Chapter 8.
It was another mundane day at Hexside for Luz. After the fight with Jericho Devildealer, our half-witch princess was starved for more action. Unfortunately School has been lacking action, since the Arcane Knights attack. Principal Bump had beefed up security and had guards patrolling the hallways.
As Luz walked to her next class, she heard Gus' voice call out to her "Hey! Luz wait!"
She turned around to see Gus running up to her "Where's the fire Augustus?"
"Look whose talking! I heard you were involved in the arrest of Jericho Devildealer!" Gus exclaimed.
"Oh right that?" Luz rubbed the back of her head.
"I heard about it from the new guy in H.A.S, who heard about it from Boscha, while she was talking to Amity. Who was also there with you!" Gus said.
"Well, there's not much to tell. Me, Amity, Ruby and Weiss sort of just... stumbled on to him is all?" Luz explained.
"That's it? You just stumbled across one of the most bloodthirsty criminals on the Isles?" Gus said in disbelief.
"It's alright. The 4 of us handled him. Geez you sound like my dad last night" Luz said nonchalantly.
Gus eyed Luz, his sus meter going off. Luz never told him or Willow a thing about her father, aside that he was in the Emperor's Coven. Then again Luz's family was her business so he didn't pressure her about it. "What did he say?"
"Oh the usual stuff. 'Luz! You need to be more careful out in the world' and 'You got some explaining to do young lady!' being all over protective as always" Luz said.
"Sounds like my dad" Gus commented.
Luz looked at her wrist as if she had a watch "Well love chat some more. But i gotta get to class. Later tater!" and rushed off to her next class. Leaving Gus behind to wonder 'what is going on with her?'
Later, when classes were done for the day. Gus found Willow and pulled her aside.
"Okay Gus, what is it wanted to talk about?" Willow asked.
"It's about our ever mysterious friend Luz" Gus answered.
"Yes?" Willow said confused.
"Haven't you ever been curious about her. Over a year ago she showed up in our lives out of nowhere, then in roles at Hexside a week after we met her and recently she becomes friends with 4 human! " Gus explained his suspicions "There's something fishy about her and i can smell it"
"I'll admit, that is all pretty sus" Willow agreed. "But what can we do? She won't tell us anything about herself or her family"
Gus got an idea "Then we won't ask her"
"What?" a very confused Willow asked.
"We stealthily follow her home and find out everything we can about her" Gus explained his plan.
Willow just stood there for a moment before saying "That is the worst plan... ever... of all time"
"Excuse me?" Gus asked.
"That's a complete violation of Luz's trust. If she wants to keep her family life a secret that's her business" Willow said.
Gus tried to speak "But!"
"No Gus! Just drop it! Okay!" She retorted.
"Okay" a sad Gus said.
"Sorry. I didn't mean to yell. Just promise me you won't go through with it?" Willow spoke like a mother to her child.
"I promise" While Gus said that, he secretly had his fingers crossed behind his back.
"Good. I'm gonna head home, see you tomorrow" She waved him goodbye as she left.
"See ya!" Gus waved back with a smile. Once Willow was a good distance away, Gus' smile quickly changed to a serious expression as he ran off to find Luz and learn just what she was hiding?
Elsewhere around the same time, Luz was walking to the Owl House for her next lesson with Eda. After a couple minutes of walking she arrived. She went up to the front door and was greeted by Hooty "Hi! Luz! How was school?!"
"It was good. Is Eda in?" Luz asked.
"Yep she's in the den hoot!" Hooty opened the door and Luz entered the Owl House.
She found Eda, King, Ruby, Weiss and Yang all sitting on the couch with a crystal ball on the coffee table, acting as a TV. The show they were watching 2 muscular looking demons in a wrestling arena. One demon grabs the other and pill drives him into the ground.
"I'm surprised that the Boiling Isles has sports like wrestling?" Ruby said.
"I'm surprised they have something akin to television?" Weiss added.
"Guess Witches aren't so primitive" Yang said.
King was the first to notice Luz had just arrived. "Luz!" The little demon hopped off the couch and ran up to the Half-witch princess, like a dog greeting it's master, literally.
"Hey there buddy!" Luz knelt down to his eye level, petting him.
"Looks like someone's excited to see you?" Yang smirked.
"So cute" Ruby giggled.
Luz stood straight up and noticed that Blake was absent "Where's Blake?"
"In our temporary room reading" Ruby answered.
"Ready for you next lesson kiddo?" Eda asked.
"You bet!" Luz said enthusiastically.
"We'll do it as soon as this is over" Eda said.
"And Skull-stomper Wins!" the announcer on the crystal ball declared.
The Owl lady jumped up from the couch and going "WOO!" when the winner was announced. She then fixed her hair and said. "Alright let's get to it then!"
Moments later, the both witches were outside in front of The Owl House. Apparently this lesson would require more space. Ruby, Weiss, Yang and King were their to observe. Eda had brought out 2 huge piles of sand and a few big rocks, for what ever this lesson would be?
"Okay Princess! It's time we worked on construction magic" Eda stated. "We'll start by making sand sculptures, show me what you got?"
Luz faced the sand pile and with a wave of her glowing hand, a small amount of the sand began to move around and take the form of King. That was the same size as the real thing
"That's me!" King exclaimed.
Ruby, Weiss and Yang clapped, after seeing the life size statue of King.
"Not bad. For a start" Eda said "Now I'll show you a real masterpiece" Eda then traced a magic circle, a larger amount of sand from the pile, the sand then became a statue of herself that was at least 3 times as big as Eda was.
The assembled group marvelled at the statue and Eda was looking very proud of what she had created.
