hmm," Luz said as she walked over to the treasure room. The guards halted her.

"No entry, unless you got something to trade," the guard told her.

Luz dug into her pocket with her free hand. "How about this pen?" she asked, holding up the pen.

The guard held up the pen, looking at it as he pressed the tip of the pen, which popped the pen in. "Oooh," he said as he kept clicking the pen. "I like this… you're allowed entry. Look but don't touch."

After they let her in, Luz walked in and saw that every inch of the room was filled with treasure. "Whoa…" she said, seeing staffs, skeletons, vases, garbs, chests, and objects that she didn't even recognize. She spun around with the camera.

"Luz, are you coming?" Amity asked her.

"Yeah, coming!" Luz replied as she left the treasure room.

Once Luz caught up with the others, she found Amity, Lilith, and Acorn (who had tagged along) looking at a large map.

"This here… is one of our complete maps of the Demon Realm," Tarak revealed.

The map showed countless Titan Islands, from the other side of the world to their side of the world. It had names for the different islands and seas, and there were also markers and warning points about where not to travel.

"We Titan Trappers have thoroughly explored this realm," Tarak explained to them. "That device that brought you to us is only one of many that are set up across the Demon Realm, each connected to a different part of our world. These teleporters make exploring this realm far easier than just by using ships. But we do try to keep our maps up to date as well."

"Amazing… look," Amity said as she pointed at the map. "That's where the Boiling Isles would be."

"Your maps are more complete than ours," Lilith realized, looking absolutely shocked. "You all may know more about the Demon Realm than anyone else…"

Back with King's group, the small demon was walking with Cross and the girls as they followed the Strays.

"Alright King, let's prepare you for initiation," Conner declared.

"Yeah, time to show you our ways," Crasha said.

"So um, how exactly are you going to show me your ways?" King asked them

King was now holding up a bat and wearing a blindfold as Strays had a pinata of a Titan set up. King swung the bat, hitting the pinata. Once the pinata broke, candy spilled on the ground.

"Way to go, King!" Conner declared while patting King as everyone grabbed some candy.

"This doesn't seem too bad…" Donna commented while getting herself some candy.

"This was just the first trial," Raven told them. "We would lead him through more but it's still night."

"Perhaps we can show you guys around more in the meantime," Nate suggested as the Strays decided to show their guests more around the settlement.

As they explored the grounds, Nate pointed to someone. "Over there is my mentor, Bonejaws. He's one of our best Trappers, and a good teacher."

"Hey, Nate," said Bonejaws, who had a skullcap with broken horns, one long tooth and was barbed in a brown coat with many bags on it. He was busy setting up a trap. "I see you and your friends have some outsiders with you."

"Yes, this is King, he is a Stray who wanted to learn more about his roots," Nate told his mentor.

"Well, then welcome to our island, King," Bonejaws responded. "I was just finishing up one of my latest traps. Check this out."

Using a simple log, he threw it on the ground. This activated a mechanism as the log got caught in a net, with the trees around it shooting up parts of a cage, trapping the log.

"Whoa, that's elaborate," King said.

"Honestly, one of my less over the top creations," Bonejaws admitted. "But it fulfills its purpose. Are you taking notes of this, Nate?"

"Um, yes sir!" Nate responded as he wrote down on a notepad.

"So… is anyone hungry for a midnight snack?" Conner asked around.

The Strays brought the guests to the tavern, where they were shown some seats.

"You can wait here while we get you guys something." Raven told them.

"Ooh, let me order something!" King asked as he ran up to the counter.

Lindsay looked around the tavern. "This place looks nice-" But then she paused, her eye widening when she saw that mounted on the wall were heads of animals. Some she recognized, like a griffin head. But others were completely unknown to her. But the Shystream girl still felt uncomfortable regardless.

"Lindsay," Cross said, noticing this. "Are you alright?"

"Y-Yeah," Lindsay responded. "Just… feeling a little tense around here."

"You wanna step outside for a bit?" he asked her.

Lindsay silently nodded and Cross took her hand. He turned to Donna. "Me and Lindsay are going to step out for a bit."

"Everything al-" Donna noticed the mounted animals and realized the reason. "Oh… well, I'll be here if you guys need us."

"Thank you, Donna," Lindsay replied as she and Cross stepped outside of the tavern.

As Donna watched them leave, Crasha walked up to her. "So… all three of you are in a relationship. Who's the lead of this relationship?"

"Um… none of us. We're all equally supportive of each other," Donna said.

"Ah… so what's the mating ritual like?" Crasha asked, making Donna blush lightly at the thought.

"We didn't do anything like that," Donna said before she got up and went over to join King, who was hanging out with the rest of the Strays. Raven passed a drink to Donna.

"Where's Cross and Lindsay?" King asked.

"They're stepping outside for a bit," Donna replied as she sat beside King.

"King here was just about to tell us about himself," Nate said.

"Yeah, like how'd you get a name like King?" Conner asked him.

"Well, firstly my foster mom, Eda, gave me that name when she found me," King explained. "Growing up, I was mostly a stay-at-home kind of guy. My life in the Isles may not have been like it would have been here in the settlement, but I've still been through a lot. I got turned into a donkey once, I went to the Underworld, I got a girlfriend who's from another Realm, and I have faced off against pirates, criminals, and the most dangerous of all… penguins."

"Wow, sounds like you've been on a lot of adventures," Conner commented.

"I don't know what a penguin is, but already they sound deadly," Crasha said.

"Oh, they are," King said.

"What can you tell us about the Boiling Isles, though?" Nate inquired. "We heard from Tarak's last visit that the witches down there still worship a giant corpse."

"Yeah, like is it true you guys really follow someone who claims he can talk to a husk?" Crasha asked them. "Cause to be honest, that Belos guy sounds silly."

"Yup, it really is silly and Belos is pretty much a whack-job," King said. "And a total fraud."

"Yeah, although Belos has been the least of our worries," Donna admitted. "Besides that crazy Coachman, we had to deal with a school war, a Fae-goddess who caused a riot, the Grim Goblin, a basilisk rebellion, Yokai, and one of the Head Witches, Terra Snapdragon, being exposed as the leader of a trafficking ring and trying to turn everyone into trees."

"A lot of that was just in the last week," King admitted.

"Wow, sounds like you guys have been through a lot this year," Conner replied.

"More like the last few months," Donna admitted, not even wanting to talk about that time she almost got married. "So what about you guys? What can you tell us about yourselves?" Donna asked them, curious about the Strays and their lives.

"Well, just like Tarak states, I was found in a bird's nest," Raven explained. "I don't know who my parents are or why they left me in the nest in the first place. I think I was raised by birds…"

"I actually knew my parents," Crasha said while looking down at the table. "I was only a kid at the time, but I do remember that they were kind and sweet, and we would crash through everything!" she declared. "But… they died in an accident, sacrificing themselves to protect me from a collision. I was left with only this jewel." She pointed to a necklace that she was wearing. "My only family heirloom, and it has been with me through thick and thin."

"Wow, I actually have something like this," King commented, pointing to his collar. "It was from my dad."

"Nice," Crasha responded. "After my parents died, I was alone for a while, until Tarak came and took me in. I owe a lot to him, especially since it is thanks to him that I get to live with this awesome bunch."

"What about you, Nate?" King asked him.

"Well, I've been under apprenticeship with Bonejaws for as long as I was remember," he said. "He was the one who found me, brought me to this island. Even when I was a baby, I could build stuff with whatever I could get my hands on, whether it is wood or stone. The village thought I was weird, but Tarak and Bonejaws saw the potential in my creativity. So I've been using it to figure out how to make weapons and traps for them. Bonejaws has taught me everything he knew about the trade."

"Can you also make me a weapon?" King asked him. "Like, a giant sword made of bones and flesh and stuff like that."

"I'll see what I can do," Nate said, nodding.

Donna noticed Gallantor hiding behind the barrel. "Your cat seems scared."

"Oh, Gallantor? Ah don't worry, he's a lot friendlier when he warms up to you," Conner said. "He was just a kitten when I found him, all alone and abandoned. I recognized him as a Stray just like me, so I asked Tarak if I could keep him. He approved of it, believing that he would make great for an animal companion in battle when he grew up… of course, he may not have the warrior's spirit, but he is the bravest cat I know. Aren't you, Gallantor?"

Gallantor shook his head before he began walking up to Conner and Donna. She gave him a friendly wave and when Gallantor got a good look at Donna, his eyes suddenly widened. He went over to Conner and began pawing at him, meowing loudly.

"Woah, what's wrong, my friend?" Conner asked Gallantor. "Are you hungry?" He offered him a piece of meat. "Here you go."

"What about you, Conner?" Donna asked him. "How did they find you?"

Conner looked down. "Well, I was left with the Trappers after my parents died. I don't really remember much about them, not even what they looked like. I do vaguely remember having a twin sister, but I don't know what happened to her. I like to believe that she is alive out there somewhere." Gallantor looked up after hearing this. "Everyday I wonder what she's like and if she's still alive or not. I really do want to find her someday."

Donna was surprised by this and she looked down as well. "I… actually know how you feel, Conner. I lost my parents when I was just a baby. They were killed by a werewolf and I had a twin brother that was taken from me by my uncle. I don't know what became of him, but I still want to believe that he's alive somewhere out there, and I know I want to find him someday."

"So you… lost your parents and your brother?" Conner asked, looking up at Donna. "I'm very sorry."

"Thank you," Donna said, looking as well. "And I'm sorry about your parents and sister."

The two looked at each other and for a moment, nobody spoke. Gallantor watched them expectedly.

"Well… I hope you find your brother," Conner said.

"Yeah, and I hope you find your sister," Donna responded with a nod.

At this, Gallantor face-palmed with his paw, meowing in frustration.

"So, do you guys know any games?" King asked the others.

Back at the Isles, the trio of Willow, Skara, and Nina were over at Lambi's apartment after dropping off Scabrina home.

"This should be the floor," Willow said as they went to where Lambi's apartment door was. "Have you been here before, Nina?"

"Yeah, when I was picking her up for a date," Nina replied, looking around.

"I heard that her mom is not only the shaman for the temple, but she's also a supervisor here," Skara added.

Once Nina knocked on the door, opening it was Awassi, who looked down at the girls. But particularly she was looking at Nina. "What are you doing here, Ms. Fangs?"

"Mrs. Lambada, I came here to check up on your daughter," Nina said. "I didn't see her at school today and I was worried about her."

"And what makes you think I'd allow you to do that?" Awassi asked the werecat. "Because of you, she missed a service at the temple. She has never shown disobedience up until now."

"Mrs. Lambada, it's not Nina's fault that your daughter missed service," Willow pointed out to her. "She chose to miss the service because of what you said to Nina."

Awassi scoffed. "Are you seriously trying to blame me? I'm just trying to look out for my daughter's best interests. She never missed service before she started spending time with Ms. Fangs. It's no coincidence."

"It's not because of Nina, it's because of your words toward her. Did you expect your daughter to be fine with you telling Nina that you don't want her to be seen during the service?" Willow pointed out. "For Titan's sake, she's her girlfriend."

Rather than respond to Willow, Awassi instead took notice of Skara and frowned. "I'm surprised you're showing your face around here, Ms. Brooke. Since everyone knows about your lycanthropy…"

"What?" Skara asked, glaring at her.

"Hey, leave my girlfriend out of this, Awassi," Willow told her off, defending Skara.

"Your girlfriend?" Awassi exclaimed. "You're still dating her after realizing who she was?!"

"I already knew, and unlike you, my fathers are very okay with it," Willow told her.

Awassi scoffed. "Her family will ruin you, Ms. Park. They had the audacity to hide who they really were. At least Ms. Fangs had the decency to not hide her sin."

Nina winced at this, being reminded of the temple services at the reservation, but she didn't say anything. She knew better than to try to make a scene. A werecat attacking a well-respected shaman? Not even the Brookes would be able to protect her.

"Big talk coming from someone who's acting a little bit like Nicole," Willow told her, which shocked Skara, Nina, and Awassi.

"I… I am nothing like that woman!" Awassi declared, glaring at the three. "Clearly, Lambi's surrounded by bad influences. Get out of here before I call the scouts!"

Willow's eyes glowed while glaring at Awassi, but Nina put her hand on her shoulder.

"Come on, let's just go," Nina responded softly as she escorted the girls away from the shaman.

As Awassi watched them leave, she did briefly look conflicted, but then another tenant opened their door. "Hey Ms. Lambada, what was the fuss all about-"

"Go back inside, Ernie," Awassi told her neighbor.

The three girls walked down to another floor, looking dejected. Especially Nina, who stuffed her hands in her pocket.

"This isn't fair for Lambi," Skara said, crossing her arms. "I can't believe she has to put up with a mom like her."

"I know, it's… it's like her attitude completely changed when she saw you," Willow said, her fists tightening. "What is wrong with her?"

"She's a proud woman, too stubborn to admit that she's wrong," Nina said in a low voice. "And I saw her body language. She's trying to hide it, but she's scared too." She turned to Skara. "Of you."

Skara's eyes widened. "She's scared of me?"

Nina nodded. "Earlier, I think she did want to be supportive of her daughter's relationship with me and I think she was convinced that she was being kind to me, trying to put aside whatever beliefs she had before she decided to double down on those fears and suspicions." She sighed, being too familiar with this kind of reaction. "But let's just get our minds off of Awassi for a while. We can't help Lambi now, but we will figure out a way to help her. Her mom can't keep her up there forever."

