Chapter Text
“Ugh…when is this ship going to leave?” Arcana grumbled. “I am so over the dead fish smell.” She laid her head against the captain’s desk, a small yawn escaping her lips. “I don’t even get why we are going after a Selkidomus. Aren’t they usually peaceful creatures?” She questioned.
“Clearly not if they are attacking our ships,” Hunter murmurs, eyes glued to the window. Arcana frowned behind her mask, tilting her head to the side.
“Something catching your eye that I should know about, Goldie?” She could see him tense a bit at the name, stifling her giggle. Hunter closes the window, turning towards the girl.
“Stop calling me that!” He whined, pulling up a seat next to Arcana. “A little birdie told me that there was a chance we’d run into someone the Emperor wants…and I just saw her board the ship.” Someone the Emperor wants? Arcana felt her eyes widen. This mission…wasn’t it also offered as a bounty? “Wait until the Emperor hears we took care of the Selkidomus AND captured the human! He’ll be so proud!” She bolts up from her seat, staring into Hunter’s mask.
“The human is on this ship?!” Hunter cocked his head to the side but gave a slight nod.
“That’s what I said, isn’t it? Something the matter?” Arcana bit her lip. While Hunter obviously knew she attended Hexside and had friends there, he didn’t exactly know who those friends were.
“N-No, it’s just… so great that the h-human is here too! Emperor Belos will be so pleased when we bring her to him ahahaha… ”
“Are you sure you’re doing alright? You seem extra weird right now.” She lets out a shaky sigh before turning away from him.
“Yeah, school just…really wiped me out today. Is it alright if I rest for a bit? Need to make sure my head is on straight for the mission.” Hunter waves her off.
“Sure thing, I’ll wake you if I need you.” Arcan nods before sauntering off to the cot in the corner of the room. She eases herself onto it, giving Hunter one last look before lying down completely. What was she going to do? They had never encountered Luz directly before, and the last thing she wanted to do was hurt someone she considered a friend. A yawn escapes her lips. Maybe some sleep will help her come up with a solution.
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Thump
Thump
Thump
Why was everything so loud?
Thump
Thump
Thump
Why did that noise sound so familiar?
A room began to materialize around her. This room…she’d been here before. Arcana’s eyes examine her surroundings. Everything seemed so big. Why was everything so big? Or was she just really small? Nothing was making any sense.
“I’m going to ask you one last time…I’m giving you a chance to redeem yourself.” That voice, she had heard it before. What was going on?
“And I told you, I would rather die.” Another voice hissed out. The first voice made a tsking sound.
“Then you leave me no choice, old friend. Send her in.” The voice boomed. Arcana felt her body being shoved forward, pushing her further into the loud room. She looked in front of her and saw two figures, one close to her and one at the further end of the room. Her eyes squint hoping it would give her a clearer image of the two, but for some reason, their faces seem blurred out. Too fuzzy for her to get a clearer idea of just who they were.
“Cana?” The closer figure calls. Before she knows it, her feet start running forward.
Thump
Thump
Thump
All she can hear is the sound of her feet hitting the floor and the loud noise that seems to occupy the room. She felt her lips move, but she can’t even hear what she was saying. Just the loud thumping. The figure holds his arms open for her, and she feels herself run faster.
“You should have said yes .” The thumping stops. She suddenly becomes overly aware of just how silent everything is. Before Arcana reaches the other’s arms, she looks up for a brief moment. Just in time to see something sharp flying her way.
And then, she feels it .
Whatever it was, sliced across her eye, extending its harsh cut to the tip of her ear. Her body is forcefully pushed back onto the ground, as a searing pain begins to consume her entire being. She screams.
“Cana!” The voice calls out. Her world begins to grow fuzzy, but she continues to scream. It becomes a lot harder to see and she feels something warm trickling down her face.
“Cana!” The voice shouts again, this time a bit different. Almost as if two voices were being layered over one. But she can’t focus. Everything hurt. Her hand touches the side of her face, feeling her blood coat her fingers.
