The Emperor Strikes Back

Spoiler alert: I will have some interesting revelations as the plot thickens in this chapter. We will see some nice interactions between characters. We are coming close to a turning point. I will have some references to episodes of the first season. Things will also begin to get more interesting.

Allies and Opportunities

It was a bright and sunny day on the Boiling Isles as Luz and Eda flew through the old portal on their staffs with King and Vee riding with them.

They went to the Owl House and Hooty opened the door as he happily said, "Hoot! Hoot! Look who's back! Our favorite witch, human, Titan, and basilisk!"

Eda smiled at Hooty as she said, "Hey Hooty."

Lilith, Raine, and Hunter were already in the living room as they smiled at them as Hunter said, "Hey guys. How was Thanksgiving?"

Eda smiled as she shrugged and said, "Not bad. The food was good."

Luz walked up to Hunter and held the Echo Mouse in her hand as she said, "Hey Hunter, while were gone the Echo Mouse showed us another journal entry, and we learned something about Caleb."

Hunter's eyes widened in interest as he said, "Really?"

Vee joined them and smiled as she said, "Yeah, it turns out Caleb helped Philip build the old portal door."

Hunter was surprised but his expression softened with realization as he said, "I guess that explains a few things."

King nodded as he said, "Yeah we talked about that too."

Luz looked at Hunter as she smiled hopefully and said, "So, do you think you could help me build a new portal door?"

Hunter smiled generously as he said, "Sure, you didn't even have to ask, I'd do it anyway."

Lilith smiled as she raised her left finger and said, "And we've been going through some the books from the Collector's Archives and we've learned some interesting historical facts about him, the Archivists, the Titans, even the basilisks."

Vee immediately got interested as she inquired, "Really? Like what?"

Raine put their hand on her shoulder to calm her down as they said, "We'll tell you some other time, right now we have more important things to discuss."

Luz then curiously asked, "Like what?"

Lilith spoke urgently as she said, "Well, some Titan Trappers have been spotted on the Boiling Isles. We think they may be hunting King."

King looked nervous until Eda spoke fiercely and clinched her fist as she said, "If they want him they gotta get through me!"

Luz smiled with respect as she pointed at Eda and said, "Yeah Owl Lady!"

Raine smiled as they looked down at King and said, "Yes, we'll make sure they don't hurt him. And we're also still trying to keep his Titan status a secret."

Hooty stretched over to them as he happily said, "And if you need a safe place to hide you've got your guardian Hooty to protect you."

Eda smiled as she playfully shoved him away, then Raine looked at Luz as they said, "And we still don't know who's responsible for these robberies or why people are accusing you of it."

Luz smiled optimistically as she said, "Well we'll find out who's responsible and stop them! Nobody messes with the Owl Family!"

Eda, Vee, and King all happily cheered, "Owl Family!"

Hunter, Lilith, and Raine all showed warm smiles before Luz flew out on Stringbean along with King, Hunter, and Vee. They went into Bonesborough and started searching for clues but could not find anything about the crimes Luz was accused of. They asked around but no one knew anything, after an hour or so, the four children regrouped in the middle of the path.

Hunter held his palm up as he said, "I don't suppose you guys found anything?"

They all shook their heads, prompting Hunter to sigh in exasperation, but Luz smiled as she said, "Don't give up guys! I know we'll find something!"

They were all startled as they heard a familiar voice say, "Do not be so sure."

They all turned and Luz and King gasped in shock as they saw Tarak walking toward them with a calm look in his eyes.

Luz immediately picked up King for protection while Hunter and Vee stared in shock as Vee said, "Another Titan?"

Luz narrowed her eyes and glared at Tarak as she said, "No! That's Tarak, one of the Titan Trappers. They dress up like Titans so they can get close enough to kill them."

Vee and Hunter both glared at Tarak as they moved closer to Luz and King, but Tarak stopped and said, "You need not fear me, human and Titan. I have not come to harm any of you."

King cocked his eye in curiosity as he said, "Then why are you here?"

Tarak spoke honorably as he said, "I have come to apologize and to thank you both."