Skara looked around, getting an idea. "Maybe we can stop by my cousin's place here."

"Your cousin lives here?" Nina asked her.

"Oh yeah, I do remember you mentioning her," Willow said, being reminded of when she saw Skara here while she and Bo had a study group at Lambi's place. That felt so long ago now.

"I think you guys will like her," Skara said as she led the way, "Of course, she can be a bit… loopy, in her own way."

"Loopy?" Nina asked.

Once they made it to the door, Skara knocked on it. After hearing some rumbling from inside, the door opened up, revealing a brown-furred wolf woman wearing a yellow cap, tye-dye long shirt, and purple trousers. "Skara? What are you doing here?" she asked. For some reason, she spoke with a French accent.

"Hey, Dotty," Skara said, waving to her. "Mind if we come in? If you're not busy or having anyone over, that is…"

"No, come in," Dotty said as she let the three in.

Willow and Nina looked around, seeing that Dotty lived in a blank apartment with a couch, a CB, table, some wallpapers of psychedelic bands, and jars of incense inside liquids. Some music played from a record. The coffee table had some cigarette holders on it. Evidently, she smoked. Nina's nose could tell.

"Hope you all like Gush," Dotty responded as she sat on the couch. "So, mind introducing me to your friends?"

"Oh, right. This is Willow, my girlfriend," Skara introduced her.

"Nice to meet you," Willow said politely.

"And this is Nina, my surrogate older sister, she's been living with my family for over a month now," Skara explained, making Nina smile slightly.

"Hey," Nina greeted Dotty.

"Everyone, this is my cousin Dotty DeWolf, she is from my dad's side of the family," Skara introduced them. "She's kind of… estranged. But we still keep in touch."

"So is she like… also…?" Nina asked, unable to tell if Dotty was a werewolf or a biped.

"A werewolf? Well, my father was but he married a biped. I was born like this, but no lycanthropy in my genes," she said. "But I've been using my mother's maiden name, in case the Brookes were ever… exposed. No offense, little cousin."

"None taken," Skara replied as the three took a seat.

"So you kids want anything? I got some pastries and croissants, if you're into that stuff," Dotty said.

"We're good, thank you," Willow responded.

"Yeah," Nina said while looking around. "You have a lot of incense here."

"It's one of the side hustles I have whenever I'm not working at the retail store," she replied while grabbing her own snack. "So what brings you all here? Did you come to visit me or were you just in the neighborhood?"

"We were here to see our friend and Nina's girlfriend, Lambi," Willow replied. "She got grounded and her mom won't allow us to see her. She's… mad at Nina right now."

"Lambi… you mean that Mary girl, you're dating the shaman's daughter?" Dotty asked Nina.

"Yeah," Nina replied with a nod.

"Well, that's interesting," Dotty responded to her. "Though I can't say I'm surprised that Awassi won't allow you to see her, considering her 'tolerance' toward lycans." She looked over to Skara. "How's Uncle Slash and the rest of the fam going? I heard about what happened to Auntie Cali. Of course, everyone in the Isles heard about what happened…"

"She still hasn't woken up," Skara replied sadly. "Me, Dad, and Scabrina have been trying to adjust since the reveal. School today was decent, except that Scabrina got into a fight…"

"Did she win?" Dotty asked, causing Skara to give her a look. "What, I know she's a tough little one," she defended herself as she ate her snacks. She then turned to Willow and Nina. "So Willow, Nina, what can you tell me about yourselves? Like how did you meet my cousin?"

"Well, me and Skara both go to Hexside and we have been dating for I think about two months now," Willow answered. "We started hanging out because we were both concerned for our friend, Amity. You probably have heard of her."

"The Fae girl?" Dotty asked with a nod. "Oh yeah, I heard about her."

"Anyway, it was thanks to Willow that I've become a better witch than I was before," Skara continued. "Remember when I told you about how I dumped my friend Bo? Willow was the one who helped me to make amends with her. And that gave me the courage to stand up to Boscha. Also, she and the rest of my friends figured out that I was a werewolf after the first time that I transformed…"

"Yeah, I heard about the 'loose werewolf' thing that turned out to be a hoax," Dotty said. "But I suspect that was not the case."

"Yeah, it was a close call," Skara admitted.

"What about your feline friend?" Dotty asked, turning to Nina. "You're living with the Brookes?"

"Oh, well… it's a bit awkward… we met during the school war," Nina said, a bit embarrassed. "I was from Glandus, and I forced her to transform so that I could fight her. Skara won. After that, everyone in Glandus got arrested and so was I because of the whole criminal conspiracy thing. Since I would have been put down by the Emperor's Coven, Skara asked her mom to pardon me, but as part of that pardon I had to move in with the Brookes." She sighed as she leaned on the couch. "At first, I took my pardon for granted and it took me a while to warm up to Skara and her family. And during my time with them, I learned that I was infertile and that I had lost the respect of my werecat community after the Glandus war…"

"Sorry to hear that," Dotty told her.

"Yeah, and I even learned that my parents didn't want me back," Nina admitted. "But the Brookes… they have been nothing but kind to me. I have come around to appreciate what they've done for me and I owe still being here to them, especially kitkat." She pointed to Skara. "And once I started to trust them, things did get better for me. I made some new friends, joined the cheersquad, earned back the respect of some of my werecat peers, and started rekindling with my mom and my siblings." She looked down, thinking of Casey. "I-it hasn't all been great though." She was quiet for a moment. "Before the Glandus War went down, I wanted to become the first lycan Head Witch. I thought I would be able to help lycans and end the self-loathing." She looked up at the ceiling. "I don't know how possible that dream is anymore…"

"Hmm, you remind me of myself when I was younger, Nina," Dotty admitted. "About wanting to give lycankind a better life. I once had those same aspirations"

"You did?" Nina asked her.

"Yeah, but like you I realized that those kinds of ideals… just aren't realistic," Dotty said, glancing down at the ground with a jaded look. "I may not be lycan, but I came from a family of them. And I wanted to help them. I thought I could change how the Isles saw lycans." She turned to Skara. "Your dad also thought the same, but both of our dreams were crushed. So rather than try to change our situation, we learned that it was best to adapt and hide what we are. So I became a cynic, hiding my werewolf roots. Of course, wolf bipeds are only treated marginally better. Awassi tolerates me, but sometimes she looks at me like I'm going to eat her child."

"Oh man… I'm so sorry, Dotty," Skara apologized.

"You got nothing to apologize for," Dotty told her. "It's the system we live in. And it ain't changing anytime soon."

Silence fell over the room as Willow, Skara, and Nina looked at the wolf woman. Dotty sighed and turned to Nina.

"By the way, Nina, you should move your family out of the Villa if you still can. Because I don't believe that they're actually safe there. Cause all of those lycans conveniently grouped up in one place makes for a very tempting target."

Nina looked alarmed by this. "You think… someone will target them?"

"The werecats in the Villa were tolerated because they kept to themselves and stayed quiet," Dotty pointed out. "But I've heard of what has been going on at the Villa lately. Those protests, combined with Uncle Slash biting off a vampire's head, makes those werecats a lot more visible and other witches a lot more nervous. There has been a lot of tension brewing for a while and I think that it is soon going to reach a tipping point. And when we reach that tipping point, the Torsa Villa will be at the center of it." She acknowledged both Skara and Nina. "I suggest you girls to keep your heads low, just like I'm doing. Wait for the heat to die down. Because I want to keep you safe, especially you, Skara."

When Dotty spoke to her cousin directly, her face became sadder and her voice nearly broke. "Because you, your dad, your mom, and your sister are the only family I have left…"

Back at the reunion, Eda continued talking with the Drakescales.

"So wait, there are witches in the Human Realm?" Damien asked her.

"Oh yeah, I've befriended a few of them," Eda replied. "The common witches are more normal looking, can easily pass off as humans. Then there's the Hags, witches that look more wicked and haggish. The Hand Witch would be considered one but don't tell her that, I go to her book clubs and I am not ready to lose that membership."

"Noted," Clair responded. "But I am shocked that the Human Realm is so similar to our own."

"Yeah, but a lot of their magical creatures are still pretty different from the ones in this realm," Eda noted. "The wizards are more legit there than they are here, and the leprechauns are negotiable to trade their gold… only in return that is."

"That's surprising to hear," Drayden said. "The leprechauns here will just try to kill us for not leaving out snails for them."

"Good thing we have enough for the spring," Zee replied with a grin.

"Hey, Clair," Lulu said awkwardly as she walked up to them. "Um… I should be the one to tell you that…"

"WE'RE HERE!"

Clair's eyes widened when she heard that familiar voice as everyone turned to see who showed up at the Ranch. "Oh crap…"

"Clair?!" shouted a elderly witch woman with gray hair tied to a bun, glasses, a brown sleeveless turtleneck with pearls around her wrists, a long blue dress, and gray boots. Next to her was her short husband who was balding, wearing glasses, and had a beard. He was wearing a rolled up black button shirt and beige pants with brown boots.

"I can't believe that you actually decided to show up this year!" shouted the short witch man next to his wife.

"Scelma… Marrow…" Clair hissed as she gave them a narrow look. Damien, Drayden, and Zee both look concerned for Clair, but kept silent as the old witch couple walked over to them.

"Her parents?" Eda asked Lulu.

"Yeah…" Lulu responded while Eartha just groaned in annoyance.

"I thought you two weren't supposed to be here until the end of the week…" Clair told them.

"Well we were planning that, but then we thought why wait til the Day of Unity," Clair's mom, Scelma, told her. "Of course, we weren't expecting you to show your face after all this time…"

"Yeah, and we certainly didn't expect to see them here with you," Clair's dad, Marrow, responded, pointing to Damien and Zee. "Hell, the girl ain't even a real Clawthorne!"

Zee tensed up upon hearing this, but Damien intervened. "Hey, that is not how you will speak to my daughter, she's just as much welcome here as anyone else."

"He's right, she's a part of this family, just like my husband and his father," Clair declared.

"Oh, you think you're still part of this family?" Scelma called her out. "After years of not showing your face around here and after not marrying Lance Thunderstone like we wanted you to!"

"Okay, first off, I didn't marry Lance because I didn't love him," Clair responded. "Last I saw him, he was happily married."

"You could've worked things out with Lance!" Scelma told her. "But no, you instead married someone with a kid!"

"Yeah, a child from a criminal family," Marrow said cruelly while turning his gaze upon Zee. "Her mother was nothing but Latissa trash, and we knew that she was going to drag this family down to the gutter!"

Zee just looked away, hiding her face. Of course, Clair, Damien, and Drayden were furious, but before they could do anything-

"Would you two shut the fuck up?!"

Scelma and Marrow looked surprised as they saw Eda, who got in between them and the Drakescales. "Hi, name's Eda, not a pleasure to meet you, and what right do you two have to judge them?"

"Of course, the Owl Lady…" Scelma said with a scoff.

"I never thought I would see you here, not after all the trouble you caused and all the bad press you gave the Clawthorne name," Marrow pointed out.

"Heh, funny, I at least didn't immediately cause a scene by harassing my kid and her family," Eda told them off, "You two think you're special or something? Cause you're not. First time hearing about you two and already you're just pains in the asses," she told them with a frown.

"Why, how dare you talk to us like that!" Marrow told her with a glare.

"Who do you think you are?!" Scelma demanded.

"Someone who doesn't have time to deal with old brats that smell their own farts," Eda told them.

Scelma and Marrow continued to argue while Eda kept mocking them, all the while the Drakescales decided to quickly make their leave. Once they made it outside, Brolin and Eartha intercepted them.

"You're leaving so soon?" Brolin asked them.

"Excuse us, uncle Brolin, and aunt Eartha," Clair told them. "It's just-"

"We understand, Clair," Eartha said with a sigh while looking at Zee in concern. "Are you alright, Zee?"

"Yeah…" Zee said while looking down with a frown.

"Clair, you and your family are always welcome here, despite what your parents say," Brolin assured them while looking up to Drayden. "It was great seeing all of you."

"Thank you, Brolin," Damien responded as Brolin gave them each a hug.

"Stop by if you like, anytime," Brolin told them while turning to Zee. "And Zee… you're just as welcome here as anyone else. You're family too."

Zee finally looked up at Brolin, wiping away her tears. "Thanks, Great-Uncle Brolin."

"Hey," Eda said as she came out to see them ."Tell me you're not going to say goodbye now? You guys don't have to leave."

"As much as we would like to stay, we don't want to make things any more awkward than it is," Damien said.

"Yeah, but it was nice getting to know you and everyone in the family, Eda," Clair said.

"Oh, yeah, it was good to meet you all as well," Eda said with a nod as she went to hug Clair and Damien before turning to Zee. "Hey kid, you alright?"

"I am," Zee confirmed with a nod.

"You know what? Forget what they said, since they don't know what really makes a Clawthorne," Eda pointed out. "You're easily more of a Clawthorne than those old buzzards are."

Zee started to tear up some more as she gave Eda a hug. Soon the Drakescales left, though Eda was still happy before her departure.

"Before I leave, I should do something to give Clair's parents something to remember me by…" Eda grumbled.

"What was that?" Eartha asked.