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“Arcana! Wake up!”
Arcana feels her body jolt from the cot, quickly throwing her hands to her face. Her breathing was rapid and it felt like her face was on fire.
“Cana, Cana, you have to breathe. Whatever it was, it was just a nightmare.” She begins to shake her head rapidly.
“N-No, it hurts, it hurts so bad- I can’t…I can’t make it stop-” Her fingers begin to frantically draw healing circles, causing blue light to come from her hands. But without anything to heal, her magic stopped. Arcana could still feel the pain on her face and only grew more panicked. “Why isn’t it working?! It’s not working!” She kept grasping at her mask with shaky hands. She felt a different set of hands gently push down her own. Arcana finally looks up, greeted by Hunter’s mask. “I-It won’t stop…” She whimpered.
“Cana, I promise you the wound is very much healed. You just had that bad dream again.” The girl shakes her head and Hunter lets out a small sigh. “Here. I’ll show you that it’s alright, but I’m going to have to take off your mask, okay?” Hesistentatily, she nods. Hunter carefully leans over, placing his hands at the bottom of her mask, and pulls it off her face. Arcana watches as Hunter slowly pulls the knot of her makeshift eyepatch, carefully unwrapping it. He places the fabric to the side, and gently grabbed one of her hands, placing it along the jagged side of her ear. Her fingers trailed along the scar, pulling them away after a few moments to see that her fingers were in fact not covered in blood. “See? Still healed.”
“Y-Yeah, still healed.” She mumbles. The two remain silent for a moment. Hunter shifts a bit closer to her side.
“You…you okay?” He asks tentatively. “It’s been a while since you’ve had this particular dream. It seemed pretty bad this time around.” Arcana shrugged, before slowly leaning her head against Hunter’s shoulder. He stiffened for a brief moment before relaxing.
“I’ll be fine. At least this one only happens every now and then.” She let out a small sigh. “Thank you, Hunter. For always being there.” Again, she feels the boy stiffen.
“Y-Yeah, yeah, of course.” Arcana felt hesitant fingers rest on top of her own. “We’re always there for each other. Remember?” He mumbled. Arcana gave a small nod of her head.
“Always.” The two sit still on the cot, a comfortable silence washing over them. Arcana’s eyes begin to close, as the sounds of the ocean colliding against the boat’s hull bring an almost peaceful atmosphere to the cabin. The ocean’s sounds had quite a calming effect on her, that and whatever was rattling in the corner of the room. Arcana quickly sat up, startling the boy.
Wait, rattling?
Her eyes dart around the room, a frown forming on her features. The rattling continues to get louder. She stands from the cot, quick to summon her staff as she points it around the room. “Do you hear that?” Hunter jumps up, almost excitedly.
“Oh, I almost forgot! I have to show you what I caught while you were sleeping!” He says. Hunter rushed toward the other end of the room, Arcana giving him a questioning look. She quickly wraps the fabric back around her face, placing her mask back on. Hunter comes back over, carrying a cage covered in a purple tarp. She sees the cage rattle slightly, but not as much as before. Hunter lifts the tarp up revealing… oh no. “I caught their dog!” King sits up, looking startled. “Now they’ll have to do what we say!” Arcana frowned.
“What do you plan on doing with K-...their pet? It hasn’t done anything wrong. I’m sure the Emperor would only want the Owl Lady or the human. Why bring him into this?” Hunter’s shoulders sagged.
“How else are we going to get them to cooperate? We need to give them some kind of motivation.” He points to the cage. “And this thing is the key. You should know that.” Arcana let out a shaky sigh. It was bad enough her coven had already caused harm to Luz’s family before, and now, they were doing it again.
“Listen, I know that you’re in charge and you know I’ll follow where ever you lead, but shouldn’t we just be focused on the mission?” Hunter places the cage down, crossing his arms.