"Thank you, Thank you. No flowers, just send money" Eda said modestly.
"So awesome! let me try and make a big one!" Luz said.
"Easy there skippy, it's not smart to run before you can walk" Eda warned.
"Relax Teach. I can handle it" Luz blew off Eda's concern.
Luz again waved her hand and controlled a larger amount of sand to move. The sand pooled together and began to take the shape of King, but this statue was much larger, about 2 to 3 stories tall and had a muscular body. And struck a macho pose showing off it's huge arms.
The assembled Team RWY were impressed by what Luz had created.
King in particular was thoroughly impressed "Yes! Now that's is an effigy worthy of a Tyrant!"
"Totally!" Ruby added.
"The princess has a talent for art, eh Weiss?" Yang nudged her friend.
Weiss was studying the sculpture with a critical eye, like a teach grading a paper "It's pretty good Luz, but it's lacking in realism and your perspective is off "
Luz responded "Feh! Everybody's a critic"
"What I'm just stating my opinion" Weiss said.
While they were arguing, The larger statue of King started shifting it's head looking directly at Weiss and the others. It's eyes flash a bright red and began to walk towards them.
"You just think you know everything about everything!" Luz ranted "Well let me tell you something!"
"Uh Luz?" King said trying to warn her.
"In a moment King" Luz replied and went back to arguing with Weiss. "One of these days your going to be wrong about something and someone is going to say i told you so! And you will deserve it"
Weiss was to busy staring at the hulking, living statue of King looming over them and feeling quite a bit of fear at the moment. "Luz! Your sculpture is towering over us!"
"Well that more like it, miss negativity!" Luz said smugly.
"No! She means literally!" Yang exclaimed.
"What?" Luz turned around to see her larger sand sculpture of King standing behind her, menacingly. "Eep!" She immediately jumps back facing the huge living art piece.
The sculpture then raised it's fists over it's head and slammed down on Luz and Weiss. But Ruby used her lightning fast speed to grab the girls out of harm's way before the blow connected.
"That was close, you guys okay?" Ruby asked.
"Look out!" Luz shouted as the sculpture attacked again.
This time, Weiss came to their defence with a glyph shield she made using her semblance. "I got it! Now run!"
Just as the sculpture slammed down it's fists again on the shield. Weiss, Ruby and Luz got out of the way narrow avoiding getting crushed. Managing to regroup with Eda, Yang and King.
"This is new?" Yang said.
"Yeah, never brought a sculpture to life before?" Luz scratched her head on this one.
"Why are you not more freaked out!?" Weiss exclaimed.
"Hey, when your spells go haywire you kinda get use to it" Luz said.
Ruby interjected at this point to remind everyone of the crisis at hand "Uh ladies I'm sorry to interrupt your tea party, but we need to do figure a way out of this mess!"
"No problem I'll just command it to stop" Luz said.
"How!?" Weiss asked.
"If it's anything like an Abomination, it should listen to me?" Luz theorized. And then stepped in front of the living sand sculpture to test her idea. "Ahem!" She got the sand creatures attention "Cease this rampage at once!" She order.
But the living sand sculpture didn't seem to listening to her, and instead punched her, knocking her to the ground. As it was about to attack her again. It suddenly became frozen in a layer of ice. Luz looked behind her to see Weiss pointing Myrtenaster at the now frozen sand monster.
"You seemed to have it under control, but i felt like you needed help" Weiss said sarcastically.
"Very funny" Luz said back, equally sarcastically.
"Nice job putting Luz's art on ice" Yang joked.
A cricket chirping followed the joke. Making Yang frown.
Suddenly, there was a loud bird like screech from above them. Everybody looked up to see a strange object falling from the sky, right on top of the frozen sand monster, shattering it into thousands of pieces. Said object was Luz's pet Hippogriff, except it had a collar with a small compact on it.
"Jose! What are you doing here?" Luz wondered.
The compact on his collar opened up and an image of Charles Belos appeared on it. Only he wasn't wearing his mask and his hood was down, revealing his whole face. He almost looked like a male version of Luz, except his skin was a slightly lighter shade of tan and his hair was in short pixie cut and a goatee in the same color as Luz's hair. His eyes were also heterochromia just like Luz, but his right eye was gold. And a thin scar running from his left eye brow down to his cheek.
"Hello sweetheart" he said.
"Hola Papa! What's up?" Luz asked.
Belos made a little grumble "Luz, we've talked about your etiquette"
"Oh sorry" Luz composed herself for a moment, before doing a curtsy "Greetings Father, how do you do?" she said acting all princess like.
"I am well. Could you get the your human friends and the Owl Lady here for a moment, i wish to speak to them" He said.
"Right here! Chief!" Eda poked her head next to Luz, so she was in view of the Emperor. "What do you want?" Team RWBY also joined her
"Gah!" Belos was startled by the sudden appearance of the Owl Lady and frantically put his hood and mask on to cover his face. "Don't do that Again!"
"What's the matter? You camera shy or something?" Yang asked.
"It's not that. I've just never shown my face in public, except to my family" The Emperor answered.
"Why?" Ruby said curiously. "Is it because of that scar?"
"No" He stated rather bluntly "I have my reasons for why i wear this mask. Now if can we get back on topic, please? I wish for the 5 of you to come to the castle. I have some things i need to discuss with you in person"
"What kind of things?" Weiss asked.
"It concerns my daughter's progress in her magic lessons and an additional favour the Owl Lady requested" Belos explained.
"Favour?" It suddenly dawned on Eda "Oh right! I remember now!"
"What favour did you ask?" Luz inquired.
"We can tell you all about it, once we get there" Eda said.
"Good, please make haste" The Emperor ended the transmission on his end and the compact closed.