"Don't worry, Aunt Eartha, nothing for you to be concerned about," Eda replied with a not-so-innocent smile. "Unless you want to get in on this."

Eartha's eyes narrowed at Eda. "Hmm, I don't know what you're planning…" She then smiled. "But I could use a good kick."

At the top of the tower on Titan Trapper Island, Luz, Amity, Acorn, and Lilith stood in front of the door that led to Bill.

"And now I must take my leave," Tarak said as he started to walk away before briefly turning around. "Tell Bill I said hi."

"Still not calling him that," Luz said.

After Tarak was gone, Lilith brought the girls close to her while Luz put the camera away. "Luz, Amity, there's something else I should let you two know,"

"What is it, Lilith?" Amity asked her.

"Well, not only did I come along to meet King's family and research another culture, but also… I am thinking that these Titan Trappers could potentially join Raine's rebellion," she said while looking around. "Since we could use the extra manpower. But I didn't want to bring it up, not before we meet their leader. I want to make sure that Liam and the Titan Trappers can be trusted. Even if we depose Belos, the last thing we need is another Belos."

Luz and Amity gave an understanding look to Lilith. "Yeah, I think we get what you mean," Luz agreed. "Like, I didn't even mention my powers cause I don't know if I could trust King's people either. This could be my chance to know what is going on with me, but I don't want to reveal it immediately."

"For now, let's keep things on a need-to-know basis until we know they can be trusted," Amity said as Acorn nodded alongside her. "Besides, who knows how they'll take it knowing that I'm part-fae."

And so, they entered Bill's room. Inside, they saw the room was a cluttered mess, filled with stuff that looked like it had been laying there for years. Luz scourged through a box and pulled out a sword.

"Ooh, look at this bad boy," Luz declared… only for the blade to turn to dust.

"Hey Luz, check this out," Amity said as she held up a red staff with a spiral spear. The spear spun itself around, only to fall limp. "These weapons do look worn out," Amity said in disappointment.

"Where is… Bill?" Lilith asked as she looked around before she heard snoring noises. They turned toward the noises and saw someone sleeping on a large chair. He was a short skullcap demon with long, pointed horns and teeth, a melting black candle with a blue flame on his head. He wore a dark gray cowl over a cyan robe with yellow trims and a brown belt with a satchel attached to it. He had spiky large gray hair. He was sleeping with a book titled 'The Last Titan: A Study of the Boiling Isles', written by Flora D'splora.

"That's Bill?" Amity asked. "He's a lot shorter than I thought he would be."

Lilith walked over to him and gently whispered. "Excuse me, um, Bill of the Titan Trappers-"

"WAH!" Bill shouted as he woke up, the book falling off his head. "Whazza-who what now?! Who the heck are you all?!"

"Um, hello, Bill," Lilith said. "We wish for you to-"

"What? Speak up!" Bill shouted while using a large hearing horn. "You came in here like an angry Titan, only to whisper like the wind?!"

"Tarak sent us to you," Lilith said while walking up close to him. "We are just humble travelers begging for your audience with this community's wise leader."

"Oh, you're here to see the great Bill? Me?" Bill asked him.

"First of all, I'm not calling you Bill," Luz interrupted. "Don't ask."

"What's her problem?" Bill asked.

"Um, we're not here to discourage you, sir," Lilith responded as she cleared her throat. "Tarak told us about you, he said that he was your friend."

"Of course he did," Bill said, rolling his eyes. "Now what do you want? I was trying to catch some sleep."

"Sorry to disturb you, but we thought you could answer some of our questions," Lilith said. "You see, we are from the Boiling Isles…"

"That old carcass kingdom? Oh yeah, you must be carcass worshipers," he said, pointing to them. "You guys are ruled by that upstart Belos, right? Cause that guy's no big deal. I've got battle scars older than his reign as Emperor! Wanna see?" he asked, lifting up his shirt to show his scar on his bare torso.

"Uh, no, we're good," Luz said while she and Amity avoided looking at it while Lilith flinched. Acorn couldn't help but look curious.

"Eh, your loss," Bill said before pulling his shirt down.

"Wait, how old are you?" Amity asked him.

"Heh, older than you think. I was there when the first Titan fell," Bill declared, striking a heroic pose. "And I intend to live long enough to see the last Titan fall as well, thanks to a blessing from the Great Huntsman, who has decided that I should live until the hunt is finished! As long as my candle is lit, that means the last Titan still remains."

"So your god granted you immortality?" Amity asked.

"How do you not set things on fire with it?" Luz asked him.

"Yes and this is a magic flame that won't spread," he pointed out. "Over the years, I've seen tyrants like Belos rise and fall, so your emperor isn't as big of a deal as you might think. He may have his small corner of the world, but he is just the latest in a long line of those just like him. When you get as old as I am, you notice the patterns. And you get to see some strange things. Like things that I've seen fall from the sky…"

"From the… sky?" Lilith asked him.

"Yeah, on occasion stuff falls from the sky and sometimes me and my people would collect those items. Including weapons," he explained. "That way, we'd be better equipped for the hunt for the last Titan!" Bill then took a step down from his seat, cracking his back. "Of course, sometimes something evil falls from the sky as well… like the Horned King."

The four reacted in shock upon hearing the name. "You know the Horned King?!" Luz asked him.

"Bill, please tell us what you know about him," Lilith begged.

"Oh, I can tell you my story… with shadow puppets!" Bill declared. "Now please sit down while I set up."

Luz, Amity, and Lilith sat on the floor while Bill propped up a lantern and used his claws to form shadow puppets.

"Okay, so long ago, back when the Titans would roam the Demon Realm, there was an evil known as the Horned King," Bill started as his shadows formed into a shadowy portal, which a meteor fell through. "Originally, he came from another world that was cleansed, leaving nothing for him to feed on. He fled from that world and ended up in our world, where he immediately began to feed." The shadowy head of the Horned King started devouring the souls of those he came across.

Luz and Maya gave an uneasy look when hearing this, but nonetheless they kept listening for more information about the Horned King. Lilith, meanwhile, felt like she had heard about this before.

"The beings that he fled from… they were called the Archivists, correct?" she asked.

Bill looked at him, surprised. "Yes, they were called that," he said. "So you do know a thing or two after all. What else do you know?"

"I know… that the Horned King created the basilisks, which were not spawned from the Titans," Lilith revealed, information that surprised Amity and Luz. "And I heard that the Titans were involved in the conflict between the Horned King and the Archivists…"

Bill nodded. "Correct. But do you know what their role in the conflict was?" Lilith shook her head, so Bill continued. "So yes, the Archivists pursued the Horned King to our world, intent on destroying his evil." He showed shadow figures of those beings. "The Archivists made contact with the Titans, but they soon learned that the Titans were immune to their magic." The shadowed Archivists tried to use their magic on the Titans, but they fought back with their own power. "The Horned King learned of this and wanted to take advantage of his enemy's weakness, so he decided to possess one of the Titans, who were vulnerable to his possession." The shadow of the Horned King inserted itself into the jaws of the Titan, thus possessing the colossal being.

"Using the Titans as host bodies, the Horned King threatened all life on this planet. So in order to deprive the Horned King of his greatest assets, the Archivists, including the Great Huntsman, were forced to carry out a cleansing of the Titans, employing me and others like me to aid in this task." He showed a shadow of himself being blessed with a candle head while others followed him into battle.

"Eventually, the Horned King was stopped when one of the last Titans sacrificed himself to keep the Horned King prisoner in his bones." The shadow of the Titan trapped the Horned King within himself. "And that Titan as you know it, became the Boiling Isles."

"This… this is a lot…" Lilith said while taking notes, writing down everything she was being told.

"However, the son of the Boiling Isles, the last Titan, is still out there and as long as he exists, he could pose a threat to the entire Isles if the Horned King were to escape his prison, and choose that Titan as his vessel," he said while showing an image of the Horned King possessing a Titan, while also forming what looked like a sphere. "However, we also need the Titan to free the Great Huntsman from his own prison, since it was the Boiling Isles Titan that put him there," he said, showing the Great Huntsman trapped in that sphere.

Everyone looked shocked by this new information, although Luz looked more than a little anxious about this.

"So the Horned King can possess… a Titan?" Lilith asked in shock while looking at Luz and noticing her anxiety. She patted Luz's shoulder in comfort, making Luz look up to her aunt.

"Yup, and we have to put an end to the Last Titan before the Horned King possesses him," Bill declared.

"But wouldn't you have found him already?" Amity pointed out, while also looking shocked by the information along with Acorn. She held Luz's hand in comfort, to keep her at ease. "Like, wouldn't it be noticeable if there was a giant, baby Titan running around?"

"Yeah, that would be a noticeable thing to spot," Luz agreed.

"You'd think that, but baby Titans are actually quite small compared to their parents. Pretty much our size," Bill explained. "The children around here don't know a thing about the Titans, nor the little ones. But I do. They act like little tyrants and have monstrous appetites, not to mention their terrible cries!" he ranted while looking out the window. "They have no idea…"

As Bill brooded, Amity felt a tap on her leg. Looking down, she saw Sam pointing out to a curtain-covered doorway. "Follow me, you have to see this."

Amity followed Sam, which Luz and Lilith took notice of before they also decided to follow her behind the curtain. Once they were behind the curtain, their eyes widened… in horror at what they saw.

They looked around and saw wall carvings depicting the Titan Trappers hunting down Titans and other beasts, and skulls that looked similar to King's species laid around in piles or for decorative purposes. What they also saw was a shrine at the center of the room. A shrine of a smiling sun with a crescent moon on the left side. On the table in front of it was another skull with horns.

"What…" Lilith said, her glasses almost falling over.

"They're… all…" Amity said while Acorn looked pale.

"King…" Luz whispered under her breath.

Amity was taken aback, but then she spotted a snowglobe on a table next to her. When she picked it up, she saw inside of it was the face of the Collector. After she heard child-like laughter, Amity gasped and dropped the snowglobe to the floor.

"Their god is their Collector…" Amity said in shock.

"Ah, you've found my shrine for the Huntsman!" Bill shouted as he popped up from the other room. "It's been my little DIY project for years."

"Um, excuse me, Bill, but the skulls…" Lilith said, pointing to them.

"Oh yeah, I can explain that," Bill said. "You see, the purpose of the shrine is to honor the Great Huntsman. All of those skulls belonged to the younger Titans, many of whom I killed myself before they could grow up and become a problem." Everyone was understandably disturbed by this as Bill continued, not noticing their reaction. "We even use the skulls to disguise ourselves."

"...What?!" Luz, Amity, and Lilith asked in shock.

"Yeah, like this skullcap here? My first kill," Bill said as he pulled up the sleeve of the fur, revealing his true skin. In fact, his chin also became more noticeable as he pulled the claw off, revealing his real hand "Like our disguises? In order to hunt a Titan, you gotta look like a Titan to trap one. If you want to make your own disguise, we have plenty of skulls left. So, heh, take your pick!"

The group looked sick to the stomach as Bill kept rambling. "But it will all be worth it when I slay that missing Titan. When I get my hands on him, I will hunt it down, tear it limb from limb, and mount its head in pride as we release the Huntsman!" he declared. "And then… my followers can go from being Titan Trappers to Titan Slayers! Haha! Of course, I'll have to kill it before it does its little 'weh' thing."

And that hit the final nail for the group. "Um… what do you mean by the 'weh' thing?" Luz asked him.

"Oh, well that's the terrible cries that they make," Bill explained. "One of those cries shot out of my eardrums."

The group silently looked at each other and came to an agreement.

"Excuse us, Bill, but we'll be on our way. We're sorry to disturb your sleep," Lilith told him as she, Luz, Amity, and Acorn immediately fled from the room.

"Huh… what was that all about?" Bill asked in confusion.

Luz, Amity, and Lilith sprinted down the stairs as quickly as they could, with Acorn just flying down.

"We have to get King and get out of here," Lilith told them.

"Why can't we fly down?!" Luz asked.

"We can't draw too much attention, but we still have to worry!" Amity shouted. "I can't believe their god is the Collector!"

"Wait, I thought the Collector was a Fae," Luz said.

"Not according to Sly!" Amity told her. "He said that the Collector was already a powerful being. He called him a child of the stars."

"An Archivist…" Lilith realized grimly.

"Alright, just throw the ball at me!" King declared as he held up a baseball glove.

"Alright, catch!" Conner shouted as he threw the ball to King, who caught the ball. "Like this?"

"Yeah!" King shouted. "That's how you do it."

"Hey, let's try catching you, little guy," Crasha suggested, lifting King up as she threw him to Nate.

"Weh!" King cried out as Nate caught him. Nate then passes him to Raven. "Weh!" She then passes him to Conner.

"I got him!" Conner declared as he caught King. "You're right, catch is fun!"

"Yeah… maybe not with a small guy…" King admitted.

However, watching King and the Strays was Bill, who looked down from his window in the tower. His eyes focused on King as he heard his cries…

Back in the Boiling Isles, Willow headed back home after she made sure that Skara and Nina made it back home.

"I'm back," Willow announced as she came into the living room and saw her dads there.

"Willow! Thank goodness you're here," Gilbert said, looking relieved.

"Yeah, um… hey, we've got some dessert if you would like to have that first," Sully suggested.

"Really? Before dinner?" Willow asked them. "What's the occasion?"

