At last, the trial between the Emperor's Coven and Luz and her friends was underway as the public gathered outside the "Hall of Law". They were split into two different sides in terms of who they were hoping would win the trial.
Some of the public were protesting in Luz's name as they held up protest signs saying such things as, "Luz Did Nothing Wrong!", "Hexside Forever!" and "Freedom to the King!" and "Down With the Emperor!".
Others in the crowd were standing with the Emperor as they rallied with pick-it signs that read, "Belos Forever!", "Witches Before Wicked!" and "Magic Needs To Be Controlled!"
The crowd was getting a bit restless as they began to argue and fight among themselves as they wanted to see what was going on inside the Boiling Isles' courtroom.
Over at the Blight Manor, Amity was in her room sitting by her window as she stared at the place where the trial was taking place with the defeated look on her face. She just didn't know what to do. If she went to the trial and defended Luz, it would result in retaliation from her parents and the Emperor if he chose to. But if she didn't go and Luz lost the trial, it would result in her petrification.
On one hand she wanted to help the human girl who tired so hard to be her friend and help her with her own issues.
On the other hand, she didn't want to catch the ire of her parents and the unfortunate result of Luz getting hurt in the process of her defiance.
She wasn't the only one feeling this way either as downstairs, Edric and Emira were pacing around the room, distress being shown clearly on their faces.
"Oh, what to do? What to do?" Edric said, clearly panicking. "I want to help Luz but our parents will be furious and take their anger out on her because of us!"
"Let's stay calm Edric, the trial's not over yet. We can help Luz, but the question is, how can we?" Emira said as she grabbed onto her brother's shoulders in her attempt to calm him down.
Hearing this caused the green haired teen to calm down a bit as he began to think.
Emira also began to think as she continued to pace around the living room.
"C'mon, think Blight, you're the smart one of the two." Emira said.
"Hey!" Edric said, feeling insulted.
"What, it's true." Emira said smugly.
"I'll show you true." The green haired teen boy said as he picked up a pillow and threw it at his sister's head.
The elder Blight sister ducked before asking. "Did you just throw a pillow at me?"
"Maybe?" Edric said.
"Oh it's on." The Blight girl said before forming a magic pink circle with her index finger, causing a bunch of pillows to appear.
Edric instantly knew what was about to go down as he dove behind the couch before forming his own circle, this one being a dark green color, causing a bunch of pillows to appear at his side.
A few seconds later, the two older Blight sibling were engaged in a all-out pillow fight.
"It's not my fault you're an oddball." Emira said playfully, chucking a pillow over her side of the couch.
"At least my oddball tendencies are fun for people like Luz." Edric said, also being playful as he threw a pillow that hit his sister in the shoulder.
The two continued their pillow war for few more minutes until they heard Amity coming down the stairs.
"What's going down here-Ow!" Amity began but was immediately hit in the face by a pillow.
Hearing their younger sister yelled out in pain caused the two to stop what they were doing.
"Oh sorry, Mittens!" Edric said as he put his pillow down.
"You okay?" Emira asked in concern, also putting her pillow down.
"Well, aside from a hard pillow getting thrown in my face, I'm fine." Amity admitted, rubbing the spot where she felt the most pain which was her nose. "Now I'll ask again, what's going on down here?"
"Oh right, we'll just doing something help us take at least some of the stress of what happening off our minds." Emira said.
"By having a pillow fight?" Amity asked confused.
"Well... yeah!" Edric said.
Hearing her brother admit this caused Amity to laugh a bit. "Okay, I will admit that we need to stay calm, but can we please get back to focusing on the task at hand?"
"Okay, you're right Mittens." Edric said. "But we tried, we don't have anything."
"Well I think I might at least that can help." Amity said.
"And what would that be?" Emira asked.
"I think we need to find some way to get access the human world." Amity said. "But that's going to be tough since Luz destroyed the only thing that brought her here."
Hearing Mittens say that caused Edric to perk up.
"Not entirely." He said, gaining the two's attention.
"What do you mean?" Emira and Amity both said in unison.
"Well, I think this is rumored so I could be wrong on this..." Edric said before collecting his thoughts on what he needed to say next. "I heard from some of the Emperor's guards that Belos is constructing a portal to the human world using some machine parts and the remnants of Eda's door for the "Day of Unity."
"When did you hear this?" Em asked.
"About a few weeks ago." Ed admitted.
"Why didn't you tell us this sooner?" Amity said, getting a bit angry.
"Well to be fair, I did think it was a rumor so I thought it wasn't important." Edric said. "So don't get mad at me."