“What do you mean? I am focusing on the mission.” Ugh oh, he sounded pissed. “We’ve been given a golden opportunity to prove ourselves.” Arcana shakes her head.
“But that wasn’t the mission. The mission was to slay the Selkidomus, not capture the human or the Owl Lady. The Emperor told us that she had been released because of the Titan’s mercy. She paid for her crimes by having her powers taken. If the Titan wanted the Owl Lady, human, or the dog-”
“Hey!” King shouts. Arcana rolled her eyes but continued.
“The Emperor would have told us. Sir, this just isn’t the mission, and it’s not the Titan’s will. The Emperor always tells you that the Titan has big plans for you, and I truly believe he does, but you can’t force it out of him. When the time comes, he will tell you.” There was a brief pause between the two. Arcana bites her lip, hoping that Hunter would see that she was right and hoping that they could release King back into Luz’s custody. Finally, Hunter nods.
“You’re right. The time will come when we can both prove ourselves to the Emperor.” Arcana lets out a sigh of relief before gunning toward the cage. Hunter quickly grabs it. “Buuuuut, I think I have a better idea before we give him back.” Arcana cocked her head to the side. “We don’t have to slay that Selkidomus.”
“What do you mean?” He shrugged, lifting up the cage again, and closing the tarp.
“Why get our hands dirty when we could inspire that human to do it for us?” Arcana could practically hear the smirk coming from him. Her mind filled with worry. Luz had gotten a lot better with her glyph magic but was it enough to take on a creature that size? Arcana couldn’t help but groan, she was able to solve one problem just to get thrown into another.
The ship suddenly rocked to the side, a powerful force pushing harshly against its hull. Arcana could hear shouting from outside. Looks like Selkidomus was making its appearance.
“Show time,” Hunter calls out heading towards the door of the cabin. “You ready, Shield?” She paused for a moment. How does one ready themselves when it comes to potentially harming their friend? Arcana lets out a small sigh, before giving a quick salute to Hunter.
“As ready as I’ll ever be, sir.”
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Hunter always had to be one to make an entrance. They could have easily flown to the island, but noooo, Hunter insisted on it looking so much cooler if they came up through the BOILING SEA. Oh, but Arcana, you know protection spells, we would look so intimidating and awesome!
Titan, she hated the little dork at times. But she also could never say no to that face. So, here they were, traveling through the ocean at a high speed, Hunter focusing on getting them through the water, while Arcana focused on their protection spell. They must have been getting close to shore because Arcana could vaguely make out voices. She frowned. Wasn’t it just supposed to be Luz?
“You could’ve gotten killed!” She knew that voice, when did Eda show up? She mumbled a quiet curse under her breath. Of course, she was here. Hunter gave her a brief glance before whispering ‘Get ready.’ With a wave of his staff, the two shot up from the water with a blast-shaped fist before landing delicately on the sand. Hunter stood tall, carrying his staff in a forward position. Arcana stood close behind him, clutching the tarp-covered cage.
“That can still be arranged.” She could hear the cockiness ooze from his voice. Luz and Eda exchanged brief worried glances before turning their attention back to them. Arcana stepped forward, whispering to Hunter lowly:
“Remember why we’re here, sir.”
“I know.” He turned his attention back towards the human and the witch, stepping forward. “Hello, criminals. What’s about to happen should be relatively painless, if you just do what I say.” Luz stepped forward, a deep frown etched onto her features.
“And why would we do that?” Arcana mentally kicked herself. Why did Luz always have to be a hero?
“Because none of you can use real magic.” He chimes back.
“You don’t know that.” Eda retorts.
“Maybe not, but I do know that you’re standing on a plant that eats flesh.” He says nonchalantly. Arcana watches as the two quickly jump from the plant, hopping on the sand hoping it would stop the burning. She cringed a bit as Hunter let out a small laugh. “Okay, the human will remain a sailor to repay all the money she lost, while the Owl Lady will be arrested again , for attacking one of the Emperor’s ships.” Arcana froze looking up towards Hunter. Did he change his mind? This wasn’t what they agreed on.