"Oh you know, after everything that happened over the weekend, we figured that you'd deserve a good treat," Sully said.

"We've made your favorite, vanilla and strawberry," Gilbert said.

Willow looked at her fathers before settling her strap bag down. "Alright."

And so, Willow joined her dads in having some ice scream and cake. However, she still felt like this was a set up to something.

"Alright, I'll bite," Willow told them. "You're buttering me up before telling me something. So are we moving, or-"

"No, we're not moving," Sully said while turning to Gilbert, who patted his hand. "It's not easy to say this, but… we want to come clean about something."

"There is something that you deserve to know about, especially since it might be related to your new magical upgrade," Gilbert explained.

"What do you mean…?" Willow asked as Sully pulled up a photo.

"Here," Sully said as he handed the photo to Willow. When she saw it, she saw a younger version of herself attacking her classmates at daycare.

"That's…. me," Willow said in shock, "But… I don't remember this at all."

"You were angry at some kids who were picking on you, but when you used your powers you lost control and almost destroyed half the building," Gilbert said. "Afterward, you couldn't turn them off, so we had to take you to the Oracle Institute to help you, where the oracles told us that they have never seen anything like this in someone so young."

"They recommended that after they help you, your memories of the incident should be removed because of how traumatic it was. Worried about how this would affect your development, we consented to removing the memories in order for you to get better," Sully explained to her while looking down in guilt.

Willow looked shocked by this. "Wait… you mean, I attacked them, yet I don't remember? What about the other kids?"

"They're fine, and with Alador's help, we managed to cover up the incident, though he encouraged us to focus your magic away from plants, at least for a while," Sully explained. "We're so sorry that we kept this secret from you, Willow."

"And in light of everything that happened over the weekend, we decided that you needed to know the truth," Gilbert explained. "Because you have always been special, Willow."

"I… I don't know what to make of this," Willow said while looking at the photo of her again. "Wait… is this why you took me to Sam Shin for counseling?"

"Yes, which leads us to the other thing you should know about," Gilbert told her while he and Sully looked at Willow.

"The truth is, Willow… we actually found you," Sully explained to her, which shocked Willow. "Me and your papa were hiking in the woods until we heard you crying. We found you in a willow tree, which is what we named you after."

"Wait, what?" Willow asked, actually standing up.

"We thought at first you were abandoned, but as it turns out you weren't," Gilbert explained. "We soon learned that you were given to us."

"Given? By who?" Willow asked her.

"By your godmother… Sam Shin," Sully told her, which surprised Willow.

"Sam Shin… gave me to you guys?" Willow asked them. "But, wouldn't that make me her…?"

"Willow." Hearing her name called, Willow turned around and saw Sam Shin walking into the room. "There is so much that we need to talk about…"

Back at the Ranch, Scelma and Marrow were settling into a guest room.

"Well I'm sure glad that Clair and her no-good family left," Scelma said while wearing a bathrobe. "Although that Owl Lady's still here."

"Let's just enjoy our stay here for the week and not let her ruin it," Marrow said while also wearing a bathrobe. "I must say, these bathrobes Eartha gave us are quite comfortable."

"Indeed… though, why do I feel itchy?" Scelma asked as she scratched herself.

"I don't remember shaving," Marrow responded before scratching himself before gasping. "S-Scelma!"

"What?" Scelma asked before noticing herself in the mirror. Her skin was turning green with spots. "BAAAH!" she screamed before turning to her husband. "Marrow! You have hair!"

"I did?!" Marrow asked before turning to the mirror… and seeing that he now had cotton candy hair and a beard. "GAAAAAAH! What the hell's happening to us?!"

"Kyahaha! Don't you two look like a pair?"

They turned to Eda, who appeared outside the door. "Oh, you found the bathrobes. Looks like my special itching powder worked. Got it from a good magical joke shop."

"You did this?!" Scelma screamed at Eda.

"Calm down, this stuff will wash away after an hour long bath," Eda assured them. "But you know, I think I might stay here a little longer than I intended. In fact, you two should meet my daughter, she's kinda like me up to eleven," she told them with a smile, a smile that made Scelma and Marrow look at each other…

"Sorry that we have to leave so soon," Scelma told Eartha while grabbing her bags. "Me and Marrow decide that we'll have to check in on the Day of Unity after all."

"Come on, Scelma, the griffin's waiting!" Marrow shouted while tying his suitcase on the taxi-griffin.

"Will we see you two at the next reunion?" Eartha asked them before Scelma spotted Eda smiling at her.

"We'll… think about it," Scelma replied before rushing to the griffin.

As she saw them fly off, Eartha couldn't help but laugh along with Eda. "Got-dang, now that was a hilarious prank you showed me, Eda."

"Yeah, and it was nice doing it with you instead of on you for once, aunt Eartha," Eda replied while patting her aunt in the back.

"Well, this is something I never thought I would see in my day," Brolin said as he came over. "You two getting along."

Eda and Eartha looked at each other, Eda smiling gently. "Well… it's not everyday I get to have fun with the rest of the family, or get them involved in my pranks."

"I'll admit, while you haven't changed much… I did miss ya, Eda," Eartha told her, "For better or worse, you're still family. Having you, Gwen, Dell, Lilith, and your kids here was such a delight."

"And you're welcome to be here for as long as you like," Brolin told her. "You're part of the family, after all."

This made Eda smile. She was definitely glad that she had come.

Back on Titan Trapper Island, King was still with the Strays as they hung out, having a good laugh amongst themselves.

"No way, you got caught in your own trap?" King asked Nate.

"I'll admit, it was a miscalculation," Nate admitted while Crasha nudged him.

"Yeah, but it sure was funny to see him launch in the air like that," Crasha said. "And I thought I crashed a lot."

"You know, King, you're a pretty cool guy," Conner said, patting King on the back. "I think you'd make a great Titan Trapper."

"Really?" King asked with an eager look.

"Head's up," Raven said as she pointed to Tarak walking over to them. "Tarak's here."

"Tidings, my young Strays," Tarak spoke to them. "Have you helped King accommodate?"

"We have, sir," Conner responded.

"Good. Mind if I borrow King? I wish to show him something," Tarak said while looking around. "And where are his other friends?"

"Oh, well Donna went to check up on Cross and Lindsay," Conner confirmed before King went to follow Tarak.

"So how is your time here so far, King?" Tarak asked him while leading him to a hut.

"Honestly, pretty great," King admitted. "I actually ended up playing catch with the Strays. Well, I ended up being the ball, but it's nice to play among my peers. And just be among my peers."

"Well, I'm glad that you had fun," Tarak said before he pulled back the curtains. "Now then, another thing to show you…" He led King into a room of various weapons and mounted skulls. "Behold, the armory!"

"Wow…" King said as he walked around. "There's a lot of things in here that I shouldn't touch. Well, my mom never allowed me to touch weapons, but I'm a big guy."

"Tis you are, and I'd be delighted to help train you in the ways of dismembering your enemies," Tarak told him.

"You… would do that?" King asked eagerly before he held up his collar. "Hey, can you tell me what this means, though?"

Tatak looked at the symbol of his collar tag. "I'm not sure what that is. But…. maybe we can find out together," he suggested. "I assume your father was lost in a hunt of yore. But a Titan Trapper is never alone, and I'm just happy to see that he passed down this." He knocked on his own skull, making King a little teary-eyed.

After he wiped his tears away, King looked up at Tarak. "Can I ask a favor? I mean, it's silly, but… um… can we play catch? Just me and you?"

Tarak seemed surprised by this, but he nodded. "I believe we may," Tarak responded as he pointed behind King. "You can find some special equipment thither."

"Thither?" King asked before rushing to a chest.

As Tarak watched, he heard a crow caw, causing him to turn to the window.

"Tarak, are you there?" Bill's voice came from the crow.

"Ah, Bill! Tis Tarak, what sayeth you friend?" Tarak asked happily.

"Shut it, you fool, and listen," Bill said to him. "That kid you're with…"

As Tarak talked to Bill, King found a rather fleshy-looking glove and ball from the chest. He had never seen equipment like this before, but he was willing to give it a try. As he put the glove on, he threw the ball upward and attempted to catch it, but it bounced from his snout and rolled over to Tarak. As King chased the ball, he bumps into Tarak. "Hey Tarak, I found them!" he said. Tarak, having ended his crow call, slowly turned to King with a shocked look on his face. King looked concerned. "Is… something wrong?" he asked.

"Um… our little game must wait," Tarak said, trying to think up an excuse. "The time has come to celebrate your… uh… induction into the Titan Trappers! Come!"

As Tarak led him out of the armory, King threw his glove and ball aside to follow him.

Meanwhile, Luz, Amity, and Lilith ran up to catch up to Cross, Donna, and Lindsay, who were now with the Strays.

"Guys!" Luz shouted as she looked around. "King… where's King?! Where the fuck is my brother?!"

"Luz, what's going on?" Donna asked as everyone looked confused by her outburst.

"Luz, I don't see King with them!" Amity informed her.

"Shit!" Luz shouted.

"We need to find King and get out of here now!" Lilith told them.

"Why? Is something wrong?" Cross asked her in confusion.

"I'll tell you what's wrong," Luz said as she walked up to Raven, grabbing her skullcap and fur, pulling it off from her head. "This!"

Cross, Donna, and Lindsay all looked at Raven in shock, seeing that underneath the skullcap disguise was a dark-skinned witch girl with white and blue-striped hair tied into a ponytail with a golden band, golden eyes, and white lips.

"What? You guys look like you haven't seen a Titan Trapper before?" Raven asked.

"What… what's going on?" Cross asked them in shock.

"This place… it's not what we thought it was," Amity responded.

"The Titan Trappers are going to kill King," Luz informed them. "We need to find him before they do!"

"Hold on, what are you talking about?" Conner asked them, just as confused as everyone else. "We wouldn't kill King, he's one of us."

"King is not one of you!" Luz angrily shouted at him as he grabbed him by the fur. "Now tell me, where is my brother?!"

At a different part of the island, some of the Titan Trappers had gathered around in front of a platform, while Bill, Tarak, and King were present on stage, along with Bonejaw and another Trapper as they prepared King in his garb, painting a moon and star symbol on his skull, while the other Trappers bang the ground with sticks.

"You don't have to go all out like this," King said while wearing a coat. "I-I'm fine doing a small thing, like family and friends kinda thing."

"Your presence is very special to us, King," Tarak said before he turned to the others. "Now, we can release the Grand Huntsman from his prison and be granted power and glory!" The Trappers cheered for this while Tarak ignited a torch using Bill's candle skull and walked up to King. "In the ashes of your old life, your destiny awaits. Carry this torch to the tablet and set it aflame."

As Tarak handed King the torch, the young Clawthorne looked at the cracked tablet that was on stage with them. As he held the torch, he was about to ignite it…

"STOP!"

Something swooped down onto the platform, knocking King back. He looked up to see Luz standing over him, the tablet shattering itself on the ground in the confusion.

"The tablet!" Bill shouted.

"All of you stay away from my brother!" Luz/Maya shouted while in Maya's wings mode. She snarled at the Titan Trappers

Bonejaws and a trapper tried to intervene, but Sam showed up and knocked them both down. "Whoa!" Bonejaws shouted as he fell over.

"Luz, what are you doing?!" King asked as Luz grabbed him.

"We have to get out of here, now!" Luz declared. She then flew up, Sam following her.

"No! Come back here!" Bill shouted as he watched them fly away. He then paused. "Wait… that girl…"

Luz/Maya and Sam brought King over to where Amity, Cross, Donna, Lindsay, Lilith, and Acorn were waiting for them. As Luz/Maya landed, they put King down while Sam retreated to Amity.

"King, are you alright? Are you hurt?" Lilith asked, kneeling down and frantically checking up on King.

"It doesn't look like they hurt you too much," Lindsay said as she also checked up on King.

"Hey, what's going on, guys? Why did you take me away from them?" King asked in confusion while seeing everyone's worried looks.

"King, there's something that you should know… about yourself," Amity told him.

"Those Trappers were about to kill you," Cross told him.

"Kill me?! But why?" King asked them, taken aback. "I… I thought I was one of them."

"You're not a Titan Trapper… you're a Titan," Luz revealed, causing King's eyes to widen.

"Weh…" King asked with a shocked look. "I… but that means… my dad's…"

"The Boiling Isles," Amity realized.

"But wouldn't that mean King's like… the true ruler of the Boiling Isles or something?" Donna asked.

"But more importantly, doesn't that mean Luz's part-Titan?" King asked, looking up to his sister. "Since she has my scream…"

"I… I don't know that answer," Luz said while looking at herself. "But we have to get to that teleporter and get the fuck out of here."

They then hear the loud horn, which woke up the other Titan Trappers from their slumber.

"Looks like we've overstayed our welcome here," Lilith said.

"Come on, we need to leave, now," Cross said as he, Lindsay, and Donna summoned their staffs.

Luz, Amity, and Lilith did the same, King catching a ride with Luz as they began flying toward the teleporter. However, when they arrived at the teleporter, they saw their way blocked off by Titan Trappers, who were on horse-like kirins. They had their spells prepared.

"Great," Lilith groaned as they landed on the ground, just as Bill and Tarak managed to catch up to them, leading a large group of Titan Trappers that included the still-confused Strays. The Boiling Isles residents stood back to back with their guards up as they were surrounded on both sides by Titan Trappers.