Luz remained cautious as she asked, "For what?"

Tarak held his arms out as he sincerely answered, "For showing us the truth and saving us all."

Behind him a few more Titan Trappers emerged from an alley with peaceful expressions as they stayed put.

Tarak pointed at them and then held his arms out, then pointed at Luz while he honestly said, "After your escape from us, the Collector's rule, and Belos' defeat we realized that we had been following a dark and empty goal. Many of us realized that Bill had lied to us and that Titans are not to be hunted. The Collector was not the grand huntsman we thought he was and Titans are not the monsters we were told they were. The Boiling Isles entrusted you with his power to stop Belos from destroying all life in the demon realm."

Luz smiled as she modestly said, "Well, I was the only person there and he did think I was a kind person."

She put King down while Hunter and Vee lowered their arms as one Titan Trapper pointed at Vee and said, "A basilisk!"

Tarak realized he was right as he stared at Vee and said, "Amazing! We all believed basilisks were extinct."

Vee smiled awkwardly as she explained, "We were until the Emperor's Coven brought us back."

Tarak placed his finger to his face in thought as he said, "Interesting. It is said that thousands of years ago the basilisks defended the last living Titan and helped him hide his egg."

King was amazed as she looked down at King, who looked back up at her with emotion in his eyes while she stared at him.

She looked back at Tarak and asked, "Do you know how they went extinct?"

Tarak showed some regret as he said, "I am not sure, but it is said that for centuries Titan Trappers fought them in their attempts to find the egg."

Vee looked a bit saddened until King walked up and hugged her, prompting her to smile and pick him up in her arms.

Hunter then cautiously pointed at Tarak as he said, "Okay, so if you're not after King then why are you all here on the Boiling Isles?"

Tarak showed a serious expression as he answered, "While we have renounced our savage ways there are some who remain loyal to Bill. We know that they are here on the Boiling Isles and intend to sacrifice King."

Vee then held King close for protection while he nervously said, "Weh!"

Tarak shut his eyes and got down on one knee as he said, "But we will not allow that. We are no longer Titan Trappers, from now on we are Titan Protectors. We vow to protect King, the last Titan, and do whatever we can to help him."

The others behind Tarak also got down on one knee, King was surprised as he humbly said, "Gee, thanks. Hey maybe you could help us out with another problem. Someone's going around framing Luz for crimes, but we don't know who."

Hunter also raised his left finger as he respectfully added, "Also we believe that some of the Coven Heads might be up to something. Can you guys keep an eye out for anything suspicious."

Tarak and the other Titan Protectors stood up as Tarak seriously said, "We will keep a watch for Bill and any other troubling matters. We shall not allow any harm to befall you or your loved ones."

They all turned around and walked away as King waved at them and said, "Okay, bye!"

Luz smiled optimistically as she looked at the others and said, "Well I think our luck's starting to turn around."

Vee and Hunter smiled while King had a happy look in his eyes and they all turned and left as they proceeded through Bonesborough. They talked to a few other people but none of them had any information that they were hoping for.

Suddenly Vee was startled as she heard a familiar voice yell, "Number 5!"

She and the others turned to see Warden Wrath in his civilian attire as he stared at them; Vee screamed and hid behind Luz and Hunter in fear while holding King. Wrath walked up to them but Luz held her staff out while Hunter bravely held his hand out in front of Vee.

Wrath looked at Hunter, then Luz while he forcefully said, "Golden Guard, Luz the human, step aside! That basilisk is dangerous!"

Hunter fearlessly glared at Wrath as he said, "No! She's our friend!"

Luz also glared at him as she said, "And besides Wrath, the Emperor's Coven can't lock anyone up anymore."

Wrath raised his right finger as he explained, "Since we've started rebuilding the Boiling Isles I got my old job back. We've released some of the prisoners at the Conformatorium but we're keeping the dangerous ones and trying to round up the ones who escaped. That includes the basilisks!"

Vee was very afraid but they were all startled when Braxas came and yelled, "Daddy!"

Wrath turned away from everyone as Braxas came to him and he said, "Son, now's not the time, I'm working."