“Emperor’s ship?” Luz questioned.
“They’re the only ones worth robbing,” Eda mumbled. A glare forms on the older witch’s face. “Why are you guys hunting the Selkidomus? It’s a peaceful creature and you’re provoking it!” Arcana flinches, knowing Eda was right. However, it was futile to go against the Emperor’s word.
“The Emperor ordered us to slay one. Just following orders.” Eda huffed, rolling up her sleeves.
“Well, I’m just going to smack you around a bit!” She lunged forward, quite literally disarming herself, and swinging said arm aggressively at Hunter. Hunter is quick to block her attacks, easily overpowering her. Arcana winced as she watched the older witch roughly faceplant into the sand. Her ears picked up rapid footsteps coming towards them.
“Leave Eda alone!” Luz shouted, her hands covered in her fire glyph’s magic. Cage still in hand, Arcana rushed to cover Hunter’s back, summoning a blue hand-shaped shield just as Luz tries to swing at him. Luz refocuses her attention on Arcana, her fire glyphs now being directed only at her. She does everything she can to not cause any harm to her friend, but she would also prefer that her fire blasts don’t horribly burn her. Arcana blocks every shot with her shields, having to summon a new one with every blast.
“She’s gotten stronger…” She thinks to herself. She can see Luz begin to pant, thinking she was going to stop, but Arcana should have known better. Luz charged forward, lunging up into the air, and shooting out another blast of fire. Arcana had barely enough time to duck out of the way. However, Luz’s attack was stopped prematurely, as sand covered in a red aura collided with her body, sending her to crash land onto Eda. Arcana glances behind her, seeing Hunter standing close, his staff glowing red, pointing at Luz and Eda.
“How about…” The sand underneath the two begins to glow red, as it lifts them from the ground. “I leave you dangling above the Boiling Sea?” In one fluid motion from his staff, the sand moves toward the ocean. Her eyes widened, feeling herself grab onto Hunter’s shoulder as he has the two hovering over the boiling water.
“What are you doing?!” She hissed. He just waves her off in response.
“Around these parts, just the steam is enough to cause third-degree burns.” The sand disappears from beneath them, but Hunter’s magic still has hold of Eda and Luz. The two are placed safely back on the sand. “But, I don’t have to be that mean, do I Shield?” He motions for her to continue. With a frown at his tactics, she stepped forward. Arcana clears her throat, still clutching onto King’s cage.
“No one will have to be a sailor or be arrested if one of you slays the Selkidomus for us.” She says flatly, trying her best to keep her voice neutral and collected. The last thing she would want is for either Luz or even Eda to recognize her tone. She points her staff towards the sand. “These are its tracks. Slay the beast and…we let you go. It’s as simple as that.”
“And, since we are just so nice, we’ll even help!” Hunter points his staff up into the air, a sword materializes from nothing. It drops to the ground, but neither of the two moves to take it. Hunter lets out a sigh, pinching the bridge of his mask’s nose. “You’re making this more difficult than it has to be. Shield, would you care to show them what you got there?” Arcana nods, lifting the cage up and pulling back its tarp, revealing King.
“Neh?!”
“Go, or we drown the bird?” Arcana’s head snapped toward his direction. Why must he always go to the extreme? They agreed to use King as motivation, not threaten to pretty much kill him. Her grip on the cage tightened, there was no way she was going to let that happen. She drops the tarp.
“Ah, it’s dark now.” Luz stands up reaching for the sword. Arcana felt her heartbreak at the pained look on her friend’s face. She kept trying to tell herself that this was better than Hunter’s alternative, but in the back of her mind, she knew. She knew this was all wrong, no matter how you looked at it.
“Fine, I’ll do it,” Luz murmured gloomily, making her way toward the cave.
“Luz, wait!” Eda goes chasing after her. The two disappear into the cave.
