Thanks for All
KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!
RING! RING! RING!
KNOCK! RING! KNOCK! RING!
"I'm coming! I'm coming!" Anne groaned in annoyance as she walked to the door, the knocking and ringing persisting. "Sheesh! Somebody better be dying!"
She had been catching up on cat videos, as she was done packing for the day of Unity. This time tomorrow, she and the Plantars would be back at the Boiling Isles, ready to help Olivier, Maddie and Luz stop Belos' plan to bring earth and the Isles together. She needed the videos to calm her nerves.
"Maybe it's the pizza guy!" Polly called out. "POLLY WANT YUM YUMS!"
"Young lady, calm down and PLEASE keep Frobo from breaking whatever his head touches!" Hop Pop called out in annoyance, which increased when he saw Oum and Bee chuckling.
Suddenly hearing her stomach growl, Anne began to share Polly's wish as she reached for the door.
"Anne, wait!" Srig hopped in, a wad of bills in hand and his human disguise already on. "In case it us."
Anne smiled at her best friend and opened the door, looking forward to pizza with her family before a quick rest and then seeing…!
What greeted her was a sight she and Sprig would normally have loved to see: Their respective beloved, even if Sprig and his hadn't outright admitted it. However, their current states?
"Please…help…" Maddie managed as she supported a barely conscious and heavily bleeding Olivier, who managed to smiled weakly at Anne before his finally let exhaustion (and possibly pain as well) take him, releasing his grip on Fleetwing.
"MOM! DAD! FIRST AID!" Anne screamed desperately as she caught Ollie and Sprig did the same to a suddenly bawling Maddie.
Alarmed by the volume and desperation in Anne's voice, the Boonchuy and Plantars were quick to dash towards the front. And like Anne and Sprig, what they saw horrified them.
"KHUṆ PHRA CH̀WY!" Oum shouted as she rushed to help Anne move Ollie inside to the couch. Bee had already pulled out the gauze and tore off the boy's shirt, revealing a bleeding gash….and paired with the ax wound he got fighting Cloakbot two months ago, the poor boy would have a cross shaped scar on his chest by the time this was done.
Fleetwing landed on the rim of the couch and eyed his master in worry, Fangora climbing up a wall to get a better look. The two Palismen were so preoccuopied they failed to see Frobo driving around the scene to get a better look, like a worried a child.
Anne, her eyes already watering, fought back tears as she dapped away sweat and…rain? Whatever, water from Olivier's head. She snuck in kisses when she could, hoping it eased his pain as her father managed to clean up and bandage the wound.
"Anne, hold up his head." Bee ordered. His daughter was quick to obey, gently lifting Olivier's head and shoulders so that her father could wrap the bandages around the boy.
Something warm suddenly greeted the Thai girl's fingers. Some warm and liquidly. Once her father had wrapped Ollie's chest, Anne gently placed his head down and gazed at her hand.
She froze. She looked at the blood on her hand...HIS blood. And Anne nearly went into a panic attack; her breathing ragged, fast and shaking…
"Anne!" Hop-Pop leapt over and cupped his adopted granddaughter's face, breathing in and out to help her calm down. "Just breathe. Just breathe. I know this looks bad, but once the wrapping is done, Ollie'll be in the clear."
Anne's breathing had slowed to normal, her tears breaking free as her mother hugged and kissed her forehead.
"Never thought I'd be doing this IRL." He muttered, trying to break the tension, and failing. Still, now he war grateful one of his games had that close to life healing mini-game…..
Maddie, being held by Sprig, suddenly made a beehive for Hop-Pop and hugged him.
"There, there, Maddie." The elderly frog cooed, patting her back and giving her his hanky to dry her eyes. "It's okay now. You're safe."
"What…what the heck happened?" Polly asked, fare more quietly and almost timidly. She considered Maddie to be the bravest and most cool-headed girl she knew…save for maybe Amity and Willow.
"Belos moved the Day of Unity a day earlier." Maddie started, rambling as she tried to recall things in detail. "Luz and Ollie were caught, we tracked him down….we fought…."
As Maddie did her best to explain what had happened, the half awake half-witch boy's min was fitful.