Jose the Hippogriff knelt down, to let Luz and the others ride him.
"Alright ladies you heard the big cheese. Let's go!" Eda said summoning her staff.
Weiss called out "Wait! What's this favour? And why aren't you telling us about it?"
"I said I'd tell you about it once we got there, so let's go!" Eda said back.
"You could tell us know" Yang suggested.
"It'll have to wait. Dad is really punctual when it comes to meetings" Luz said.
Weiss tried to ask "But-"
But was cut off by Eda "Just get on bird horse, Ice Queen"
"Yeah! Get on the bird horse Ice Queen!" Yang said alongside Eda.
Weiss simply huffed and did what she was told. Luz, King Blake and Yang rode on Jose the Hippogriff, while Ruby and Weiss rode with Eda on her staff. Once everyone was seated, they flew off to the Emperor's castle.
Hidden in some near by bushes, which disappeared in a puff of cyan smoke, revealing Gus who had heard everything that was just said. Including the part about Luz being the Emperor's daughter. He was utterly shocked and surprised. His expression changed to that of intrigue and determination. He needed to know more. Gus quickly ran in the same direction that Luz and the others were flying in. Augustus was running past trees in a futile attempt to catch up to the flying Hippogriff. He wouldn't have made it very far anyway. And his running was stopped as a huge vine grabbed him by ankles and dangled him upside down by his ankles.
Willow stepped out from behind a tree "Hello Augustus"
"Willow! Hey what's up Girl?" Gus said trying to act cool.
"I believe it's you" Willow replied with a stern face "I saw you following Luz and wanted to see what you were doing?"
Gus know he couldn't BS his way out of this "Okay fine. I was trying to find out more about her, but listen to me"
"Gus i told you not to do this and you did the opposite" Willow started berating him.
Gus kept talking "Willow please! I just found out something about Luz your not going to believe!"
Willow made the vine bring Gus down to her level "And what pray tell is that?"
"Luz Noceda, our friend for the past year, Is the daughter of the Emperor!" Gus stated with a stone cold face.
Willow blinked a couple times for a moment. Before she burst into a short bit of laughter. "HA HA HA! You think... Luz is Emperor Belos's daughter HA HA HA!" Willow then put Gus back on his feet.
"It's true, i heard her say it" Gus said.
"Maybe you misheard her?" Willow shrugged.
"I was there when her Hippogriff came flying down out of the sky and i heard she called Belos, Father!" Gus stated.
"Hm, that does sound odd, even for Luz" Willow said.
"Everything what her has been Odd! Like how is she so powerful?! Why no one has seen her on the Isles before she snuck into Hexside a year ago and How! She was aloud to study multiple track?!" Gus listed off a bunch of things about Luz. "This could be our chance to get closer to her and finally get some answers about who is she?"
Willow thought for a moment on what Gus just said to her, before saying "Alright let's do it"
"They went this way!" Gus pointed in the direction that Luz and the others flew in.
And so Willow and Gus started running in the direction that he pointed in, to catch up with Luz and the others. But they'd only get so far on foot.
Moments later Luz, Eda, King, Jose and Team RWBY arrived at the castle. Located in a giant chasm in the Titans chest, the castle stood on a huge stone pillar, like a lone island in the middle of a vast ocean, surrounded by a huge wall within the chasm. The castle didn't look like the typical fantasy type you'd see in fairy tales. But a foreboding and some what creepy. The overall design was a square with 3 layers of battlements and a large spire in the centre.
The group stood at a cliff across from the castle. At the gates on the other side, 2 Coven scouts that were standing guard, pulled a pair of levers in unison, activating a mechanism causing a metal bridge to extends from the palace to the cliff they were standing on. The bridge connected to the cliff with a loud metal sound. The group crossed the bridge and were greeted by the 2 scouts.
Both scouts wore the dark gray, long-sleeved jerkins, accompanied by black harem pants and pointed brown boots, as well as gloves in the same color. They also had silver chest armor similar to the Emperor's and forearm guards, along with bird-esque masks with large round eyeholes, which protrude outward in the center into a beak-like point and white cowls.
The front gate of the castle opened and the group went inside. As they entered the halls of the castle, the group was greeted by Kikimora, who was waiting for them.
"Hello Princess" Kikimora greeted Luz. "... and guests. I'm pleased you answered the Emperor's summon so promptly"
"Well, when the guy signing your paychecks is royalty, you kinda gotta answer his calls" Eda said.
"Quite right" Kikimora agreed.
"Okay now that we're here. Can you tell us what this favour is?" Weiss asked.
"Yeah it wasn't something illegal was it?" Ruby asked.
"No it's not. It was actually something for you kids" Eda answered.
"It is?" Ruby said curiously.
"Remember when i said I'd help you kids get home?" Eda asked.
"How could we forget. We all got arrested because of you?" Blake said reminded of their first time meeting the Owl Lady.
"Me neither. Anyway! After that little kerfuffle, one of the conditions to my mentorship to the Princess was that the grand exalted puba would lend me an airship to fly you girls back to the mainland" Eda explained.
"Really?!" Ruby said in surprise.
"Yep!" Eda confirmed.
"And you didn't tell us, why?" Weiss asked a little pissed.
"I wanted it to be a surprise" Eda said with a cheeky smile.
Weiss just stared at Eda angrily. At this point Yang chimed in. "So the Emperor is just letting you borrow an airship?"
"Yes, surprisingly. Doctor Grassstain is even constructing a new prototype airship just for all of you" Kikimora interjected.
"I'm guessing so she can see the rest of Remnant and study actual humans?" Weiss ventured a guess.