"I knew I couldn't trust someone named Bill," Luz muttered as she looked around them. "Look, I'm giving you guys a chance to stand down, or else we'll have to bust those skulls open. Cause none of you know what we're capable of."

"Okay, hold on a second," Raven said as she walked up, disguise removed. "What exactly is going on? Is King really… a Titan?"

"I just figured he had some good stitching on his costume," Nate replied while removing his skull, showing an olive-skinned witch boy with jet-black hair, gray eyes, and a bit of peach fuzz. He was still wearing goggles over his head.

"You know, that does explain why his tail was moving around," Crasha said as she removed her skull, showing a purple-skinned witch girl with red short, spiky hair, and red tribal lines painted on each side of her cheek. She had green eyes, red lips, and a small scar on her chin. Everyone turned to look at her. "What? Was that something I should have brought up?"

"Look, maybe if we can just talk…" Conner suggested, trying to be the peacemaker.

"There is no room for talk, Conner!" Bill declared as he removed his skull, showing his elderly, old face with markings on his forehead. Tarak removed his own skull, revealing that he was a gray skinned, bearded man with blue moon markings on his face. "To think that the last Titan has finally been delivered to us, and with him-" He gestured to Luz. "A female Titan… the Last Titan… are twins?!"

"Well, not really a Titan," Luz said while looking around. "But you know what? This whole cult is a bunch of bullshit! I mean, what makes you all think that the Titans are evil? King is innocent, and all of those skulls you're wearing are probably from baby Titans! Do you all know how fucked up that is?! Imagine someone wearing witch baby skulls in front of you!"

"That got dark real quick…" Cross said, grimacing at Luz's morbid speech.

"Enough!" Bill declared. "Remember what you've all sworn to do! You all took a vow to fulfill your duty, to protect our world from monsters!" he told all the Trappers before pointing at King. "Well, there is one of them right now! This is the day we have been waiting for! We cannot afford to hesitate!"

An eerie silence fell over the groups. Luz and her friends stood ready to fight while the Titan Trappers looked at each other, then at Tarak, as if waiting for him to give the command. King looked at Tarak, his eyes pleading. But he saw no warmth in those eyes. Not anymore.

"My brothers and sisters," Tarak declared as he raised his staff. "A new hunt begins today!"

The rest of the Trappers cheered as they charged at the heroes.

"Looks like negotiations failed," Lilith declared while going into her harpy form.

"Alright everyone, let's rip their asses up!" Luz/Maya declared as they transformed into their winged-form while Amity got suited up in her Abomi-suit. Cross transformed into his dragon form while Donna activated her keyblade.

"Lindsay, get behind us," Donna said while turning to Lindsay. "Uh… Lindsay?"

Lindsay was remembering all the animal heads mounted on the walls, and what the Trappers were going to do to King. "You… were about… an endangered species?!" she shouted as she transformed into Madstream.

Donna stepped back, surprised by Lindsay's transformation. "Lindsay?!"

"Yeah, that's Madstream," Cross said casually before he flew up.

And then all hell broke loose, spells flying through the air.

Lilith held up some lightning glyphs, using them to power herself up as she burst surges of lightning at the trappers coming at her. She used her wings to topple them down while avoiding spells shot at and charging more electricity, shocking the trappers shooting spells at her.

Amity flew up high alongside Acorn, shooting Abomi-balls to trap the trappers in a sticky trap. Sam flew around, slamming herself into the Trappers, knocking them over. The three saw more Trappers charging at them, so Amity summoned her staff and waved it around to create a circle of flames that surrounded some of the Trappers.

"Hey, get us out of here!" the Trappers shouted.

"Acorn, if you will," Amity said to her pixie friend, who sprinkled pixie dust on the Trappers, causing them to float up.

"Wha… hey! Help!" the Trappers shouted as they floated up to the air. Sam watched this and gave a snicker.

Cross flew around as he shot his icy-blue flames, breathing cold flames against the Trappers. He used his plant magic to grow large trees from the ground beneath them, the Trappers becoming trapped in the roots. "Ironic, the Trappers become trapped."

"Nice quips, cousin," Luz declared as she had King on her back while Atticus formed into her duel disk, his wings spreading out while she placed glyph cards on them. "Now then, time to duel, bitches!" she declared as her Palisman glowed around her arm and she shot a spell beam at a group of Trappers trying to aim their spells at her. They were knocked back and she shot another beam at them, this one a blue beam that froze the Trappers in their place.

"Too cool, Luz," King said while in awe.

"Thanks, King," Luz replied with a grin. "But that's not all Atticus can do," she said as Atticus's wings folded, his eyes glowing. With Luz's two fingers up, she drew a large spell circle while seeing the Trappers coming at her. As she finished the circle, she flicked it and the Trappers were hit with a large beam of light. She then threw out some seeds and shot green lights from her Atticus Arm, activating a spell that caused vines to burst from the seeds to tangle up some more Trappers.

Donna used her keyblade to blast at the Trappers. When they got too close, she cast an ice spell on the ground, allowing her to slide past the Trappers while using her ice spells to freeze their feet and legs. When she saw another group coming at her, she swung her keyblade to create a trail of sparks to knock them over.

Madstream roared as the weapons of the Trappers did nothing against her might. She knocked them around with her fists, then grabbed one to throw him into the others like they were bowling pins. "Madstream will smash puny hunters for hurting creatures!" she declared while chasing another group of Trappers, easily crushing their weapons.

As Luz flew overhead, King let out a powerful "WEH!" that knocked down some of the Trappers who were on the ground. Bill and Tarak saw this.

"Such a powerful scream…" Tarak said in awe.

"That's the scream!" Bill shouted, pointing up at them. "We need heavier weapons! Trappers! To the armory!"

"But by the time it takes to get those weapons, they will have escaped!" Tarak pointed out.

"Nate," Bonejaws, who still had his skullcap on, spoke to his apprentice. "You and your friends should buy us some time, stop them from escaping."

Nate looked at his mentor, then at King and his friends. He turned to his fellow Strays. "Conner… we need to stop them."

Conner, who still had his skullcap on, was watching the Boiling Isles residents attacking his fellow Trappers. He gave a solemn nod. "Alright," he said as he brought out a large blade with a golden handle. The blade, strangely enough, has techno-tron lines all around it. Conner's eyes glowed as he held the sword. "My friends… by the power vested in me, power up!" He raised his sword and a surge of colorful light hit his friends and Gallantor, who was cowering nearby. Conner himself was surrounded by blue light.

Nate, who was covered in green light, had his Trapper outfit changed into a new battle suit. This battle suit had green armor with circular orange shoulder pads, armored arms, and black metal gloves. Around his waist was a green and gold belt with green armored pants with black boots. His back now had two orange packs and sprouting from his armor were green guns sticking out. Nate wore a green helmet with a black V-shaped visor as he held a large, green and orange hammer. "I am… the Live-Ammo!"

Raven, surrounded in white light, had her Trappers outfit replaced with a new suit. She wore a white and blue form-fitting romper, the illusion of a bird flying through her during her transformation. Her hair was let loose and she ended up wearing a blue visor with a bird-shaped white helmet, with her mouth exposed. She had golden arm-guards and grieves with wings, while her back was attached with golden bolts that shoot out her wings. She flew up to the sky, while appearing in her hand was a white staff-like weapon with a blue orb. Raven had a determined look. "Call me, Light Caster."

Crasha was next and she was engulfed in red light as her eyes glowed. With the power of her jewel, Crasha found herself covered in stone that collided with her. The jewel still intact, the stones started to break away, freeing Crasha. The purple witch now donned a new set of armor instead of her Trapper clothes. She wore a metallic red helmet where her jewel was now placed and she also wore red stoned armor shoulder and chest, a gray romper, and stone gauntlets and boots. Her helmet glowed as crystals popped out of it to form narrow, upward horns, with the jewel changing into a crystal horn up the forehead. "Crash-Land!" she declared while punching her own fist.

Lastly, Gallantor was covered in yellow light. He gave a panicked look as Gallantor's eyes glowed yellow and his cat-like body grew. As it grew, armor flew around to be placed onto him, including a yellow helmet. His teeth grew into two sabers and his body now resembled a fierce-looking tiger, with yellow armor all around his paws and back, while his tail had a blade. His armored paws had retractable glowing white claws popping out, which he used to slash the air as he let out a mighty roar. "Valgor!"

The Strays had completed their transformation, which Luz and the gang were left stunned by.

"What was… that?" Cross asked.

"I think they're armored up," Donna replied.

"Crap, we're in big trouble now!" Luz realized.

"Why's that?" King asked.

"Not only did they get a power-up from Conner's sword, they got a power-up sequence and everything!" Luz pointed out.

"Then we'll just have to fight blades with blades," Amity declared while summoning her Sword of Adam.

"Fight!" Conner declared as he and the Strays charged towards the heroes. A few Titan Trappers stayed to tend to the injured and make sure the heroes didn't split, meaning that the heroes had to deal with both them and the Strays, though thankfully Sam and Acorn had it mostly covered while Bill, Tarak, and several other Titan Trappers rushed to the armory.

Light Caster flew at Luz and Lilith. "I'll take them on!" she shouted as she shot light spells from her staff. Luz and Lilith dodged them as they sent their own attacks on her as well.

"If it's a dog fight you want, it's a dog fight you'll get!" Luz declared as she formed Atticus' wings into the shape of a U-gun. She shot light beams at Raven while Lilith kept shooting lighting attacks. Raven easily dodged both.

Back on the ground, Madstream roared at the Strays before she was then tackled by Crasha, who surprisingly knocked her down to the ground. "Alright, you wanna wrestle?" she asked before Madstream swatted Crash-Land off of her.

"MADSTREAM CRUSH PURPLE BITCH!" Madstream roared as she charged at Crasha.

"Heh, you might be a fight worthy of me, after all!" Crasha declared as she charged to fight Mastream.

"Lindsay!" Cross shouted, about to fly over until he had to start to avoid many shots coming from Live-Ammo. Looking down, he saw the green and orange armored witch shooting at him. "What kind of weapons do you have?!"

"Something they don't have in the Boiling Isles!" Nate declared as he kept shooting at the dragon-witch. He then held up his hammer and slammed it down, bringing out large pillars to hit Cross down with.

"Cross!" Donna shouted before she heard Conner's yell as he charged at her with his sword. Donna held her keyblade in defense, clashing with his sword. Conner then felt getting webbed by the purple webs that pulled him away from Donna as Amity flew down in Donna's defense.

"How about two against one?" Amity declared, holding up her sword.

Conner saw her sword. "Hey, that's a nice sword you got. What's it called?"

"This is the Sword of Adam," Amity said while holding her sword with grace. "Remember it as the sword that saw your defeat."

"Sword of Adams, huh?" Conner asked as he held up his sword. "Maybe I'll take it after this!" he declared as he charged, clashing his blade against Amity's sword and Donna's keyblade.

After they clashed blades for a bit, Conner holding himself against the two of them, Amity tried to fly around him, only to get suddenly tackled by Valgor. The Fae-witch disappeared and popped up behind him as Valgor turned and roared at her, swiping his claws at her which she blocked with her Abomi-wall. But the slash cut down the Abomi-wall and Amity was forced to duck down, seeing that the hood of her suit had been cut.

"His claws can do that?!" Amity asked in shock, realizing how powerful Valgor was.

"Amity!" King shouted as he jumped off Luz's back.

"King!" Luz shouted while using an ice shield to block the spells coming from Light Caster.

King dropped through the air while aiming to land on Valgor's back. When the large tiger demon was about to launch himself at Amity, King landed on his back.

"Leave her alone!" King declared while jumping off of him.

"King! You're supposed to-"

"I know, being protected and all, but who's going to protect you guys?" King asked as he sees Valgor coming at them. He then let out his "WEH!" at the tiger demon, who slid back away from them at first.

However, Valgor used his claws to dig into the ground, keeping him from being knocked too far back by King's scream. When King stopped, he and Amity saw Valgor still standing.

"Titan's crack…" King said as he and Amity backed away, Amity holding her sword up.

Donna, meanwhile, kept clashing her keyblade against Conner's sword.

"That sword you have… it's nothing I've seen before," she said as they fought.

"And your blade isn't like nothing I've seen either," Conner admitted while swinging his blade, Donna jumping up and shooting her ice blast at him. Conner held his blade up to block the attack. "What do you call it?"

"Not gonna tell you!" Donna declared as she swung her keyblade at him, but Conner used the opportunity to draw a spell circle at her, shooting spell beams at her and hitting her in the arm and leg. "GAH!"

"Your guard was dropped," Conner told her as he continued to fight her.

Luz and Lilith kept blasting at Light Caster, who swung her staff to deflect their attacks. "You guys may be good, but I have a few tricks up my sleeve."

"What kind of tricks?" Luz asked as Light Caster held her staff up, creating a blue circle with it.

"This," she said as she snapped her fingers, causing dozens of blue birds to fly out of the circle and run through Luz and Lilith, the birds bouncing them around in the air.

"Ah! Ow! Eek! Fuck!" Luz and Lilith screamed as they got hit by each blue bird. Light Caster took this opportunity to shoot more spells at the two, shocking them. "AAAAAH!"