Braxas then happily walked up to Vee and said, "Vee!"

He hugged her, while Wrath watched and Vee politely said, "Hi Braxas. Good to see you."

Braxas then turned to his father while holding Vee's hand as he said, "Daddy, this is the basilisk I met at the library!"

Wrath pointed at Vee as he asked, "This basilisk?"

Braxas happily looked up at Vee as he said, "Yes! Isn't she beautiful!"

Hunter and Luz both smiled slyly at Wrath as Luz softly said, "You know, I don't think Braxas would like it if you locked her up again."

Wrath reluctantly agreed as he pointed at Vee and said, "Okay, you're free to go. But you'd better stay out of trouble."

She nodded in agreement and then Wrath took Braxas' hand as they both walked away, then Vee slithered out from behind Luz and Hunter.

She let out a sigh of relief as she looked at them before watching Wrath with surprise as she said, "Thanks! Warden Wrath was always the scariest at the Conformatorium. I didn't know he had a son though."

Hunter folded his arms and shrugged his shoulders as he said, "Yeah, Wrath acted scary but deep down he was always just a big unicorn."

Luz smiled as she held her staff out toward Wrath while she honestly said, "And I really do think he's changed for the better since the Day of Unity."

King had an amused look in his eyes as he looked up at Vee and said, "And he used to have a crush on Eda."

Hunter held his chin with interest as he said, "Really…"

They returned to the Owl House and informed Eda, Lilith, Hooty, and Raine of everything that happened to them today.

Eda put her fist on her chin in thought as she said, "So the Titan Trappers have divided and are having their own little civil war."

Raine looked troubled as they said, "That will make identifying the bad ones a lot harder."

Hooty smiled as he moved his head toward Raine and happily said, "But now we have so many new friends helping us!"

King had a happy look in his eyes as he said, "Yeah, I really think Tarak was telling the truth and he and the others really want to help us."

Eda was cautious as she narrowed her eyes and pointed at King while she said, "Okay, but if he tries to hurt you, he's going down."

Vee was cautiously optimistic as she asked, "And the same goes for me and Wrath, right?"

Lilith smiled as she came next to Vee and put her hands on her shoulders as she sincerely said, "Don't worry Vee. You're never going back to the Conformatorium."

Hooty had a big smile as he moved in front of Vee and said, "Lulu's right! You're not going to the big house as long as you live in the Owl House!"

Eda smiled proudly as she said, "Yeah, and even if he does lock you up, Luz, King, and I broke out of that place twice. We got you covered."

Vee felt much better as she smiled gratefully and said, "Thanks guys."

The next day, Luz went to Amity's house with Hunter and Vee as they talked with her, Edric, Emira, Willow, and Gus. They told them about everything that happened to them yesterday and Luz also told the others about what she learned from the Echo Mouse.

Gus had his right finger on his chin in thought as he said, "So Caleb helped Philip build the old Portal Door."

Luz nodded as she said, "Yeah, Eda thinks Caleb did most of the work and that's why Belos didn't just build a new one."

Hunter looked down with a sad expression as he said, "It's probably also why he asked me to help him rebuild it."

Willow smiled as she took Hunter's hand and sincerely said, "Yeah, because he needed someone smarter to help him."

Hunter smiled and looked away with a blush while Emira said, "At least some of those Titan Trappers aren't hunting King anymore."

Luz looked a bit nervous as she looked at Amity and said, "You told them King is a Titan?"

Amity smiled sheepishly as she said, "Yeah, when we were catching up I shared some information about him and Belos."

Edric smiled reassuringly as he said, "Don't worry, we promised we wouldn't tell anyone."

Luz let out a sigh of relief before holding up the Echo Mouse in her hand while she said, "Well, since we still don't know who's trying to frame me, maybe we can still learn more about how to create a new portal door."

Amity smiled as she said, "I've got an idea."

She scratched the Echo Mouse's head and then gave it a peace of cheese, prompting it to project a video from its eyes. They all watched the black and white video of Philip's silhouette with two unknown people before showing the eye from the old Portal Door.