"Correct" Kikimora added.
"Well what are we waiting for?" Ruby said "Let's go meet the big cheese and see this thing"
"Quite right. Let's" Kikimora lead them down the hall and everyone followed.
Back outside. Willow and Gus were a fair distance away from the cliff that connected the bridge to the castle. Discussing how to get in.
"Okay we're here, now how do we get in?" Willow asked.
"Simple. I cast an illusion on us making us look like Coven Scouts and then they'll just let us in, because they'll think we're Scouts like them" Gus explained his plan.
"You sure they won't notice 2 extra scouts in the castle?" Willow added a new question.
"I'm sure they won't know or even care" Gus rebuffed her concerns.
"Yeah, not all of them are the sharpest knives" Willow agreed.
Gus proceeded to draw a cyan colored magic circle above their heads. The circle swept down over them in a flash and they both looked like Coven Scouts. Now in theory they could waltz into the castle. Now they walked up to the cliffs edge, Gus then called out to the Scouts on the other side "Hey! Can you extend the bridge for us please?!"
The 2 Scouts looked at each other, then at Gus and Willow and back to each other, before shrugging and activating the bridge mechanism, extending the bridge letting them cross. The duo crossed over to the other side, but were halted by the 2 Scouts.
"Halt, state your business for being here" Scout #1 asked.
"Greetings fellow Scouts! We're just returning after a long day of scouting" Gus said trying to act professional.
"Funny, i don't remember you guys leaving? or you guys at all"" One of the Scouts scratched his head in confusion. "How very odd?"
Gus started get nervous and needed an excuse fast. Thankfully Willow spoke for him "Well... you probably didn't notice us, since we all look like in these uniforms. Am i right?"
The other Scout then said "You're right dude. I literally can't tell people apart half the time. Okay you can go in"
The Scouts opened the huge doors to the castle and let the Disguised Witches in. As Willow and Gus entered, they marvelled at the halls of the castle.
"Okay, now what?" Willow asked.
"We find Luz and see for ourselves, if she is Emperor Belos' daughter or not" Gus stated the outline of their plan. "Let's go!"
With all said and done, Gus and Willow walked through the hallowed halls of the castle, in search of answers to their question.
Meanwhile, with Team RWBY, Kikimora, Luz, Eda and King. They had arrived at a private area of the castle. Standing in front of a modestly sized door made of fine wood.
Ruby was curious about the meeting place "We're not meeting in the throne room?"
"This is the Emperor's personal study, away from the throne room. He requested we meet in more secluded location" Kikimora said.
Kikimora knocked on the doors 3 times, then the door opened and Emperor Belos in his full outfit appeared. Everyone bowed to greet him, except Eda and King for obvious reasons.
"Greetings Sire" Kikimora said.
"Likewise Kiki, and thank you all for coming on such short notice" Charles stated.
"No biggie your highness" Yang said nonchalantly.
"Yang! Show a little more decorum. This is an Emperor you're talking to!" Weiss reprimanded.
"Don't be so up tight. Luz talks to him like that?" Yang replied.
"Yes, but they're family! We're not!" Weiss answered, her anger flaring a bit.
"Ahem!" The Emperor cleared his throat to get their attention. Making Weiss and Yang stop arguing "While i don't mind you acting so informal in my presence. Please only do so away from the rest of my Coven they expect some decency from friends of my daughter"
"Right, sorry your majesty" Weiss and Yang apologized.
"So then, shall we see this fine airship the good doctor has constructed, your lordship" Eda mockingly said acting like a noblewoman.
Charles just ignored the mocking tone "Let's" and led the group through the halls. One short walk, along with 4 flights of stairs later, the group were now at another wooden door. Except this one appeared to be more worn down than the last one, with several cracks.
"Here we are" Kikimora announced.
The Emperor walked up to the door and knocked twice "Francine! our guests have arrived"
There was the sound of glass breaking, followed by a shriek and an explosion. After a brief moment of awkward silence, the door finally opened, revealing Francine Grassstain covered in soot, her hair a mess and her lab coat missing chunks.
"Sorry your Highness! I was looking for a beaker of nitroglycerine, but i guess it found me" Francine explained.
"Are you okay?" Ruby asked very concerned.
"Oh sure i am! Could you repeat the question, i couldn't hear you over the ringing in my ears" Francine replied with her question, while trying to adjust her hearing.
"We came to give Team RWBY a glimpse of the new airship" The Emperor said.
"WHAT!? speak up please!" Francine replied still having trouble hearing.
Weiss cupped her hands together and shouted "WE WERE TOLD TO COME SEE YOU ABOUT AN AIRSHIP!"
"Airship? Oh right that. Now i remember! Come in" Francine lead the group into her lab and they followed.
To no one's surprise, the lab looked like a typical mad scientist laboratory. With various organs floating in jars of liquid, beakers filled with chemicals, shelves lined with books, an operating table for surgery along side surgical equipment and a bunch of machinery, some of it resembled computers and others Team RWBY couldn't identify. As the group walked through the Francine's lab, the members of Team RWBY were a little repulsed at some of the things the doctor kept in jars, like brains, kidneys and a spleen. Ruby was close to vomiting.
"I'm so glad you reminded me of the ship, your highness. I've been a little side tracked with recent projects" Francine said.
"Projects like what?" Ruby asked out of curiosity.
Francine began listing off some of the projects she had been working on "Oh, Just a couple of minor things at the moment. Researching magical fuels, Studying old documents, Building an inter dimensional portal, Developing a body wash/shampoo/deodorant/toothpaste and Making an army of artificial cyborg monsters for world domination!"
"What was that last one?" Blake asked concerned.