"Well rumor or not, if something that specific is said, even offhandedly. You should have told us Ed." Emira said, a bit disppointed that her own brother kept this from her and Amity.
Hearing this caused Edric to get sadden a bit. "You're right, I'm sorry."
Hearing her bro's apology did calmed Amity a bit.
"So any of you guys have a plan for helping Luz?" Amity asked. "Caused I'm stumped."
"I think we should sneak into the Emperor's castle and gather some information on this portal Belos is making." Emira said.
"Yeah and since Belos himself is at the trial as well as his assistant, Wrath, and most of his guards. The castle should be left unguarded." Edric said.
"Then that's where were going." Amity said. "Don't worry Luz, we'll come for you as soon as we can. Next stop: Belos' Castle!"
"That's our sister!" Edrc and Emira said in unison. "For Luz!"
With that, the three ran out of their manor with determination in their hearts.
"All rise for the honorable Judge Random." The lizard looking bailiff said as everyone in the courtroom.
"Thank you, thank you." Mr. Random said as everyone sit back down. "Alright now we began with the proccedings let's take the oath of the law." He said before he looked at the Emperor. "Emperor Belos, do you and those supporting you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you Titan."
"We do, your honor." Emperor Belos swore and his people as Wrath and Kikmora swore the oath as well.
"Luz Noceda, do you and those supporting you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth so help you Titan?" Random said.
"We do, your honor." Luz said with people such as Gus and Willow and Eda swearing the oath too.
Judge Random looked back at Belos. "Emperor Belos, please approach the stand and let's get started."
Belos flashed into the stand's seat as Random began to list of the crimes he's committed.
"Emperor Belos, you and your guards are charged with the kidnapping of King, nearly killing Luz, Lilth and King and unjustifiably nearly petrifying Eda as well as abusing the law by petrifying countless other coven-less witches, how do you plead?"
"Not guilty, your honor." Belos said, simply. "I merely did those things because I needed to assert my power over the Isles as well as to abide the will of the corpse of the Titan we live on."
"Abide of the Titan, yeah right." Eda said quietly as she rolled her eyes.
"And what is your relationship with my other worldly client?" the human's lawyer asked.
"Simple, she is an enemy of mine. I caught sneaking around my castle. She even cracked my mask." Belos admitted.
"No further questions, your honor?" The demonic lawyer said.
"Very well, you may take your seat Emperor." Random said as Belos flashed back to his original seat. "Luz Noceda, please approach the stand."
Luz reluctantly approached the stand as she sat down on the chair as Belos' lawyer approached her.
"Luz Noceda, you are charged with impersonating an abomination once, disturbing the peace at Hexside, causing a ruckus at both the Bonesborough library by animating the story characters there and the conformatorium by releasing the prisoners and repeated assaults on Warden Wrath and his guards." The lizard said.
"Twice." Wrath said out loud.
"How do you plead?" The lizard asked, ignoring the interruption from the prison warden.
"Guilty, I guess." Luz admitted, causing the group supporting her to gasp in shock.
"But!" Luz said quickly. "I have my reasons for doing those things."
"And what would those reasons be, Ms. Noceda?" The judge asked.
Hearing her be called something else other than her name caused Luz to giggle. "Please, Mrs. Noceda is my mother, just call me Luz."
"You mind answering the question please, Luz?" Random asked, calling Luz by her name as he rolled his eyes.
"Okay, all joking aside, I'll play ball." Luz said as she then got serious. "For impersonating an abomination, I only did that to check out Hexside and also to help Willow get a passing grade in her Abomination class, I honestly didn't mean to cause a ruckus there and I'm sorry if I did, but I was just trying help out a friend that's all."
"It's true." Willow called out. "All Luz had was good intentions when she chose to help me that day."
"Good intentions, huh? Well, we'll see about that." Random said as he looked down at Luz. "Would you like to call your first witness, Luz?"
"Of course. Get on up here Willow!" Luz called out to the plant witch.
Luz retook her seat at the table as Willow took the seat at the stand.
"Please state your name for the court." The court stenographer instructed.
"Willow Park." Willow said.
"Ms. Park, can you please tell the court your relationship with Luz?" The lizard asked as he gestured to the other people in the courtroom.
"Luz is my other best friend, aside from Gus and Amity of course." Willow admitted.
Upon hearing this weakling say that her daughter was friend made Odalia stand up in anger.
"Objection, your honor! That weakling witch is lying! She's not my daughter's friend. They cut ties years ago!" The Blight mother said.
Hearing the older Blight woman insult his friend made Gus stand up.