Cross groaned as he managed to get up, spotting more nets shooting all around him. He flew up to dodge the traps, but Live-Ammo appeared next to him.

"Now you see me," Nate said as he turned invisible. "Now you don't!"

"Crap," Cross said as he breathed his flames around. He kept breathing his flames until suddenly he felt something hit him in the face. It was a heavy hammer that knocked Cross down to the ground. When the dragon was about to get up, he then felt an electric shock from Live-Ammo's gear. "GAAAAH!"

"It's not every day I get to trap a dragon," Nate said as he kept shocking a screaming Cross.

Madstream kept trying to crush Crasha, who dodged her large fists. Crasha jumped back and delivered many kicks to Madstream, who grew annoyed by Crasha's antics. When the larger girl looked down at Crasha, she ran back. "Come back and fight, purple bitch!" she shouted at her.

"Oh I'm coming back alright!" Crasha declared as she charged towards Madstream from a distance, aiming for her stomach. She then jumped up, formed herself into a ball, and begin to spin before she hit Madstream in the stomach.

Madstream felt her breath had taken from her as she was instantly knocked back to the ground. Madstream groaned, but was then met with the formed ball of Crasha, who hit her in the head. Crasha bounced back and forth as she hit Madstream in the stomach and the head. The larger girl grew irritated and after getting some more bumps to the head, Madstream tried to fight back, but a final bounce to the head knocked her down.

Crasha then returned back to normal, sliding back as she saw the larger demon transform. When Crasha looked down on her, Lindsay was also back to normal. "Wonder if all of you Boiling Isles witches are like this…"

Luz looked down to see that Lindsay and Cross had fallen. "Oh no," she said as she flew sown to Crasha. Using Atticus, Luz blasted Crasha away from Lindsay. After colliding with her, Crasha looked up to Luz.

"Thought you're fighting Raven?" she asked her.

"Well, I'm prioritizing helping my friends," Luz declared, using a vine spell to pick up Lindsay while shooting a flash spell in front of Crasha.

"Gah!" Crasha shouted as Luz flew away while carrying Lindsay on her back. She saw Cross trapped by Live-Ammo, so she kicked the armored witch boy away from Cross before using her claws to slash the net off of her cousin.

"You alright?" she asked him, pulling him up.

"I'm good, how's Lindsay?" Cross asked her.

"She was knocked out by that helmet girl," Luz said as she pointed to Crasha, who spotted Luz and Cross.

"Alright, now I'm pissed!" Crasha declared as she charged at them.

"Team up?" Luz asked him.

"Yeah," Cross agreed as the two dodged Crasha running up to them, while Nate got up.

Back up in the sky, Lilith was left to fight off against Raven. "Please, I know you're young, but you don't have to do this!"

"I got my duty," Raven retorted as her hands glowed while she got in a fighting stance. "Besides, I could use a good one on one," she declared as she charged at Lilith to deliver a punch to Lilith, knocking her back. When she delivered another, Lilith this time blocked it with her hand. Lilith kept blocking Raven's punches.

"You know this is pointless with hitting me-" Lilith then felt a powerful punch that launched her back. Lilith almost crashed onto the ground if her wings had not kept her up. She looked up and saw Raven's hands glow more while Lilith felt blood from her lip. "What…?"

"The more you block my punches, the more powerful they get," she declared while her eyes glowed white.

Back on the ground, Donna and Conner continued to clash their blades against one another. At this point, she had a few tears on her clothes and some cuts, while Conner's fur coat and garb were both torn. He was also missing a glove.

"Ready to give up?" Conner asked her.

"I'm a healer, I can heal myself!" Donna declared while shooting ice beams from her keyblade, which Conner avoided and blocked. "Are you really sure you want to go through with this? You and your friends treated King like he's one of you, but now you want to kill him?"

"I… look, I have a responsibility to capture him!" Conner told her.

"To be killed? Is that what you want?" Donna pointed out. "King is just like you and the rest of the Strays… orphans. Orphans that lost and never knew their families. King is just the same as you and me, Conner!"

Conner hesitated, looking over at his friends fighting against Donna's friends, with King and Amity defending themselves against Valgor, Sam wrestling with the creature's tail.

It was then they heard the sound of the horn, which got everyone to stop. They turned and saw the other Titan Trappers had returned, with Bill and Tarak taking charge.

"We're back!" Bill declared. "And look what we got from the armory! Alright, ready and aim, boys!"

The Trappers held up their weapons… guns. Futuristic-looking guns.

"Fire!" Bill ordered as the Trappers fired at the Boiling Isles residents.

"What the fuck?!" Luz exclaimed after seeing them. "Alright, this is way out of our normal genre, this is just some sci-fi bullshit!" she shouted while dodging Crasha.

Donna gasped when she saw those guns. She recognized those guns… from her memories. She remembered what she had seen. The soldiers in blue armor with bat-like helmets. The large blue bat symbol. Those were their weapons.

One of the Trappers aimed for Lilith. He tried to get a good shot, despite the fact that Raven was in the middle of fighting with her. Lilith saw the Trapper aiming towards them, which caused her to panic.

"Watch out!" Lilith shouted as she pushed Raven away just as the Trapper made his shot… and hit Lilith. "AAH!"

Raven gasped when she saw her opponent, who just shoved her away, take the hit. Lilith ended up falling down.

"Lilith!" Amity shouted as she had Sam go over to catch the harpy witch. All the while, the Trappers kept shooting at them, Amity doing her best to create walls and shields to block the energy beams from the guns.

"That… that just shot Lilith down…" Cross said while Nate took the opportunity to try to take him down, but Cross blew an ice flame at his helmet, fogging it up while freezing it over.

"Gah!" Nate shouted as he couldn't see through his helmet, letting Cross flew away.

"Lilith!" Luz shouted as Crasha tried to topple her down, but Luz drew a plant spell to entrap her by the feet, causing Crasha to be knocked down. Luz then ran up to tend to Lilith while holding onto Lindsay.

"What the hell?" Crasha demanded, seeing her boots entangled by the vines. "Like this will hold me down!"

Once Sam carried Lilith down to Amity and King, she saw that Lilith had been shot in the side and was bleeding.

"She's… she's going to be okay, right?" King asked while Acorn looked concerned.

"We need to get out of here," Amity told them as Donna caught up to them, Conner not chasing after her.

"She's right, we need to get to the teleporter," Luz said while Amity brought up another Abomi-wall to stop the others from getting shot at. "Carry the injured and let's get out!"

"One problem," Cross pointed out. "Those weapons have range. We won't make it, not with our injured."

"There's one solution I can think of," Amity said. "I might be able to teleport us down there, using my Abomination slime. Like Darius does."

"You could do that?" King asked her.

"Well, we are a large group, and I've only done something like this with the help from my dad," Amity said. "So it's going to be rough for me…"

"Anything to get Lilith and Lindsay to safety," Donna told her.

Amity closed her eyes as she concentrated. While the Abomi-shield was up for her friends, the Abomi-slime started to appear from the ground beneath them. They all formed up while everyone ducked down. Crasha ran over to try to stop them, but the slime swirled around them before it shrank into the ground.

"Aw, dammit!" Crasha cursed, just missing them.

At the boardwalk, the slime dropped off Amity and her friends closer to the teleporter. They came out of the slime, Cross carrying Lindsay bridal style while Donna helped up Lilith and was healing her side. Amity, who saw that they had made it, passed out in Luz's arms.

"You did good, Ams," Luz said as she held Amity up.

"There they are!" Bill shouted as he and the Trappers pursued them. "Kill them all!"

"Run!" Luz shouted while carrying Amity as everyone ran for the teleporter. As they did, Donna noticed Conner, riding on Valgor, running up in front of the Titan Trappers. They didn't shoot their spells or their weapons while he was in front of them, and Conner looked at Donna and the others.

"…Run!" Conner shouted at them. "I'll buy you some time!" he declared, shocking the Trappers, and the heroes.

"You're… helping us?" Donna asked as she and King looked back at him.

"Well, orphans like us have to stick up for each other," Conner responded while raising his sword up. "Go!" he declared as he and Valgor charged at the Titan Trappers and he used his sword to slice through their guns.

"Conner, what are you doing?" Tarak demands.

"Doing what my gut is telling me to," Conner declared before Crasha crashed into him, knocking him and Valgor down to the ground. He looked up and saw his friends looking down at him in confusion.

"He… he's been led astray!" Bill accused.

"Conner, what's gotten into you?" Nate asked him while Conner got up.

"I can't let you hurt King and his friends!" Conner declared as he ran up to the Trappers.

Once the heroes got to the teleporter, Donna looked back and saw Conner taking on the Trappers on his own. King ran up to try to pull her. "Come on, Donna, let's go!"

"I'm just… worried about him," Donna said while holding Lilith as Sam went to grab both her and Donna to take them to the teleporter.

Conner kept fighting, using his own strength to knock by the Trappers. However, some of the trappers tried to restrain him, even zapping him. Valgor slashed at the Trappers to keep them from harming his best friend, but he got zapped too in the process. Raven and Nate also tried to get Conner and Valgor, but they knocked them away. Conner and Valgor fought valiantly, holding their ground and keeping the Trappers from getting past them, but they were starting to get overwhelmed. One Trapper knocked the skullcap off from his head, revealing the face of a young witch teen… with platinum hair.

When Donna looked back again, she saw his hair… hair that looked like hers. Luz pressed the stone in the center of the teleporter. "Take us home!" she shouted, activating the teleporter. It got all eight of them to rise up from the ground as they went up…

…and started to fall down, Luz using her wings while carrying King and Amity, while Donna used her staff to float herself and Lilith down, and Cross in his dragon form carried Lindsay. Once they landed on the ground, they saw that they were back on their side of the world and that it was about sunset.

"We made it home!" Cross shouted.

"Don't celebrate yet, look!" Luz shouted as she pointed up at the portal in the sky. Despite Conner fighting them, he had now been pushed onto the platform, the Titan Trappers holding him down. "They're going to come over here," she realized while turning to King. "You know what to do, King?"

King nodded. "Everyone step back!" he shouted while Sam, Cross, and Donna got Amity, Lindsay, and Lilith to safety. Luz and King took some deep breaths as they prepared to unleash a large scream to the Finger.

But seconds before they did, Donna looked up to see Conner fighting against the Trappers through the portal. As he was being overwhelmed and wrestled to the ground, Conner looked up at the gang and saw Donna. She looked up to him, their eyes locked…

Blue eyes locked to each other and then widened in realization.

This caused Donna to gasp. "No…" she said as she turned to see Luz and Amity prepare to scream. "Guys, wait-!"

But it was too late.

"WEH!" Luz and King shouted.

"NOOO!" Donna shouted, seeing the Finger cracking from the sound waves. The cracks eventually broke the Finger apart and caused it to start to crumble. Once they stopped screaming, they saw it crumbling backwards into the sea, thus canceling the mechanism of the teleporter. The portal exploded, creating a powerful blast which sent an amount of dust and rocks the water into the ocean.

And when the portal exploded, the last Donna saw of Conner was his face becoming sad before it vanished beneath a swarm of Titan Trappers holding him down. Then he, the Titan Trappers, and that window to the other side of the world were gone.

After the portal had disappeared and the dust settled, Luz and King heard… sobbing. They turned around and saw Donna crying while on her knees.

"Donna… what… why are you crying?" Luz asked her in confusion as Cross went up to her.

"What's wrong, Donna?" he asked her.

"C-Conner… he… he's my brother," she revealed.

"What?!" Luz and Cross asked in shock, while Luz winced. "Oh… oh fuck, Donna, I'm-"

"I didn't know who he was earlier," Donna said while looking down. "I should've realized it… his backstory, losing a twin sister, and… Oh Titan, he… he was there the whole time! And now… I lost him again," she sobbed as Cross went to comfort her.

Luz looked at Donna in guilt, shaken by the realization she had just cost Donna her brother. She felt King hugging her leg and she looked down to see his sadden look.

"Luz… I want to go home now," he said.

Luz gave a nod. "Me too, King," she said as she looked at the others. "We all do…"

Back at Titan Trapper Island, while all the Trappers were busy with King and the other Boiling Isles witches, the treasury in the tower was left unguarded. This allowed someone to break into the treasure room.

Once there, that someone began digging through the boxes and crates for an item that he was looking for. The someone… was Bonejaws.

"Gotta admit, those witches were a good distraction," Bonejaws said as he kept looking until he spotted what he was looking for. "At last, after all these years…"

He then removed the skullcap disguise, revealing his true appearance. That being a pale witch man who has blond hair in the form of a pompadour with teeth…

Bonejaws, aka Bobby Bones, held up the item he was looking for… a piece of the planispheric disk.

Back in the Isles, Sam Shin was walking through the woods with Willow, who had a lot of questions for her.

"Okay, so are you my mother or what?" Willow asked her while following her.

"Your fathers are your true parents, not me," Sam Shin replied as they kept walking. "Not me."

"Okay, but what's going on? Why did you give me away? If you're not my mom, then… who are you to me?" Willow asked her.

Sam Shin came to a stop and she bent down to admire some flowers. "Did you know, Willow, that in Korean mythology, flowers symbolize life?"

"Korean mythology?" Willow asked in confusion.

"Hmm, right," Sam Shin said. "I have tried to share bits of my culture with you, but you still wouldn't know Korean mythology. It is a human thing after all."