Francine realized what she said and tried to cover with a lie "Nothing! Nothing important!"
The members of Team RWBY looked at the Witch scientist with great concern, questioning the woman's sanity and morals.
Luz attempted to break the tension by asking "So Franny... Why don't you tell everyone more about your new airship design?"
"Excellent! Well as I'm sure you were told. Emperor Belos commissioned me to assist in the design and construction of a new type of airship. One that he was generous enough to let the Owl Lady use to return you home to the mainland of Remnant" Francine explained.
"We've been told that" Yang said.
"Alright then ladies and Emperor!, allow me to introduce the latest in innovation in air travel!" Francine pulled out a blackboard, which had blueprints scattered on it. The largest blueprint sheet depicted a massive flying aircraft of some kind. The proportions of the ship were rotund with a bulbous bow and a layered dome-shaped superstructure, the bow of the ship featured a head that looked like an owl. The back or stern had a set of 6 rocket engines, probably used for propulsion. An aerial view of the ship with extended large mechanical bird-like wings was also on the blueprints.
"This beauty has 30 inch armor plating for protection!, ultra powerful rocket engines for incredible speed!, 4 dozen cannons for offence! And can transport up to 4000 people. This is... The Empirical Transportation Aircraft Z1! or as i like to call it the Great Owl"
"Why Great Owl?" Ruby asked.
"Because Empirical Transportation Aircraft Z1 is to hard to say in conversation" Francine answered.
"And the head is also why you call it The Great Owl?" Blake wondered.
"That too!" Francine added.
"Naming something after an animal just because it looks like it is one of the weirdest things I've ever heard?" Belos said.
Weiss spoke "It's not that strange. We humans name many of our vehicles after animals. We have Mantas which are gunships, an old model of tank was called the Scorpion and a new type of military car called the Puma"
"What the heck is a Puma?" Eda asked in confusion.
Yang interjected "Isn't that a company that makes shoes?"
"No a Puma. It's a big cat, like a lion" Weiss said.
"You're making that up. There is no such animal with a ridiculous name like that!" Eda retorted.
"Not on the Boiling Isles, but for humans it is" Ruby countered.
"We're getting off topic, Francine please continue" Charles Belos tried to get things back on track.
"Yes your majesty" Francine said. "Once the ship is complete you 4 will have the honour partaking it's maiden voyage to the mainland"
"And how long until it's complete?" Weiss asked. "Because I'm pretty sure our teachers and friends at Beacon are very worried about us"
"Not long" Francine stated. "The ship was in construction before your arrival, It's being constructed off site from the castle, somewhere on the right arm. So it's shouldn't be more than a week or 2 at the most"
Back with Gus and Willow. Who were sneaking around the castle looking for Luz. They weren't having any luck, as this castle had many, many corridors and hallways and doors. They both got lost trying to find a bathroom. Walking around without some knowledge of the interior or a map was going to drive them insane.
"Ugh! This is so frustrating!" Willow angrily said. "We're never gonna find Luz in this maze of a castle! Who freaking designed the layout of this place any way!?"
"Okay so things haven't gone our way. But that doesn't mean we can't turn things around" Gus said optimistically.
"I'm not feeling your optimism Augustus" Willow said with a deadpan frown.
As she walked ahead, she stopped in her track, bumping into something.
"Excuse me!" a voice called out,
Willow looked around for the origin of the voice, but didn't see anyone in front or her left and right.
"Down here!" the voice called out again.
When Willow looked down, she saw a short biped demon that looked like Kikimora. Except it wasn't an exact copy of Kikimora. This demon was female like Kiki, but half a head taller. Her attire was slightly different to looking more like a maid outfit along with a bow holding her hair/hands bun. And her colors were swapped. She had dark blue skin and her hair/hands were red with pink for the claws.
"Sorry we didn't see you there" Willow apologized.
"I get that a lot, no big deal" Kikimora's look alike said.
"Oh thanks" Willow replied.
"I'll just let you get back to your patrol. Good bye!" The Kikimora doppelganger began to walk away.
"Wait!" Gus said. "Actually can you help us?"
"Of course what is it?" she asked.
"We're actually looking for the Princess, do you know where she is at the moment?" Gus asked.
Kikimore's look alike tapped her chin trying to remember something "I believe she is with her Father?"
"And where his he?" Gus added.
"I don't know? Last thing i hear he was meeting with the Doc about a special project" She answered. "You can try the lab"
"Okay we will" Willow had a worried expression on her face and asked "And where is that again?"
"It's at the bottom of the castle, you can't miss it" She replied.
"Thanks bye" Willow and Gus rushed off, leaving the Kikimora doppelganger behind. Who went on her way too.
"Rookies" she shock her head before walking away. "The new recruits get dumber all the time"
Our disguised duo started making their way down to the lowest levels of the castle. They found a long winding staircase that was connected to all the floors of the castle. They kept followed it until they reached a floor with a sign that said 'Experiment Laboratory'.
Gus and Willow followed the path to a similar door that Team RWBY's group had arrived at previously, except it was reinforced and looked a lot sturdier. Willow tapped on the door, it wasn't closed or locked and it slowly opened on it's own. Both Witches looked inside, there was no one.
"Nobody is here?" Gus said as he entered with Willow following close behind.
"We shouldn't be here, we could get in trouble if we get caught" Willow tried to warn her friend.
"Then we won't get caught" Augustus stated.
This lab had a series of metal cage along each side of the room. The room was decently lit, but the inside of the cages were pitch black. Meaning no one could tell what was in them. Which made it very creepy, even for the Boiling Isles.