Within Olivier's mind
Olivier was back at the Boiling Isles, back in Belos throne room now without a roof as the Collector and King fly out of sight. Olivier would've tried to race to King, consequences be damned….! But then the false witch and king, sitting on his throne, slammed and raised his staff upwards, a cruel smile on his face.
"I warned you."
The eclipse was willed, and suddenly Eda, Lilith, Raine, Dell and Gwendolyn appeared in the room, their coven systems overtaking their forms and a sickly, evil yellow magic pouring out.
"NO!" Olivier screamed, racing forwards, and desperately trying to will his magic to stop this. Lilith was closest and shook her head as she held her hands in front to push him away…before they and her crumbled away, the former head witch managing a sad smile before she was gone.
The loss of his aunt made Olivier freeze up for a second…but that second was all it took for Dell and Gwen to suffer like their eldest had. The last Olivier saw of them where their sad smiles; filled with love and happy he was safe.
Raine and Eda both seemed to break free of being frozen in place and Raine willed their fiddler to them, attempting to strike Belos, who blasted it and them away with his staff, speeding up their fate.
Like Gwen and Dell, they just smiled as they vanished, trying to say something….
Belos chuckled throughout all this, but the chuckles turned to laughter when only Eda remained.
More desperate than ever, Olivier willed, begged for his magic to pause, or rewind, DO SOMETHING for his mother! She was already half gone and dusting even more as they got closer…!
And just like everyone else? All she did was smile as she reached for him, as if desperate for one more hug. Her son saw this and reached in kind….
"I love you, my Owlet."
Then she was naught but dust. Olivier desperately tried to grab and piece the dust together, maybe form her back in some capacity?
No.
Even the dust faded.
Chorno-Magic never touched Eda. It never touched any of the Clawthornes, or Raine.
They were all gone.
All of them.
Because of…
"You." Grunge's voice suddenly came from Olivier's mo0uth. The boy clamped it shut, but the toad wizard kept talking. "If only you were stronger…if you'd just listened to me from the start…and now? All you have is HIM."
HIM
Emperor Belos, now slowly, gently making his way over to the crying boy, obvlivous to Grunge's sway.
"Now, now….They were only witches." Belos said, seeming to shrink down and toss away his robe. "We still have…"
Red.
That was all Olivier saw.
Burning, seething rage.
That was all the boy felt.
Olivier saw red and leapt onto Belos, knocking him down to floor along and disorentinged the Emperor enough for Olivier to wrap his hands around his neck and SQUEEZE!
"N-no…! W-wait!" The old man begged, his own magic suddenly not working for him. He actually started to gasp and tear up….
Grandpa and grandma were dead because of him, so Olivier gave no even smiled, delighting at this fool finally being on the receiving end of pain.
Belos suddenly grew younger, a bushy bearded gentleman
"O-Olivier!" He gasped for air. "We can discuss…ACK!"
He'd nearly killed Aunt Lily and Luz at this age. And definitely killed his brother.
Kind of funny; this master planner and schemer, devolved top hoping his foe didn't remember his transgressions against the Clawthorn family.
It was to laugh!
So that's what Olivier did: He laughed a terrifying laugh.
"H-help! P-please! I-I'm sorry!"
Now Belos was a small child, sobbing and begging for mercy, desperately trying to claw off the hands that were killing him. Mercy Olivier would happily deny, his fingers wrapped around Phillip's neck becoming claws and his skin a sickly green has his laughter grew cruel….
SNAP!
CRUNCH!
Belos, his neck snapped and a little bloody, was dead: His eyes now a sick grey.
Olivier's fingers were now clawed and dripping with blood. He had just killed a child…and he didn't feel anything but elation.
He was now cackling madly and in his place was a green rotting, bestial version of himself.
Real world
"NO!"
Olivier jolted awake and immediately fell back in pain, barely seeing his chest wrapped in reddened gauze.
"Its okay, Ollie! It's okay! It's okay."
The voice of Anne Boonchuy, the love of his life, calmed him down.
"A-Annie?"
"I'm here." She said, nuzzling her nose with his. "I'm here."
He took one of her hands and held it tight. The two breathed in and oit for a few minutes before the Thai girl continued.