While this video played Philip's voice said, "Upon discussing my plans for the Portal Door with my brother we have come up for an interesting design for it. We found an ancient painting in a cave showing us the eye of the Titan. An associate of Caleb claims to have seen that eye in designs in many old architectures across the Boiling Isles. Now that we have the Titan Blood to power the Portal Door, we have decided to include this design in it, as a respectful acknowledgement to the power given to us by the Titan."

The video ended and Amity was amazed as she said, "So the eye in the Portal Door was supposed to be the eye of the Titan?!"

Hunter was not as surprised as he looked at the others and said, "Actually, it makes sense. When I helped Belos rebuild the door he said the Titan told him that it was his way of watching over both realms and how he wanted the Boiling Isles to be more like the human realm."

Luz showed disdain as she said, "More of Belos' lies! He couldn't talk to the Titan! The Titan knew how horrible he was and wanted to stop him! He'd been watching everyone and he knew Belos was a horrible monster who just wanted to 'save humanity from witches'!"

Vee looked at Luz and said, "But maybe making an eye like that could help us make a new working portal door."

Hunter looked at Luz as he suggested, "Yeah, but maybe it wasn't a total lie. The Titan wasn't completely dead yet, so that might be what lead Belos to lie about talking to him."

Amity thought and said, "The eye was in the rebus we found in the old house. And it was also used in the key, which had Titan Blood inside it."

Luz's expression softened as she held her chin and said, "The Titan's power was what made the glyphs work, and he did say he'd been watching me and King."

Willow smiled as she pointed her left finger at Luz and said, "And you said the Titan had been stuck in the Space In Between."

Gus held his palm up as he theorized, "Maybe the Titan liked Caleb and somehow helped build the Portal Door."

Luz was not feeling very confident as she said, "Maybe, but the Titan's dead now and the glyphs don't work, so I'm not sure that helps us."

Vee smiled as she said, "Maybe King can help us. We already use his blood to open that old portal near Del and Gwendolyn's house."

Luz looked down in thought and smiled with a cautiously optimistic expression as she said, "He could definitely help us build a new portal door, and his blood would power it up pretty good."

Amity smiled as she stood up and confidently said, "If we keep studying the journal and put our heads together we can all build a new working portal door with teamwork!"

They all raised their fists and happily cheered, "Teamwork!"

Later they used a big needle to take a large blood sample from King, much to his pain, and they had enough Titan Blood to make over a dozen trips to and from the human realm. Over the next two weeks, Luz made several trips between the human and demon realm; she attended all of her classes at school and some nights she would come to the human realm to visit her friends. She had a lot of homework to do but she managed to complete it all, Amity and Hunter also gave her homework from Hexside so she wouldn't fallback. Vee went with Luz a few times when she went to the human realm; one day she met with Masha and they went for a walk together. On another day Vee visited Gus and they had fun as Vee shapeshifted and made herself look exactly like him. Gus also used his Illusion magic to make himself look like Vee in her basilisk form, to which they both smiled and laughed at each other. During this time there had been a few more crimes and robberies reported, with more witches and demons blaming Luz for them. Luz and her friends continued to search for clues but couldn't find any evidence that proved her innocence or lead to any other suspects. One night Luz and Hunter went out in the Night Market to ask people what they knew, and they met someone who claimed to have answers. Unfortunately, they were led into a trap by the demon merchant who lied to Eda and Lilith about the Bloom of Eternal Youth.

They were at his nest when he evilly revealed his true intentions and said, "Ha! You've been deceived! I don't know or care why people are accusing you of crimes! I just wanted to lure you both to my nest! Now I will suck your life out to satisfy my thirst!"

Neither Luz nor Hunter were scared as Stringbean sat on Luz's shoulder and Hunter nonchalantly said, "He scammed us. Can you believe this guy actually scammed us?"

Luz looked at him and smiled as she held her left palm up and said, "Eda taught me some ways on how to recognize a scammer, plus she told me about how this guy tricked her and Lilith."

The merchant was baffled while Hunter shrugged and calmly said, "Yeah, when Lilith was in the Emperor's Coven she mentioned some guy who gave her a fake map to the Bloom of Eternal Youth."