"I don't see Luz, or anybody for that matter" Willow said in a whisper. She heard a growl coming from one of the cages, which kept her on her toes. Curiously she walked closer to the cage to get a better look at what was in it.
She'd wish she hadn't. The creature in the cage snapped its jaws at Willow, trying to attack her. She backed away from the cage out of instinct and fear, even though it was in a cage. The creature was some kind of large wolf with insect wings like that of a wasp and sharp spikes jutting out of it's body. The beast kept trying to bite Willow, snarling and biting the bars. The other animals/demons in the cages started the rustle and growl in response to the first creature.
"I think we should get out of here" Willow said very nervously.
"Yeah, let's look for Luz somewhere else" Gus became anxious from the beast demons getting louder and louder.
"No i mean let's get out of this castle all together" Willow corrected.
"What? But we still haven't learned if she is Belos' daughter?" Gus stating the reason they where there.
"Let's keep it that way. If Luz didn't want to tell us, then that her business, not ours" Willow made her case.
"And yet, you were still interested enough to go with me to find out" Gus noted her hypocrisy.
"That was before we wound up in a basement full of demons the likes of which the Titan never intended!" Willow retorted.
"Are you saying this is my fault?!" Gus asked angrily.
"Of course I! Am!" Willow shouted at the top of her lungs.
A loud thud that sounded like something was knocked over got both young Witches attention. All the way at the end of the room, something in the shadows was watching them. They both looked to the other side of the lab and a pair of glowing icy blue eyes stared back at them. Slowly the owner of those eyes creeped out of the shadows, revealing it form to Gus and Willow.
It was beast type demon that resembled a giant otter, only bigger with the back fin of an orca and tail fin at the end of it's long otter tail. It had cobalt blue fur all over it body and light cream colored fur on it's underside. It was a Dobhar-chu, an aquatic beast demon famous for it's incredibly durable fur that acted like armor. They were also know for being quite brutal hunters.
Slowly the beast got closer to the young Witches with an inquisitive nature. Gus and Willow stepped back cautiously from the otter monster. As it got closer, it started sniffing at the air around Willow and Gus, trying to get their scent.
"What do we do now?" Gus asked trying to mask his fear.
"Don't worry. If we can reach the door, maybe we can bolt out and close it behind us" Willow said.
"That sounds like a good plan" Gus agreed given the current situation.
"As long as nothing goes wrong, we should be fine" She added.
Sadly, anything that can go wrong almost always does go wrong. One of the demons in the cages tried to attack the 2 young witches and slammed into bars of it's cage. This action startled Gus, Willow and the Dobhar-chu. It managed to get 1 of it's long arms through the bars and tried to swipe at Gus. The demons claws lightly slashed at his uniform. the arm kept swiping and slashing, but the Dobhar-chu jumped at the demons arm and started biting it.
With the otter monster distracted, Gus and Willow made a mad dash for the door, getting out of the lab and closing the door behind them.
"Phew that was scary" Gus said wiping sweat from his forehead. "Getting killed by demons is not worth learning the truth"
"Finally you're seeing reason. Let's get out of here" Willow said.
There moment to breath was interrupted by something crashing into the lab door and through it. The thing that was the Dobhar-chu, a little scuffed up but otherwise alive. The otter demon sprung back to it paws quickly in defence.
4 long arms with sharp claws reached out from the destroyed door, and the demon they were attached to pulled itself through. The creature possessed a large upper body to accommodate all the arms, but also had a small head with black eyes and curved tusks jutting out from the bottom of it's mouth. It also had 4 legs to hold up it's body and a long scorpion like tail with a stinger. And the color of it's whole body was various shades of green.
Gus and Willow were terrified beyond belief at the moment. Neither of them knew what this creature was. But it looked like it was ready to kill them. So they did what any terrified person would do in that situation. Turn tail and run, while screaming. Which they did.
They ran back to the stair case that led them to the lab, and down to the next floor. They quickly ducked into a closet that was nearby.
Back in the other lab with Francine, Team RWBY and the others, an alarm klaxon was going off signifying something was wrong.
"What's going on?" Yang asked.
"That's the security alarm. An unauthorized personnel is in my secondary laboratory!" Francine said.
"You have a second lab? Why?" Weiss inquired.
"It's for my more dangerous experiments" Francine replied.
"Dangerous in what way?" Ruby asked concerned.
"The kind that cost me a few interns" Francine said.
"But the Guards know not to go in there?" Luz wondered.
"You think it's an intruder?" Ruby asked.
"It's a possibility" Charles Belos replied.
"Guess this place isn't as impenetrable as you think eh Chuck" Eda said while nudging Belos with her elbow, much to his displeasure.
"As fun as this playful banter is, we need to do something" Weiss suggested.
"Already on it" Charles took out his scroll and called someone. "Conner! The status on finding the intruder?"
"We're heading down to Francine's experiment lab now!" Conner replied as he and a group of 5 Coven Scouts were heading down the stairs to said laboratory. They made it to the where the door was, only to find it shattered to pieces and claw mark all over the walls and floor. No sign of the intruders or what made the mess.
"Stay close!"
Conner and his accompanying scouts searched the area, with all of them looking forward with Conner at the front. Slowly they walked down the hall expecting to find the intruder. Unfortunately they weren't looking straight up at the ceiling. Where the scorpion demon was hanging from. Without them noticing, The scorpion demon manoeuvred it's tail to slowly wrap around the scout to the rear of the group and quickly snatched him up to the ceiling.
Conner immediately knew and felt something was wrong. And stopped moving, the other 4 scouts did the same. A few seconds of silence later the scorpion demon leaped down from the ceiling, catching Conner and the scouts by surprise.