"Hey, Willow's not a weakling! If anyone a weakling, it's you two!"
"How dare you insult us boy, who do you think you are?!" Alador said, defending himself and his wife.
"Someone who actually seen what Willow is capable of." Gus countered. "Especially when she's angry."
"Gus is right!" Luz backed up the human fascinating illusionist. "Aside from your daughter and I guess principal Bump, I think Willow's probably one of the most powerful witches at Hexside, I've seen it first hand. And trust me, you won't like her when she's angry."
"What do you know of my daughter and that half a witch's relationship, human?" Odalia countered, putting special emphasis on the human part.
"A lot more than you two apparently." Luz said. "You guys just haven't seen it, or what Willow is capable of!"
As the Blight parents continued to argue with Luz and Gus as the judge tried to establish order in the court, it seemed that no one noticed that Willow was starting to get a bit irritated. Not just by the Blight parents mocking her even after all this time, but because they were taking their anger out on Luz and Gus. If there was one thing the Park girl couldn't stand for, it was someone, messing with her friends, especially in front of her own eyes.
With her fists clenched and her eyes glowing a dangerous green, the ground beneath them began to shake aggressively and dangerously, gaining everyone's attention by the plant witch shouting: "STOP IT!" in a demonic and echoing tone of voice.
"What is going on?" Random asked as he tried to maintain his balance in his chair.
Looking over to Willow, Luz and Gus could only say one thing:
"Oh no!"
After they said that, the ground broke apart as weeds suddenly burst out of the ground and vines broke through the glass windows. As the crowd was panicking, trying to run away from the magic and people like Eda, Lilth and Boscha were trying to protect themselves, thorny vines wrapped around Odalia and Alador's bodies, only making their heads visble.
"What the heck?!" Alador said in shock.
"Release us weakling!" Odalia demanded.
Upon hearing that, Willow made the vines around them increase their tightness as she then spoke. "Who's the weakling now, Blights?!"
Luz, alongside Gus and both of Willow's fathers, managed to get past the vines and ran up to Willow.
"Willow, you've got to calm down!" Her white skinned, pointy ear, glasses wearing father pleaded. "You're just letting your anger get the best of you."
"Well, what did you expect, Dad?!" Willow asked, demonically. "To be feared, we must become fear! I'm becoming their fear!" She said, pointing at the slowly getting crushed Alador and Odalia.
"But is this what you want to be, dear?" Her black skinned bald, large bearded father asked. "Someone to be feared and scared of?"
Willow's green eyes widened a bit as Luz spoke up.
"Yeah, this isn't the Willow I know. This the Inner Willow talking, isn't it?" Luz asked.
Hearing that caused Willow to stop using her plant magic on the courtroom, releasing Amity's parents as a result of this.
Gus then spoke up. "Y-Yeah, I mean, a witch becoming someone to be feared rather than respected. That's someone like Amity's parents, or Belos or Boscha would be like. That's not the real Willow. The Willow I know is kind and friendly to people, and while she does have some repressed issues, she's working through them. Regardless, she's still good person through and through."
Hearing this caused Willow's eyes to turn back to normal and fall to her knees.
"I... I'm sorry." was the chubby witch's response as she broke down in tears.
Willow's fathers helped her to her feet as her friends embraced the emotionally remorseful witch.
"You want to go back to your seat near us, sweetie?" One of them asked.
"N-No thanks, I want to continue my testimony." Willow said as she sniffled.
"You sure?" Gus asked.
"Yes." Willow said as she sat down in the stand's chair.
Judge Random finally being able to collect himself as he spoke. "Please refrain from having those types of outbursts again, Ms. Park."
"Of course, my apologies, Your Honor." Willow said.
"And you two, please refrain from speaking out unless either I or the person in the stand calls you!" Random threatened.
"Yes, Your Honor." The two Blights said as they sat back in their seats.
"To reiterate, what's your relationship with Luz." The judge said, looking down at the Park girl.
"Well as I said before, Luz is my best friend aside from Gus and Amity." Willow said. "Despite her faults, she's a good soul with good intentions."
The jury began to discuss to themselves as the judge spoke. "And how do you know that Luz is truly genuine in her shenanigans?"
"How do I know?" Willow asked. "Well it was another day at Hexside for me when I first met her."
The scene then flashed back to the outside of Hexside where Willow was preparing for her Abomination class.
"I was on my way to Hexside, trying to build myself up, for my Abomination class, a class that I did not like at all." Willow began.
"You didn't like Abomination class?" Her black father asked, interrupting his daughter.