“Well, that takes care of our problem, huh Cana?” Hunter whispers almost gleefully. Arcana lets out a deep breath before gently placing the snoring cage on the sand. She summons her staff in her now free hands and turns towards Hunter. The point of it begins to glow a light blue aura, and she began to swish the staff aggressively from side to side. Small piles of sand throw themselves against Hunter. Not hard enough to hurt him, but enough to catch him off guard and throw him off balance.
“What was that, Hunter?!” She whisper-shouted. “Throw your bird into the Boiling Sea?! We never agreed on that!” She throws another small blast of sand at the boy. “We aren’t supposed to be heartless monsters!” He raises his arms up, blocking her incoming shots.
“We aren’t monsters!” He shouts defensively. “We just needed to motivate them.” That earns him another blast.
“Motivate them?” She squeaked. “By killing an innocent demon?!”
“Actually, it was threatening to kill. The key word there, threaten-” Another blast, this time to his face. “Would you stop that?! Plus, you’re only going to make yourself-” Arcana felt her knees wobble, forcing her to kneel against the sand. “...tired.” Hunter sighed. Arcana let out a few puffs of air. She overdid it. Hunter rushes over, offering a hand, but she pushes it away, sinking fully onto the sand. She lets out a frustrated groan, smacking some of the sand lightly.
“It just feels like…we are supposed to be the heroes. We are supposed to keep the peace between the Isles and yet all it feels like we do is hurt.” She mumbles, shifting her gaze to look more at Hunter. “Do…Do you ever feel like maybe we are going about this the wrong way at times? That there’s maybe a chance that Emperor Be-”
“Stop. Don’t even finish that thought.” His voice is sharp. Arcana's gaze falters, staring back at the dull sand.
“S-Sorry.” She mumbles. “That was out of line.” Hunter lets out a sigh before plopping down next to her.
“Look, I know some of the Emperor’s tactics can be a bit…harsh, but the Titan intrusted him for a reason. He’s going to unify the Boling Isles and bring peace! But, until that day comes, we have to carry out whatever he asks.” Arcana nods her head slowly.
“Yeah…you’re right.” She looks up toward the sky. But why would the Titan want to cause this much divide and harm?
A sudden growl causes them both to jump from their spots. They stare ahead into the cave to catch Eda and Luz’s shadows fighting with the Selkidomus. Arcana could feel her heart beating rapidly, as she watches Eda get knocked down. However, the battle soon ends with Luz jumping into the air and slashing the throat of the creature. A harsh smell soon hits Arcana’s nose and she feels herself gag. Luz drags the carcass toward the cave’s entrance.
“Ugh, that thing smells awful !” Hunter waved his hand in front of his face, hoping to waft away the smell. “Why are you touching it with your bare hands? Gross.”
“You’re gross!” Luz retorts. “Now give me King!”
“Actually, he smells pretty bad too. Take him.” Hunter grabs the cage, tossing it carelessly in Luz’s direction. Hunter begins to walk off toward the shore. “Thank you for your service. You can find your own way home.” He pulls out his staff. “And try to stay out of trouble. The Emperor is not a merciful man. ” He sat on his staff, waving. “Byeeeeeee~” He shouts before disappearing. Arcana facepalmed. That boy was a mess. She huffed and turned her attention back towards Luz.
“What are you still doing here? Shouldn’t you go catch up with that jerk?” Luz grumbled.
“Is…Is he alright?” Arcana asks softly. Luz’s brows furrow.
“Why would you care?” She huffed, releasing the demon from the cage. King was quick to crawl on top of her head. “You were the one that placed him in there, to begin with.” Arcana shakes her head before stepping forward.
“Actually, that was all him. I’m…I’m really sorry for all the trouble he caused. He’s a good person, as hard that can be to believe…you know…given the situation.” She lets out a shaky sigh. “He’s just…misguided.” Luz scoffs.
“That’s one way to put it.” The girl grumbled. Arcana couldn’t help but let out a nervous laugh. However, when looking back at Luz, something caught her eye. There was a stain on her shirt, a small one but no doubt it was from a cut.