"Wait, are you from the Human Realm?" Willow asked while Sam Shin nodded.

"I was actually human… once," she admitted while standing back up. "But after I won a flower blooming competition, I became known as Samshin-Halmang… the Korean goddess of life."

Willow's eyes widened in shock and she stepped back. "You're… a goddess?"

"That's right," Samshin confirmed. "I have a lot of responsibilities as a goddess and that includes delivering babies, which is what I did with your fathers. I saw the love that they had for each other, and decided to deliver a baby to them… you." She looked at Willow with a smile. "Of course, they didn't need me to have a baby, but I did have other motivations…"

"Like what exactly?" Willow asked her, a bit suspicious.

"This place… when I came here to the Isles, I saw the sorry state that it was in," Samshin explained. "For centuries this land has been ravaged and destroyed, corrupted and plagued, including by the likes of the Inner Demon and Belos. When I first came here while exploring the other Realms, I realized that the Isles themselves… were hurting. The Titan was losing his power and Belos certainly didn't respect the Isles, not with his overharvesting of its resources, while others like Terra were abusing their connection with the Titan and the Isles. I have seen this same story play out so many times, but this time I decided to actually do something. Unfortunately, I had no power here, so far from my own domain. However, I realized that I could leave somewhere here, someone with a connection to the Titan and the Isles, but with power gifted from me, allowing you to heal the Isles and restore it."

Willow was shocked by all of this as she looked down at her own hands. "That… that does explain my sudden upgrade."

"Yes, although it did take a while for you to grow into your power," Samshin responded before turning to Willow. "It has been a privilege to watch you grow up, Willow. And to have played a part in your journey. But I will tell you this… it is still your choice what you will do with your powers. Because it is your life." She gave Willow a heartfelt look. "And I wouldn't be much of a goddess of life if I didn't let you live yours. I just wanted you to understand that what you have is a gift. Your gift."

"This… this is a lot to take in," Willow said while looking down. "All this time, I thought that it was luck that I was more versatile with my plant magic, but… this does explain what's been going on with me. After this weekend, I feel more attuned than ever with my plant magic. With the Isles itself. And… I see what you mean about the Isles. Take the Forest of Fear, for example. Only after the Inner Demon was gone could that life begin to return to that part of the Isles, allowing it to heal. And I… I helped do that. The Titan couldn't do it himself, so I helped. And… I do think I want to keep doing that. Helping the Isles, I mean."

While Samshin smiled at Willow's response, a ghost was watching their conversation, unknown to either of them. That ghost belonged to Felicia…

Meanwhile, at the Clawthorne ranch, Eda was saying her goodbyes to the family.

"Wish you could stay a little longer, Eda," Denise said as she hugged Eda.

"I wish I could, but I got stuff to do back at Crane's orphanage, and I have to take this little gal home," Eda replied while carrying Kay. She turned to Beo and Felix. "You two stay great for your mother, alright?"

"We will, Eda," Beocrow nodded.

"It was nice getting to know you, Eda," Felix said.

"Hey, Eda," Barbara said as she came over, looking slightly awkward. "Um, it was nice meeting you and Lilith, and Luz."

"It was nice to meet you too, Babs," Eda replied while turning to Dennis. "You have a great daughter, Dennis."

"Thanks, Eda," Dennis responded, smiling.

"We're gonna miss you, cousin Eda," Lulu said as she hugged Eda. "Maybe if you want, we can come visit you sometimes."

"Ah, yeah, I'm sure my house demon, Hooty, would like to meet you some day," Eda said while turning to her parents. "Mom, dad, I'll let you know when Lily's back with the kids."

"Thanks, Edalyn," Gwen responded while hugging her daughter.

"It was nice to have you back here at the reunion with us," Dell said while also hugging his daughter.

After the hugs, Eda started to leave, but not before giving Brolin a hug. "See ya, uncle Lin."

"See you too, Eda," Brolin replied while Eda turned to give Eartha a hug.

"Ack! Don't hug me!" Eartha told her but Eda hugged her anyway.

"Good to see you again too, Aunt Eartha," Eda said before she let her go. "Welp, I'll be on my way!" she said while summoning her staff, Kay in her arms, as she began flying away from the Ranch. "Byeeee!"

"Bye, Eda!" the family waved to her as Eda flew over Palm Stings.

However, Eda didn't leave Palm Stings right away. Instead, she decided to stop at the Boardwalk, where she walked around while looking at the sights.

"Boy, does this place take me back," Eda said while looking around, reminiscing about her old business here. "Remember dancing for cash, Owlbert?"

Owlbert hooted at Eda while Kay giggled as she rested in Eda's arms.

"This place is still nice… though, I shouldn't be here too long, or else old Thumbstone will know that I'm back," Eda said, her face suddenly grim. "He will not be happy to see me again…"

"Psst, Eda!"

"Heh?" Eda asked as she heard someone speaking to her. She turned around and saw the cloaked figure in an alley. "What the… who are you?"

"Marilyn."

Eda's eye widened and she quickly walked towards the alleyway. "Marilyn… is it really you?"

"In the rotting flesh," Artemis said as she removed her hood and mask. "Nice eyepatch, by the way. But also, I'm not alone."

"Hey, Eda," Hunter said as he walked up next to Marilyn.

"Hunter? I thought you left for the castle," Eda responded.

"I was until I met Artemis," he replied to her. "As it turns out, she is just like me… a Grimwalker."

Eda's eye widened in shock while she turned to Artemis. "Is… is this true?"

"Yes on both accounts," Artemis confirmed. "Artemis is my given name, Marilyn was my source."

"Marilyn… that explains so much," Eda responded.

"Me and Hunter just finished having a nice, long talk," Artemis said. "And since you're around, I believe I can leave him to you, Eda."

"Wait, but I have a lot of questions-" Eda said as Hunter interjected.

"Questions that I could answer," Hunter said while turning to Artemis. "It was nice talking with you, Artemis."

"Likewise, Hunter," she replied, patting his shoulder. "Just remember what I told you. No matter what, do not go back to Belos," she warned him.

Hunter gave a slight nod before Artemis then made her leave into the shadows. "See you two around, and cute kid, Eda," she said, pointing to Kay before she vanished.

"Wow," Eda said, still shocked. "Just… wow. To think that all this time…" She turned to Hunter. "So… what did you two talk about?"

"Oh, a lot of things. One of them being… Grimwalker deterioration," Hunter mentioned while looking up to Eda. "Did you… know about it?"

Eda looked down at Hunter before she sighed. "Yeah, Lily told me about it while you were living with her and my folks. We agreed to not tell you because we didn't want to freak you out, and you showed no signs of Grimwalker deterioration anyway, so we didn't want you to be worked up over nothing." She rubbed her own arm. "I'm… sorry that we kept it from you."

"It's… fine," Hunter admitted. "I understand it, really. Artemis did agree that I showed no signs of it anyway and she is the expert."

"Well, that's good…" Eda said before realizing something. "Her curse… oh Titan, is that what it was?!"

"What?" Hunter asked her.

"When I first met her, she told me that she was cursed and had to regularly drink her elixirs," Eda said while looking shocked. "It was the deterioration, which explains her scars." She looked down. "And I thought I had it bad with my curse…" She shook her head and looked back at Hunter. "So, um, now that you're with me and all, wanna stop by the Owl House? You can say goodbye to Luz before she leaves the Demon Realm."

Hunter thought about this as he looked up to Eda. "I… I do. I would like that," he agreed.

On Salty's ship, the sun was setting as they made the return trip back to the Boiling Isles. Salty, along with Cups and Mugs, were serving some dinner to their passengers.

"Alright, who wants dinner!" Cups asked around.

"Better eat up after a journey well spent," Salty declared as he and the Holder brothers gave everyone their dinner.

"Thank you, Salty," Amity said while taking her food.

Cups was gonna hand Luz some food, but she declined it. "I'm… I'm not hungry right now."

Cross and Lindsay were handed their plates as they looked up to see Donna still in the Crow's Nest, kneeling down while bandaged up from the cuts. The two looked at each other, silently agreeing to go up and check up on her.

Donna had her knees pressed against her chest while she looked down at her key. Whirlwind was comforting her, but she still had tears in her eyes.

"Donna?" Lindsay spoke to her, getting her to look up at the two as they climbed up to join her.

"We wanted to see how you're holding up," Cross said in concern.

"I'm… I'm not feeling good right now," Donna admitted, her voice weak and sounding like it was on the verge of breaking. "Actually, I'm devastated. I finally found my brother, only to lose him… again," she said as Cross and Lindsay sat by her side to comfort her. Lindsay gave her a hug.

"There, there," Lindsay said while patting her back, silently giving Donna permission to cry her eyes out. Cross patted her shoulder in comfort. "We're so sorry you had to go through all of that."

"If… if only we took him along with us," Donna said while looking down with a sniff. "Those guns the Trappers were using… I recognized them."

"You do?" Cross asked her. "From where?"

"From a vision I had," Donna admitted as she let go from the hug. "Back when we were captured by the Alchemist, back when he was going through my head, it was either a memory or a vision, but I saw those guns being used by these… armored bat people," she said in confusion. "I know that those guns are somehow connected to my past, but I have no idea how they ended up with the Titan Trappers. Just like I have no idea how Conner ended up with the Titan Trappers on the other side of the world from me. Just another mystery, I guess."

"I am surprised that you have a twin brother," Lindsay admitted. "But at least, you now know that he's alive."

"Yeah, and you know where he is," Cross noted.

Donna nodded. "Yeah, and I found him once, so that means I can find him again," she declared while wiping away her tears. "Even if it takes me years, I won't give up finding him."

"And we'll help you," Cross offered.

"Yeah," Lindsay replied with a nod. "We're with you in finding your brother."

Donna looked at the two and nearly broke down again before she hugged them both. "Thanks, guys…"

Sixteen years ago…

Titan Trapper Island.

Tarak was with some of the other Trappers as they confronted a hooded figure in front of the tower.

"Halt," Tarak said to the hooded figure, who was carrying something underneath his arm. "What business do you have here?"

"I am just a humble seeker of knowledge wishing to have access to your great library," the figure said as he removed his hood, revealing himself to be… Draco.

"Do you have something to exchange for it?" Tarak asked before Draco held up a basket. Tarak stepped forward and saw that inside the basket was a baby witch boy with platinum hair and blue eyes.

"This little one is without family and I heard you had a habit of taking in strays," he told him. "Do as you wish with him, but I think this will be enough to allow me to enter your library."

Meanwhile, King walked up to Luz after receiving dinner. "Luz… can I… talk to you?"

"Yeah, I was thinking the same thing," Luz replied as he sat by her. "What's on your mind?"

King sighed while looking at his plate. "When I thought that I had a tribe, and while I was getting to know them and all, I was hoping it would help me be better prepared." Luz turned to him as he continued. "Be prepared for when you were gone, living with Camila in the Human Realm. I know that you won't be gone forever, but I thought having a tribe of demons like me would still help." He sighed, "But as it turns out, my dad's been with me this whole time. That must be one of life's punchlines."

"Yeah, life's one big punchline for us," Luz said while looking down at her own hands. "I guess… this would explain my unusual evolution and how I can make the 'weh' screams. I'm connected to the Titan… your dad." She then realized something about the Trappers. "And those Trappers… they'll probably be coming after us now."

"But we destroyed their teleporter," King pointed out.

"Actually… they have more than one," Luz said as King's eyes widened. "They have more teleporters all across the Demon Realm, they even have a full map of the world." She suddenly stood up, looking panicked. "We only destroyed their teleporter closest to the Isles, but it will only be a matter of time…"

"Well, then maybe we can hide in the HR and-" King suddenly had a realization of his own. "My dad's crack…"

"What?" Luz asked him as King turned to her.

"I think… I think I've realized why Belos has an interest in you, Luz," King said with a gulp. "It's because of your connection to the Titan."

Luz's eyes widened at this. "Aw shit, you're right, King," she cursed. She looked at her own hands. "W-what do you think about this, Maya?"

Maya didn't answer right away. "Honestly… I think we are all in deep shit."

Cups and Mugs, meanwhile, were just eating and watching the drama.

"Gee, what do you make of this, Mugs?" Cups asked.

"Honestly, I think we should probably leave the Boiling Isles before the Day of Unity," Mugs replied. "Everything is just too crazy now. Goddesses, ghosts, Titans…"

"Yeah, that sounds swell," Cups agreed. "Maybe we should move to Inwell Isles. After all, isn't it just off the coast, maybe twenty-nine miles…"

Once they returned to the Boiling Isles, Amity helped Lilith down from the ship..

"Are you sure that you're alright, Lilith?" Amity asked her.

"I'll live," Lilith responded while holding her bandaged side. "Donna said that I should be able to heal, but I should still stop by Dr. Bride's for further treatment."

After they got off the ship, Luz walked over to Cross, Donna, and Lindsay. "Thanks for coming along with us, guys. I wish we could spend more time together, but I really need to get back to the Owl House so I can prepare to leave the Isles."

"We understand, Luz," Donna said while Luz looked at her awkwardly.

"Donna, I'm so sorry that I cost you a chance with your brother," Luz told her in a guilt-ridden tone, but Donna just gave her a hug, surprising her.