"No, mostly because I kept getting bad grades in it." Willow said bluntly. "Anyways back to my recap, I was going to go in with my literal abomination (which was a mess when I accidentally stepped on this flower. I used my magic to restore it when Amity showed up with her Abomination."
Willow's fathers groaned a bit hearing the certain Blight's name, thy heard of Amity multiple times due to their daughter's friendship with her. When they saw Willow come back home in tears the Amity ended her friendship with Willow, both of her father's grew angry with the green and brown haired witch for hurting Willow's feelings.
"When she left after making fun of my Abomination and me, I got so angry that I accidentally tapped into some of my inner magic that nearly hurt Luz in the process." Willow said. "Of course, after I snapped out of it and apologized to her, I was fascinated by the fact that she was a human on the Boiling Isles... until she chose to help me by pretending to be in abomination."
"And what did you think of that idea?" The lizard lawyer asked.
"I honestly thought it was crazy." Willow admitted. "But after Luz explained it a bit more and after thinking about it a bit, I decided to go along with it. On that day, I got my good grade and got transferred to the Plant track, but it cost Luz to be banned from Hexside for awhile. But despite that though, I'm really glad I met her that day because if I hadn't, I would've have been able to gain self confidence in myself. And on top of that, without Luz coming to Hexside that day, me and Amity's friendship would've stayed broken without her help."
Luz smiled as tears of joy welled up in her eyes as she looked upon her friend standing up for her character.
"Has anyone else seen Luz that day?" Random asked.
"Well, just Gus, Amity and Principal Bump." Willow admitted. "And since Amity's not here, I like to call Gus to the stand."
"Objection, your honor!" Kiki said. "Luz's side can't call on two witnesses to the stand."
"Overruled." Random said. "Can the one called Gus please approached the stand?"
Gus immediately ran up to the stand and sat in the chair.
"Please stated your name for the court, son." The court stenographer instructed.
"Gus Porter." Gus said his name.
"Young Porter, is what Ms. Park saying true? Did you really meet Luz on the day she masqueraded as an Abomination?" The Emperor's lawyer asked the young illusionist.
"Why yes I did." Gus said as he began his tale of how he met the human girl. "I was walking down the hall reading a magazine about humans when I bumped into Willow."
The scene quickly flash-backed to a hallway in Hexside on the same day that Willow met Luz.
Willow was getting some books out of her locker's mouth when Gus bumped into her.
"Willow, you would not believe humans." Gus said, astonished at what he was reading.
"Humans? Psh. I haven't seen any. What?" The plant witch said nervously as she darted her eyes back and forth a bit.
"Did you know that humans nail barbed wire to their kids' teeth? But why? Maybe to make them magnetic."
Suddenly a different voice interjected, much to Willow's worry and Gus' confusion.
"Actually, it's for storing treats."
Knowing the jig was up, Willow sighed. "Okay, Augustus. I'm gonna tell you something. But you have to be cool."
"I can be spool. I... I mean, cool." Gus promised.
"Okay. Abomination, rise." Willow instructed as Luz rose from the cauldron.
"Ta‐da! I'm an abomination." Luz said, presenting herself in her disguise.
"Luz, that's not how abominations act." Willow scolded her new friend.
Gus was shocked and surprised at this humanoid creature as he pulled on his pointy ears. "No. No, it, it couldn't be."
"He's the president of the Human Appreciation Society. Most witches wouldn't be able to recognize a human right away. But Augustus is an expert." Willow explained her friend's fascination with the human's race.
"Where are your gills?" Gus asked in his surprise.
"I knew an Augustus back in the human world. We called him Gus." Luz said, giving the illusionist his nickname.
"Gus? Nickname? Human nickname? Gus? Call me it. Wow. Gus. This is the best day of my life." Gus said, just loving the attention that Luz was giving to him.
The school bell screamed.
"I've gotta get to spelling class. See you guys at lunch!" Gus said as he ran down the hall.
"Throughout the day, Luz really made my day there really memorable." Gus admitted. "I'm really glad she was there that day, otherwise it would've been just another typical and rather boring day at Hexside with me just being the Human Appreciation Society's president. She doesn't deserve to be petrified for trying to help new friends she made. Don't you all agree with me on that notion?"
The jury began to whisper among themselves as Gus called his witness.
"Yeah, you go G!" King said from his cage.
Principal Bump.
As Principal Bump approached the stand and sat down, the stenographer spoke to him.
"Please state your name for the court."
"Hieronymus Bump." The principal said.
"Mr. Bump," Judge Random began. "From some of Hexside's records we have here, it's been documented that you been principal of the school for a very long time now, is that correct."