The scouts tried to attack the demon with spears and magic blasts, but the scorpion-like demon was unfazed and swatted away 2 scouts that were closest to it. And impaled a third with it's stinger tail. The demon readied it's stinger to strike another scout, as it's stinger thrust at the last scout, Conner grabbed the creatures tail. The demon struggled and thrashed to free it's tail from Conner's grip, but the elite witch held on like a vice.
The scorpion-like demon slashed at Conner with it's clawed hands, But Conner endured the pain and refused to let go. The scorpion demon then creeped closer to Conner and kept slashing at him with it's claws. One of these attacks hit Conner on the left cheek, the wound it left wasn't deep, but still stung. The scorpion-like demon balled up it's 2 right hands into fists and punched Conner hard in the face, causing him to let go of the demons tail and send him into the wall. Creating a indent with several cracks in his body shape
Conner was still conscious after the double punch, he effortlessly pulled himself out of the wall and let out 3 deep breaths. "Okay then ugly, We're doing this"
Conner's body tensed up for a brief moment, before he began changing, gritting his teeth at the same time. His knees reversed direction resembling the hind legs of a wolf. Bluish silver fur grew all over his body as his muscles expanded in size. His face contorted into that of a wolf, with a long muzzle, pointed ears and sharp fangs. Claws erupted from his finger tips and toes, and a bushy wolf tail completed the transformation.
The fully transformed Werewolf bared his fangs at the scorpion demon, who returned the act. Conner let out a mighty howl and charged at the scorpion demon. The Werewolf grappled with the demon. Biting into the monsters side, drawing blood.
The scorpion demon attempted to remove the vicious canine, by stinging him with it's tail. Conner cried in pain as the stinger punctured his back, releasing his bite on the demon. The scorpion demon grabbed him with it's arms and readied it's stinger to strike again. But Conner's Werewolf form was stronger than this unholy beast. He slashed the demons arms with his claws, making it shriek in pain. Then with blinding speed, Slashing at the scorpion demon at multiple parts of it's body. Then with a powerful punch to the gut, Conner slammed the scorpion demon into the wall, bashing it's own head in the process, knocking it unconscious.
Conner relaxed feeling he'd won the battle. This moment didn't last as he caught the scent of 2 young witches that shouldn't be here.
"No use hiding or trying to sneak away. I can smell you both" Conner said. He then drew a spell circle behind him, which glowed blue. Gus and Willow appeared in a puff of cyan smoke. Indicating they were invisible due to Gus' magic.
Gus got very nervous after being found out. "Busted"
"Indeed" Conner flexed his claws. "Now. I can tell that you children aren't suppose to be here. Kindly explain why"
"Oh sorry. Must have taken a wrong turn at Albuquerque you know how it is, this place is so big, you get lost and-" Gus tried to come up with an excuse.
But Conner wasn't buying it "Don't try to lie. You expect me to believe that a couple of children got lost in the Emperor's castle by accident? I suggest you tell the truth. Unless you want to make this harder" and readied his claws.
"Okay! Okay! We came here to find Luz" Willow admitted.
Conner stopped when she mention Luz "You know her?"
"Yeah were her friends from Hexside!" Gus said.
"If that's true then why are you here?" Conner asked.
He didn't get an answer as the Scorpion demon had just gotten back up and was looming over them ready to attack. Willow and Gus stared at the demon behind Conner, who was wondering what they were staring at. Until he turned his head behind and saw the monster for himself. Before the demon struck anyone with it's sting. Conner picked up Willow and Gus, and bolted away just as the tail hit the spot they were standing.
Conner gently put the young witches down "Stay here!" And charged back to confront the scorpion demon.
Conner grappled with the scorpion demon, his hands locked with the demons top arms in a stalemate of strength. It didn't stay one for long. As the scorpion demon lifted Conner up into the air and using it's second set of arms stabbed it's claws into his side. Conner roared in pain as he kicked the demon in the chest using feet. The scorpion demon showed no pain and readied it's stinger.
Willow saw this and without a second thought, she cast a spell circle and green vines sprouted from the floor and ensnared the scorpion demons tail. The monster thrashed it's tail all around to free it. Then suddenly more vines appeared and snagged it's arms and then it's legs. The vines pinned the demons arm to it's sides, making it let go of Conner.
The demon continued to thrash about to free itself from it's vine bondage. Gus then drew a cyan spell circle, which floated right at the scorpion demon and hit it in the face. The monster became very drowsy and collapsed on the floor, asleep.
Conner looked back at Willow and Gus who nervously waved back to him. Conner walked over to them slowly transforming back to his witch form. He looked at the 2 children with a judgmental and stern face.
Willow and Gus were afraid, completely unaware of what he might do.
He simply said "You 2... come with me"
Back with Team RWBY and the others were in Francine's first lab with Francine herself as she showed them more of her inventions. Ruby and Luz were marvelling at the fantastic devices She had shown to them. Weiss had a more tame interest. Blake and Yang showed mild interest and Eda was looking at something in a jar. And King was looking at potential doomsday devices to take over the world. And Charles was else where awaiting news on the situation with the intruder
"And this is my size altering ray. With it you can shrink or grow any object to whatever size you wish" Francine explained while holding a dark red gun like device with a dial that had a plus and minus on opposite ends of it.
"Neat" Ruby said.
"Does it work?" Weiss asked.
"It's still in beta, but progress is going smooth" Francine answered.
"This stuff is amazing" Ruby commented.
"It's certainly more advanced than anything I've seen from normal Witches" Blake added.
"It might be more advanced, than what Atlas has?" Yang said.
"Well. Franny is the smartest Witch on the Isles, after all" Luz boasted and Francine blushed from the complement.