"Maddie told…and showed us…everything." The Thai girl explained, wincing at some of what she recalled…in particularly HOW her boyfriend got his latest scar; she already knew Luz and Hunter blamed themselves for it….and if she needed any MORE reasons to hate that delusional genocidal colonialist? She had them.
"…I tried…" Olivier started. "We all tried so hard…I got so strong…and I still can't…!"
Anne cupped his face and gently shushed him, clearing his tears away with her thumbs,
"Don't think about it now."
She waited for him to stop talking and gently kissed him, then resting her forehead on his. Once his breathing was steady, she laid him back down.
"You've got to be hungry." The Thai girl mused, grabbing a plate with two slices of deluxe pizza and a glass of water. She put a straw in the glass and let Olivier sip the cup dry before she cut p the slices and fed him bits.
He did feel a little better with food in his stomach.
"Where's Maddie?" he manged.
"In my room with the Plantars. Sprig was holding her and not letting go once she fell asleep." Normally, Anne would be elated to be speaking this; Spraddie was so, sooooo close to sailing…! But this wasn't how she'd wanted it to go….Never mind that.
Once Olivier (who had also been smiling sadly at that notion) had finished, she cleaned his face and fluffed his pillow before checking her phone. Seeing a message, she shared it with him. It was from Luz Noceda.
"Luz texted me; she got everyone to her mom's. They'll call tomorrow and if you're up for it, we can port to the house." She promised him. "But for now? Just rest."
She moved to leave, but Olivier held her hand steady.
"…Stay? Please?" He begged.
Anne couldn't say no: His mom, his aunt, his Rapa, his grandparents, the detention track eight and even his brother where now….She didn't know and neither did anyone else.
With a sweet smile, she lay down beside Olivier, holding him just tight enough for him to feel secure before they fell asleep.
Tomorrow would hopefully be a better day.
BTAB-TTA
As she prepared for a restless night, no way she'd be sleeping, Luz spied a text from Anne: Olivier and Maddie were healing up and had had enough strength to eat and show the fight against Belos. That made her feel somewhat better.
She and the others had been terrified when, after breaking down trying and failing to re-open the portal, even with his Titan Blood supply, Olivie, still bleeding like a pig on a spilt, grabbed Maddie and told them he had a place before vanishing into thin air.
In all the craziness of the past half hour, Luz had forgotten about the Boonchuy house and the teleportation glyphs Olivier had placed there for such an occasion. Still, as much as she hated it, this did mean Camilla had two less to worry about. And poor Hunter didn't need to feel any more guilty about Olivier's injury, poor guy had enough on his mind.
Wipimng her tears again, Luz began to feel a little drowsy as she pondered for the coming day: Seeing Anne again since entering Belos' mind, catching up with the Plantars….
Yeah. Tomorrow would be a better day.
To be continued….
For some gosh darned reason, my brain can never focus on a story from beginning to end. No: It jumps forwards and backwards, me coming up with things further down the line than what I should be focusing on and driving my poor muses and readers crazy! I mean, it does kind of help give me some guidelines when I go back…
Back to the main point!
Here, previously posted on DeviantArt, is the canon opening to a full season three of my own 'Brought to a Boil' spin-off, scrapped third season of the Owl House before going into the final episodes of season 3A of Amphibia.
I am open for suggestions for episode ideas and storylines to follow in this season, so please feel free to share your ideas in the reviews, you will be credited if I take them up and co-writing is welcome.
As Halloween drew closer, the nightmare sequence came to me, so I figured I'd add it in here. On DA, Olivier transformed into Belos considering certain lore (NO SPOILERS IN THE COMMENTS IF YOU KNOW, PLEASE!), but MetroXLR confirmed my thoughts that turning into his mortal enemy would be a more terrifying aspect. That and Belos is Luz and Hunter's arch-enemy.
The main horror element here is meant to be how, with apparently little to lose now, Olivier could potentially toss away his morals and come to ENJOY being a monster to certain beings, and considering some of the bad days our boy has had….?
Credit to MetroXLR for the pizza scene and Anne's horror at Olivier's injuries. They also suggested an Olivanne fusion, and while that would've been sweet, I don't think Olivier is in a clear enough mind for such to occur.
Will update 'Brought to a Boil' tomorrow; after some bittersweetness we're getting into the Owl House now! YAHOO!
Until then? Stay safe!