"Yes it is, Your Honor." Bump confirmed. "Only 300 years from retirement."
"Hmm, yes. Good to know." The lizard lawyer said. "And has Luz ever caused trouble at Hexside, intentionally?"
Bump thought of this briefly as he tried to remember if Luz ever caused trouble, intentionally at Hexside.
"Mr. Bump, must I remind you that you are under oath?!" barked the lizard.
"I'm sorry, Your Honor. But it's hard to remember anything specific that Luz did during her time at my school." Bump admitted.
"Hmm," Random began to think before he then asked the principal. "Well, do you remember any of the time that you thought that Luz was causing trouble? Intentionally of course?"
"Well, it's funny you should say that, Your Honor." Bump said with a chuckle. "Caused there was one thing I thought about when you asked that."
"What is that?" Judge Random asked.
"My student's first day at Hexside." The principal said.
"Aw farts, not that day." Luz said as she held her face in her hands in embarrassment.
"It all started when Luz auditioned to get into Hexside and despite what a mess it was, the fact that she was able to do magic at all despite what she was, it was enough to impress me and welcome her into my school." Bump said happily. "It was until she started mixing magic and I put her in detention that it made me realize that she wasn't the troublemaker that I thought."
"How so?" Random asked.
"Well, I don't exactly know what Luz did in detention, but she helped save Hexside in the end, alongside some others that I put detention track." Bump admitted.
"How so?" The judge asked.
"Well during that day, I was preparing the school for an inspector." Bump began. "Little did I know that the "inspector" was actually a magic absorbing, Basilisk in disguise. It absorbed the other schools of their magic and it would've done the same me, Gus, Willow, Amity, and pretty much the rest of Hexside if Luz and the other detention track kids hadn't stopped it when we couldn't." Bump said. "Because of that day, it made me realize that I hurt my students just because I needed coven money was wrong. So, to show my gratitude, I allowed Luz, Barcus, Viney and Jerbo to study as many tracks as they wished. And I don't regret that decision." He said as he smiled at Luz and the ones he once thought were troublemakers, who were struggling to not cry.
Judge Random wiped a tear from his eye as he looked over at Belos' group. "Emperor Belos, would you to call a witness to the stand?"
"I only have four witnesses to call upon but yes I will." Emperor Belos said as he pointed at Warden Wrath. "My first witness is Warden Wrath."
Before the judge could call him, Wrath got up from his chair and approached the stand, sitting down once he got in the proper proximity of the chair.
"Please state your name for the court." The court stenographer instructed.
"Wrath." The warden of the Conformatorium introduced himself.
"Mr. Wrath, is there any about Luz or any of her friends that you would like to tell the the court about?"
"Well, it all started when Luz first arrived on the Boiling Isles actually.
The scene transitioned to the day Luz first met Eda.
"I had my guards searching for Eda on Belos' orders when one of them finally found her and Luz at the former's stand selling a bunch of trinkets from the Human World."
"And what happened when you found her?" Random asked.
"Well that guard tried to be reasonable and try to convince Eda to come with him to the Conformatorium willingly. When she refused, he tried to place Luz under arrest for fraternizing with a criminal. That's when Eda hit him in the face with her staff and she escaped with the human."
"What happens after that?" Random asked.
"I took her little pet's hat to get Eda to go out with me." Warden admitted. "So when I found her, Luz and King sneaking into the Conformatorium to get it back, I saw that as my chance to ask her out."
"And what happened when you did?" The demonic lawyer representing Luz asked.
"I chopped off her head and then asked her out." Wrath confessed. "She refused so I went ballistic chasing her and her subordinates throughout the place. However during that, I realized later that Luz helped the other criminals escape by releasing them from their cells. When I had Eda and King seconds away from capture, Luz led those same convicts to assault me."
"Anything else?" Random asked.
"The next time I encountered that human is when Lilth captured Eda." Warden began to recap that day. "When I heard that I was going to be guarding Eda, I was so happy... that is until I saw her in her beast form." He shuddered a bit before he continued. "Getting back on topic, Luz and her little friend snuck into the Conformatorium to free Eda. To be honest, I thought it was going to be easy for me to get my revenge on the two for last time. I underestimated her and I was forced to draw a map for them when the human defeated all my guards and trapped me in ice."
"That's rather embarrassing for someone of your status, Wrath."Belos stated bluntly. "And for it to happen to you twice makes it just as embarrassing."
"I understand Emperor." the warden said, ashamed. "I try my best to do better in the future."
"No further questions, your honor." The human's lawyer said as Wrath went back to his seat.
The trial continues next time!
See you then!