"Say Franny, if you ever get sick of working for Belos. I could use someone of your talents in making stuff that i can sell?" Eda seeing a business opportunity.
"Pfft! Forget making money. With your brains and my mighty leadership skill. We could rule the world!" King declared.
Francine became enamoured with the little demon's cute and strange appearance, she scooped him up and began examining/cuddling him "Aww! You're so cute trying to act big"
"Cease this at once!" King protested as she kept looking over him.
"I've never seen a demon like this before. So fascinating?" Francine said continuing to examine King.
Unfortunately for Francine. She was receiving a call on her Coven compact. So she had to stop playing with King. She opened the compact and Kikimora appeared on the small mirror.
"Doctor Grassstain, the Emperor is requesting the Luz' presence immediately" Kikimora stated.
"What for?" Francine asked.
"All i was told that Conner found the intruders and that the princess was to also be informed. He didn't say why? He is in his study right now" Kikimora replied.
"Okay I'll pass the message along" Francine shrugged.
"Much obliged" Kiki said before hanging up.
"Luz! Your father needs you again" Francine said.
"What is it this time?" Luz asked.
"No idea?" She replied.
"I'll be back soon" Luz proceeded to leave the lab and head to meet her father. The trek from Francine's lab to her father's study was a bit long, but not difficult. She made it to the same door that she was just at moments ago. Just as she was about to knock to announce her arrival, The Emperor opened the door himself.
"Come in" was all he said.
Luz followed her Father into the study. The room was pretty large and had a dome shape to it, with a maze that twist and turned in multiple directions. The walls of the maze had many different painting on them. To most people it seems like a daunting trial. But Luz used to sneak in here to play hide and seek, so thankfully she knew her way around the maze.
As she walked, Luz took a moment every now and then to look at the paintings that lined each wall of the maze. There were a few abstract paintings of unique shapes and colors, but a majority of them were landscapes of the Boiling Isles. Depicting many familiar locations to Luz. Like the Titan's skull, Palm stings, the Ash Moth desert, The Frozen mountain top on the Knee and Bonesborough.
Not many Witches and Demons knew that Emperor Charles Belos was a painter. And it was a shame that he kept these paintings locked in the castle, for none to see. They were all quite beautiful. Luz always wondered why he made these painting, but never showed them to anyone outside their family or close members of the Coven.
Within a couple of minutes she arrived at the centre of the maze, where her father was. He was standing in his full regalia next to a easel stand for painting and a stool. And roosted on his right shoulder was a platinum colored dragon with blue eyes, as big as a house cat.
"Hello Father" Luz bowed. "You wished to see me?"
"Yes i did" He said "It has to do with the intruders Conner captured"
"What about it?" Luz asked.
"I think it's better to show you" The Emperor answered by snapping his fingers and a golden magic circle appeared on the floor in front of them. Conner, Gus and Willow then appeared in the circle, with The young witches wearing guilty expressions on their faces. And Conner gripping their shoulders.
"Gus!? Willow?!" Luz gasped loudly "What are you guys doing..." Luz then realized why they were here "Ooooh! You guys are the intruder"
"Yes" Willow and Gus admitted.
"I found them after i ran into 1 of Francine's crimes against nature that escaped" Conner explained.
"Why did you 2 sneak into the castle" Luz asked.
"I over heard you talking about being the Emperor's daughter. I told Willow who didn't believe me, and so we decided to sneak in to find out for ourselves" Gus explained sounding quite guilty "You never tell us anything about yourself! Or your family! We just wanted to know more about you!"
"We're really sorry Luz. It was stupid to even think about doing" Willow said looking for forgiveness.
Luz didn't respond. It's true she never told them anything about her family. No one would believe her and even if they did, she would be putting herself and everyone she loved in danger. "I'm sorry too. For not telling you. But you have to understand, being the princess means i also have responsibilities that are bigger than myself"
"You forgive us if we forgive you?" Gus asked sheepishly.
"Yes" Luz answered.
Luz rushed over and hugged her 2 friends, who hugged her back. Their moment was slightly interrupted by The Emperor making a short 'Ahem!'
All 3 friends turned their attention to the monarch of the Boiling Isles. They stopped hugging and Luz quickly stood at attention.
"That is indeed sweet, but it's kind of hard to forgive trespassing" Belos said.
Conner spoke up "Sir! If i may. During my struggle with Francine's monster, these 2 saved me from certain death with their magic" he gestured to Willow and Gus.
"Is this true?" Belos asked.
"Yes. That scorpion thing almost got him with it's tail, and i made some vines stop it. Then Gus cast a sleep spell knocking it out" Willow explained.
"We saw he was in trouble and had to help. It was like our bodies moved on their own" Gus added.
Charles Belos contemplated for a moment and spoke "Very well then. I believe we are done here"
Luz, Willow and Gus were confused.
"Wait that's it? No punishment or anything?"
"While your act of sneaking into my home was lacking in wisdom. I can see why my daughter values your friendship" Belos stated. "You both sought the truth to secrets you didn't know and when someone you didn't know was in danger, you stepped in to save them. You both are admirable in many ways i wish i was at your age"
"Wow that was touching sir" Willow said sincerely.
"Thank you" He replied kindly. The Emperor walked up to them knelt down to their eye level and said. "Just remember. I'm sparing you 2 become your friends with my daughter. If either of you betray her trust or hurt her. I will end you both then and there"
Both Gus and Willow were terrified by what they just saw. Even though they couldn't see the man's face behind the mask and his voice sounded gentle and fatherly. The words were very threatening and that was enough to scare them.
"Okay, nice talking to you 2 bye:)" then walks away.
"He'll do it, just so you know" Conner said.