"It's okay, Luz," Donna told her. "Because now that I know that he's alive and out there, I'm more motivated than ever to find him," she said while patting Luz's shoulders. "Give my regards to Camila for me."

"I will," Luz nodded before turning to Lindsay, "So, Lindsay, um… maybe that whole kindness and forgiveness thing isn't really just malarkey. Sorry for making fun of you about it."

"It's okay, Luz," Lindsay responded with a smile. "I forgive you, and I'm glad that you've come around to it."

Luz gave her a nod before stepping over to Cross. "So… some adventure we had, cuz."

"Yeah," Cross responded. "And I guess, I should thank you for helping with Donna and Lindsay."

"No problem, and try not to get them knocked up," Luz told him, making Cross groan.

"I'm afraid what you and Zee would be capable of if you two decided to team up," Cross said.

"No promises," Luz said before hugging Cross. Cross looked down at Luz and patted her back, accepting the hug. "Welp, time to head back home."

"Yeah, I can't wait for tomorrow," Donna said as she summoned her staff.

"Wait, Donna," Lilith said as she came over to her. "Before you leave, I snagged this from the Titan Trappers while I was in their tower," she said while handing her a rolled up paper to Donna.

When Donna partially rolled it out, her eyes widened. "Is that…?"

"One of their complete maps of the realm, including where they have their teleporters," Lilith told her. "If you wish to find your brother, you'll be needing this." She then received a hug from Donna.

"Thank you, Lilith," Donna replied with a smile.

After everyone said their goodbyes, Donna, Cross, and Lindsay summoned their staffs and began to fly home. They waved to the others as they left and Luz, Amity, King, and Lilith waved back to them, watching the three teens until they vanished from view.

It wasn't long before Luz, Amity, King, and Lilith headed back to the Owl House, Amity looking concerned for Lilith.

"You sure you don't want to stop by Dr. Bride's?" Amity asked her.

"I wanted to see you kids make it home safely first," Lilith replied as Hooty stretched over to her.

"Lulu! You're back!" Hooty cried as he wrapped himself around Lilith, who winced in pain. "I've missed you soooo much!"

"Lily?" Eda asked as she walked out of the house. "Hey, you guys are back. How was your trip? Did you find your tribe, King?"

"His tribe?" Hunter asked as he appeared from the house, much to everyone's surprise.

"Hunter, you're here too?" Luz asked him.

"Yeah, well, I met up with Eda earlier and I wanted to say goodbye before you leave," he told her.

"Oh," Luz said while she and Amity looked at Hunter, an awkward silence falling over them

"Um… hey, so how did things go on your trip, by the way?" Eda asked them, trying to make the situation less awkward.

After a long explanation, Eda was left with a shocked look as her jaw dropped.

"What.. the… hell…" Eda said.

"So to recap, King is a Titan," Luz said while seeing Eda's shocked face, along with Hunter's and Hooty's. Amity was holding Kay. "And apparently, instead of being a cambion like I originally thought, I'm part-Titan."

"Oh… oh crap," Eda said while still in shock. "Okay, new plan. King, you're going with Luz to the Human Realm for your protection. The sooner you two leave, the better."

"On it, mom," King nodded.

"Make sure to pack up whatever you need and be ready for the portal door," Eda told them.

Luz sighed, looking down in regret. "I do feel bad about leaving, honestly. I won't be able to say goodbye to my friends," she said while getting up. "But I understand that we can't afford the time."

"I'll help you two get ready," Amity volunteered.

"Don't worry, Ams, you take your time with Kay," Luz said as she went to her room along with King.

"Should we warn the Isles about those Titan Trappers?" Hooty asked.

"They aren't the immediate threat that we have to worry about, Belos is," Lilith pointed out. "Honestly, I think over the last two weeks we may have gotten distracted fighting Melinoe and the Tarot Guild, but now we have to take Belos seriously."

"Yeah, Belos is still looking for the key, or Titan's Blood for the portal door he has. Who knows what he'll do to King or Luz," Hunter said in concern.

"Hey, what's this?" Luz asked when she came back. She pointed at the crate that was on the floor.

"Oh, that's the crate of apple blood given to me for my heroics," Eda replied. "They dropped it off at the orphanage and Donna got it dropped off here."

Luz looked at the crate, making a decision. "Screw it, I want a sip of this," she declared while grabbing the bottle.

"Hey, I was gonna save that," Eda told her. "You shouldn't be drinking anyway."

"You mean, this stuff that you put your own brand of alcohol in to get drunk off of?" Luz called her out. "I learned from the Courtland's daughter that you have been lying to me about apple blood being alcoholic for all these years, just to have it all to yourself."

Everyone turned to Eda, who sheepishly laughed. "Oh… okay, so maybe I did lie about it… but to be fair, I wasn't sure if you'd be able to consume it."

"In light of everything, I think I deserve a taste," Luz said while opening the bottle. "My last drink of the Demon Realm," she said as she raised the bottle up before she took a sip of it…

But as soon as the liquid passed between her lips, Luz froze. Seconds later, she fell and hit the floor hard, the bottle rolling out of her hand and spilling onto the ground.

"LUZ!" everyone cried out, shocked to have Luz suddenly drop like that. Amity and King rushed over to her.

"Luz, what… are you okay?" King asked, nudging Luz.

"Wake up, Luz!" Amity said while feeling her hand and patting her face. Luz was already getting cold.

"What's happening to Luz?!" Eda asked as she, Lilith, Hunter, Acorn, and Hooty looked concerned.

"Luz… she's not waking up," Amity said with tears in her eyes.

Despite everyone's best efforts, Luz remained unresponsive while laying on the ground, the cause of her sudden collapse still spilling its contents all over the floor…

This is a landmark, since this has been the longest chapter ever written at over 34,000 words.

And the ending of this chapter sets up the one that you've all been really waiting for… our adaptation of "Hollow Mind". There are actually only ten chapters of Book Two left, not including the epilogue. We are in the endgame now…

As for this chapter, it was about the revelations for our characters: King learned he is a Titan, Hunter learned that Artemis is still alive, Willow learned that her godmother is a goddess, and Donna learned that her brother is alive and is a Titan Trapper (which Crash X Fusion did predict once). Regarding Artemis, it was always the plan that she was the hooded figure that Hunter and Lilith saw in the cemetery, but to throw you off we had the later scene of Adrian Graye visiting that same cemetery in the same chapter where you saw Artemis 'die', which was meant to make you think it was Graye earlier. As for Willow and her godmother, this was something that we have been planning for a while. Since Willow Park is a Korean-coded character in The Owl House, we thought it would be fun to include more aspects of Korean culture and mythology into her character here through the character Samshin. Although of course, this revelation will have consequences…

And yeah, this is Salty's very late debut in the LCU, since his earlier role in the season was taken up by the Thians. Cups and Mugs being his newly hired crewmates is a reference to The Cuphead Show where Cuphead and Mughead works with Blimey Beard.

But now we must address the elephant in the room. As you can see, it was implied before, but now we can confirm it… technologically advanced aliens exist in this version of the Demon Realm. That's right, and Donna's mother was an alien soldier for an intergalactic empire called the Colony (like a colony of bats, given its bat-theme). This is a reference to Marlena from He-Man, who was an astronaut in her backstory before she crashed on Eternia, met Randor, and had Adora and Adam. The Colony will be one of the antagonists of Book Three along with the Titan Trappers, whom we wanted to do more with than they were given in canon. We actually did struggle to connect them to the Horned King storyline after their initial episode, but when season three gave more context for the conflict between the Archivists and the Titans, we were more easily able to work the Titan Trappers into the Horned King backstory. We also did have to make the Titan Trappers more dangerous in this version, with them having access to alien weapons they scavenged from crashed ships, because of how powerful our heroes are at this point. Madstream being taken out for the first time is actually meant to show that the Titan Trappers do pose a serious threat to the heroes.

OC talk:

Dotty DeWolf is an OC based off of the Jellystone's version of Loopy De Loop. We have wanted to include this expy character for a while now, but we didn't know the right place to have her in. Then while writing Willow's subplot, we remembered that Skara had a cousin who lived in Lambi's apartment building, something that was mentioned all the way back in "Summerween Fright" in Book One. So we've decided to combine that character with our Loopy De Loop expy. Also worth noting is that even though it wasn't brought up in this chapter, Dotty is trans, like how Loopy was genderbended in Jellystone, which could be interpreted as the character being trans, something the artists encouraged.

Clair's parents, Scelma and Marrow, are pretty much based on Nicole Watterson's parents from Amazing World of Gumball. Crash X Fusion gave us the honor to create them and decide what their beef with Clair was. Them wanting Clair to marry someone named Lance Thunderstone was a reference to Lance the Johto League Champion from Pokemon Gold/Silver and Lance is currently on good terms with the Drakescales, since Lance is just a really cool guy who has a restraining spell against Clair's parents for pestering him too much.

Clair and Damien's relationship and backstory was provided by Crash X Fusion and was included in this chapter as a way to make up for Damien being out of focus in the last chapter.

Conner and the Strays… yeah, we don't need to tell you that Conner is the Adam/He-Man expy. Gallantor/Valgor is an expy of Cringer/Battle-Cat (specifically the 2002 version) with a bit of Courage the Cowardly Dog, but Conner and the Strays are more in tune with the 2021 CGI He-Man cartoon from Netflix.

-Nate/Live-Ammo is an expy of Duncan aka Man-At-Arms, who shares the same voice actor as Kyle from She-Ra 2018.

-Raven/Light Caster is an expy of Teela, both 2021 and 2002 versions of her, with some nods to her connections with the Sorceress.

-Crasha/Crash-Land is an expy of Krass/Ram Ma'am from the 2021 series, who's a genderbent character of Ram Man.

-Bonejaws here is considered a Trapjaws expy, particularly from the 2021 He-Man series, since he's Nate's mentor, just like Duncan is Trapjaw's apprentice. And yeah, Bonejaws was Bobby Bones this whole time. The idea is that he was trying to get the planispheric disk from the Titan Trappers, but the only way he would be able to get close enough is by joining the Titan Trappers and playing the long game.

We will admit that while Conner was always going to be a Titan Trapper (like a reversal situation with Adam and Adora, since Adora was part of the Horde), we didn't originally plan on Donna meeting him here. The irony was that when we meet Conner, the readers would recognize him, but the characters would have no idea that they're interacting with Donna's long-lost brother. But then things changed when Cross got involved in the venture and we decided to have Donna come along, which honestly made the chapter even more tragic since Donna unknowingly reunites with her brother and then is immediately separated from him again once she realizes who he was. The part of Donna and Conner talking about their backstories and not realizing who they were was a reference to Kung Fu Panda 3 with Po meeting his dad that way.

In addition to bringing Donna along, we decided to have Lindsay join the trip just so that we can resolve the love triangle between Cross, Donna, and Lindsay here before Hollow Mind. Because there is going to be a shift in tone priorities for the rest of Book Two. As for how we resolved the love triangle, the arrangement they agreed on can actually be compared to the most famous love triangle in fiction: Archie, Betty, and Veronica. In the Archie comics, Archie does not exclusively date either girl. Sometimes he goes on dates with Betty. Sometimes he goes on dates with Veronica. That is what is happening here. The characters agreed that sometimes Cross can go on dates with Lindsay and sometimes Cross can go on dates with Donna. This way, both Licross fans and Cronna fans can be happy. And let's face it, Cross would feel really bad if he broke up with Donna on the same day that she met and lost her twin brother.

But as you can see, the chapter did live up to its title. Everything changes after this...

Review Answers:

Gamelover41592: You're welcome

Crash X Fusion: Kinda like "An Ed is Born" which is how I got the feel as well when writing the chapter. And to point it out already, Atticus is named after Atticus Finch from "To Kill a Mockingbird", which is a classic read, and the movie's a classic. Atticus Rhodes is probably unintentional since I forgot the character. And yeah, next chapter is Hollow Mind. And hopefully you'll be glad that Damien got more focus on this chapter, and the Lance bit.

Spantidem7: 1) No spoilers. 2) Well, it would be something morbid. 3) He would. 4) Nope. 5) I don't think so. 6) We'll see Molly McGee beating Obama in the 2012 election soon of this fic. And I'll say it again, please do not make joke-threats. You're not being funny about it. Plus, we've been over this, Amaroq is not Loona's sister since it doesn't really add up. No, the Horned King is not Satan, nor does he live in Inkwell Isles.

Matteso585: 1) Donna and Eda will eventually find out. 2) Okay. 3) She is. 4) Being a little passive aggressive there. Seriously, what is your problem?

Franco Almiron: Um, no. Edge of the World happens before Hollow Mind, which is the next chapter.

Shuffollower: Honestly, we kinda forgot the Trace and Martha OCs, but we've decided that they're too many characters. Atticus functions like a multi-weapon, honestly. And don't worry, now it's a Cross/Donna/Lindsay threesome.

EenE Scammer: Cross never mentioned Donna knew he likes Lindsay to Luz, and he does know now that she likes him back.

Alamout: 1) Yes, but not at the heat of the moment. 2) To be determined. 3) Neutral, since Belos signed a treaty with the leader of the sea-witches. Hell, there are some that appeared in the aquarium earlier chapters. 4) No. 5) It's not illegal, just obscure information. Not to mention Grimwalker deterioration is a problem. 6) Yes.