They both smiled at the merchant as Luz said, "Eda was right though, this guy dresses like a bling goblin."

Hunter smiled snidely as he pointed at the merchant and said, "Yeah, he's got nice flare but that dialogue is so cheesy."

They both laughed while the merchant angrily said, "I know you two have probably seen danger before but you're supposed to be scared!"

Hunter and Luz smiled at each other before stepping forward as Luz eagerly said, "Okay, try and scare us."

Stringbean changed into her staff form while Luz held her and Hunter said, "Show us what kind of monster we're dealing with."

He raised his right finger as the tip glowed yellow as he prepared to use his magic while he and Luz smiled maliciously at the merchant. He started to whimper in fear before Luz and Hunter used their abilities and power to beat him up before leaving. Nevertheless, during the two weeks they kept trying to figure out what was going on, though they found no answers. Raine also kept a close eye on Terra, Graye, and Vitimir along with Darius and Eberwolf as they remained suspicious of them. One day Eda and Lilith went flying out on their staffs when they went to the Bonesborough library and donated a couple of the Collector's books to it. On another day Odalia visited her family, it was a tense reunion and when she left she came across Darius eyeing her suspiciously. Luz and her friends also started working on constructing a new portal door, and King helped them, though they didn't make much progress. They used the Echo Mouse a couple more times but they couldn't find much information that helped them in their goal. They also analyzed the notes in Philip's journal to try and determine which parts were true and which parts were lies. Luz also told her mother about what had been going on lately, Camila supported her but was also somewhat worried for her. One afternoon, Eda and Raine were walking through Bonesborough when they came across Kikimora and stopped as they watched her.

She sitting on a crate in an alley as she sulked and said to herself, "No power, no empire, no authority, and no home to go back to. I wasted my life serving that snake Belos and even if I had taken that human's offer and gone back to Palm Stings Terra would've told him and I'd have been killed. I had the chance to start my own empire but the human ruined it and then she defeated Belos and ended the Collector's reign. Now no one will even hire me and everyone looks down on me as things change while I stay the same."

Eda showed a bit of pity as she said, "That girl has some serious issues."

Raine showed a bit of sympathy before turning to Eda as they said, "Definitely, though I don't think she knows anything about these crimes or anything else that's going on."

Eda looked at them and held her hand up as she said, "I could picture her accusing Luz of stuff to try and get back at her, but I doubt she's behind the rumors."

They both looked back at Kikimora as she rested her head in her hands and kept sulking as she looked down at the sidewalk.

Raine took Eda's hand and lead her away as they said, "Let's just leave her alone."

They both walked away and when they were gone, Odalia showed up in an alley nearby as she stared at Kikimora across the street. Behind her was Belos' spirit as they both stared at Kikimora sulking without her knowing either of them were watching her.

Belos smiled sinisterly as he moved close to Odalia and said, "Kikimora always was the perfect tool in my plans. Despite her failures she served a valuable purpose and was an asset that could be useful against enemies. We will need her to accomplish our plan."

Odalia smiled evilly as she placed her finger on her cheek and said, "Then I know exactly how to hook that little gremlin."

Belos then looked at her with a serious expression as he said, "Just remember, she can't know anything about my return. She will only help us to serve her own interest as long as she doesn't know that I am behind it."

Odalia smiled maliciously at him as she said, "Don't worry, I'm good at keeping secrets."

Belos smiled before he disappeared and then Odalia crossed the street and walked over to Kikimora and stood in front of her.

Kikimora eyed her suspiciously as she said, "Odalia? What do you want?"

Odalia put her hands together as she slyly said, "Kikimora, I have a proposition for you that I think you'll love."

Kikimora quickly became interested as she listened carefully as Odalia moved closer and pitched her an interesting offer.

Author's note: I included the montage scene to help make this story shorter and effectively cut to the chase. We see some important things happening as trouble continues to loom on the horizon. The Owl House gang are still unaware of what's happening. I was going to have some bigger revelations at first but I decided it would be better to save those for the next chapter. Some of you might feel bad for Kikimora right now. Please review.