“You’re hurt.” Arcana steps forward. Luz looked down at her sleeve, shrugging it off.
“Just a scratch, I’ve had worse.” Arcana shakes her head. Luz’s gaze hardens and she takes a defensive stance. “Just what are you doing?” Arcana pauses, throwing her hands up.
“I’m not going to hurt you. Please, let me heal your wound, I wouldn’t want it to get infected.” She gives Arcana a skeptical look.
“And why would I let you do that? Gonna try and poison me or something?” Arcana lets out a small laugh before shaking her head.
“Oh, Titan, no. I don’t have the strength for that. Besides what has happened today, I’m a healer, not a fighter. I’m only around to make sure Goldielocks doesn’t get himself killed.” Luz raises an eyebrow.
“Goldielocks?” Arcana feels her cheeks heat up.
“Oh, man, please don’t tell him I told you that.” She grumbled, pulling the strings of her cloak to shrink into the hood.
“Sorry, no can do. I’m totally going to call him that the next time I see him.” The two pause momentarily before snickering.
“He’s absolutely going to kill me.” Arcana giggled. She released her cloak's strings, looking at Luz fully. “I know it may seem small, but please let me take a look at your cut. It’s the least I can do after the mess we caused today.” Luz thinks for a brief moment, before nodding hesitantly. Arcana carefully steps forward, as Luz offers her wrist.
Gently, she pulls back her sleeve, unveiling a long, but not too deep cut. Arcana’s finger draws a small light blue circle and her hand begins to glow. She hovers her hand just above the wound, the injured skin on Luz’s arm shining in the same blue. Slowly, the wound starts to seal itself, beginning to disappear completely. Arcana quietly hums to herself as she works, drawing Luz’s attention immediately.
“Funny, there’s a girl I know from school that hums that same tune.” Arcana froze, mentally face-palming. How could she be so careless?
“O-Oh…what a weird coincidence! She must have good taste!” She moved her hand away, breaking the spell. The cut had completely vanished. Arcana clapped her hands together, startling Luz and King. “Well, I better get going. Don’t need my friend back there worrying-”
“Goldielocks, you mean?”
“Shush!” Luz snickered. “I’ll see you around, human.” With a wave of her hand, her staff appears and she hops on. She begins to float off of the ground but pauses from taking off, turning back towards the girl and demon for a final time. “Look…not everyone in the Emperor’s Coven had a choice. And, we aren’t all monsters…at least I really hope not…” She whispers the last part. Before Luz could respond, Arcana jets off into the sky. Hopefully, before she can get to the castle, she can figure out what she was going to tell Hunter.
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Luz’s PoV
Luz watches the girl disappear into the sky, feeling conflicted by their last interaction. What did she mean by not having a choice? Didn’t that defeat the purpose of the coven system? Her attention gets drawn away from her thoughts by King, who has hopped off of her head and was currently sniffing around the sand.
“King, what are you doing?” He looks up, narrowing his eyes.
“That girl…her hideous perfume…it smells familiar.” Luz raised an eyebrow.
“Well, there’s probably a chance we’ve passed her around the Isles without knowing it was her. I’m sure she has some life outside of that castle. But what does that have to do with you sniffing the sand?” Without answering, the tiny tyrant begins to dig through some of the sand. His face soon pops up, shooting his paw into the air. He seemed to be clutching onto…a note.
“Because this smells just as disgusting!” He shouts enthusiastically, climbing back onto her shoulder. Luz gently takes the note, opening it.
We should talk.
If you are willing to hear me out, I’ll be at the ruins on the Knee tomorrow after dark.
I hope to see you there.
The note was signed with a symbol, similar to the girl’s helmet.
“Do you think it’s a trap?” King questioned. Luz let out a sigh, glancing at her newly healed arm and then back up to the sky where the girl had flown off in.
“Guess there’s only one way to find out.”