Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Hunter sighed. He has been working extra hard today, to make up for his failure on his last few missions.

He finished the last of his food, placing the plate down on his room floor. It had smelt a bit off but he was too busy to care. Hunter sat up and walked to his desk as he did Flapjack joined him sitting on his shoulder, and looking down at the paper lying there. “All right time to get to work.” Hunter smiled at Flapjack before looking back down. He placed his pen onto the first paper starting his paperwork.

Hunter was distracted from his studies when he began to feel unwell. He clutched his stomach. Flapjack tweeted at him asking if he was ok.

“Yeah I’ve probably just been sitting down for too long, need some fresh air” he stood up. “I have a shift soon I'll just go outside for a bit”. He wandered down the hall. He felt a little uneasy but tried his best to ignore it.

The fresh air felt nice, but it wasn’t doing much for the sick feeling forming in his gut. He had walked out of sight of the guards and was tracing back and forth in the nearby forests.
“I'm just going to have to deal with it. I can’t just not go on my shift,” he said to Flapjack, who chirped in reply.

“I don’t need you worrying Flapjack I’ll be fine,” he pulled his portable crystal mirror out of his pocket, “oh no I’m gonna be late.”
Hunter panicked; he had gotten lost in his thoughts and had lost track of time. Flapjack flew in front of him, turning into his staff. Hunter hopped on, grabbing his stomach in pain. He set off. Even if he always enjoyed the feeling of the wind rushing past him it wasn’t doing anything to quash the feeling of throwing up. He tried to focus on steering but it was getting harder to do. Flapjack noticed this and tried to land them but it was too late.

Crash!

he began to tumble to the ground. Luckily They hadn’t been flying too high so Hunter was mostly unharmed by the fall. He stood up grabbing onto a tree for support. He stumbled along before the pressure was too much for him and he threw up. Coughing he backed away. Suddenly overwhelmed by tiredness and dizziness he fell to the ground.

Flapjack flew over landing at his side. He started pecking his arm to no response, he was out cold. Flapjack needed to find help.

Willow was walking back from school. It had been a long day so She just wanted to get home without any more drama.

The little red cardinal hopped along the street trying to get the attention of anyone nice enough to care, but it was only greeted by swatting or grunts of annoyance. Flapjack became impatient and began to tug on someone's shirt. The civilian tried to shoo the bird but it kept pulling. The person swatted Flapjack away causing it to bounce and fall to its side.

“Oh dear, little bird.'' Willow wandered over leaning down and scooping Flapjack up, “Are you alright?'' Flapjack hopped up talking to the girl trying to get her to follow it but she had no idea what it meant.

From behind the girl emerged a bee palisman, buzzing curiously at Flapjack who recognized it and the two palisman greeted each other. Flapjack was glad it had come across Clover and told them what was going on. Clover told Willow and the pair rushed over into the forest.

Chapter Text

“Oh dear, you weren’t lying.”
Willow hurried over first checking his pulse, and was relieved when it seemed normal. He was just knocked out.
“You say he was sick?” Willow said squatting down next to Flapjack, “Do you know what caused it?”
Flapjack told her what it knew. “Hm sounds like poison, oh dear. Well, you found the right person. I'm an expert on plants,” Willow grabbed a book from her bag flipping through the pages until she reached one with info on poisonous plants and cures. Willow stood up drawing a spell circle and a plant sprouted. It grew some odd-looking berries. She picked one, giving it to Flapjack who put it in Hunter’s mouth.

Hunter woke up, he sat up rubbing his eyes. He was pleasantly surprised to find the sick feeling gone away, but he felt sore from the cash. Hunter scanned the area looking for Flapjack.

His eye locked on a girl who was sitting across from him playing with Flapjack and another palisman he didn’t recognize.
“What are you doing?” Hunter asked.

“Oh you're awake, your Palisman led me here so I helped you” Willow walked over to him handing him Flapjack. “You were poisoned, are you feeling better?”
“Yeah, um thanks.” The pair stood in silence for a bit, and Hunter patted Flapjack
smiling at the little bird.

“I’m Willow,” she said, offering her hand out to him. Hunter paused, no one knew or addressed him by his name other than Belos, and the human. Embarrassed that he’d hesitated to answer such a simple question, he blurted out: “I’m Hunter, um nice to meet you.”

“I recognize your Palisman, do you go to hexside?”

“Oh, no I-.”
Flapjack interrupted them, telling Willow some half-true story about how they met.
“Oh that's sweet you must be close” Willow smiled at the story. Hunter mouthed thanks at Flapjack, who then perched on his shoulder.

“I need to get home, are you alright by yourself?” Willow asked Hunter who panicked, realizing he was late and would be in a load of trouble. “Yeah, I need to go as well, bye.”
Flapjack transformed and Hunter got on the staff. “And thanks again for helping me,” he said, turning back to not seem rude.

After exchanging the awkward goodbye the pair split off, Willow back home, and Hunter to the coven base.

Hunter rushed inside. Damn it, I’m so late, uncle is gonna be so mad. He ran down the halls coming to a stop at the throne room doors, sighing as he reached for the handle. pushing aside any fear that had been creeping at the edge of his mind, He swung the door open.

Luckily Belos was alone. No one to get chewed out in front of. "Hunter-"

"Uncle I'm so sorry, I crashed on my way back here. I can do some extra shifts to make up for it, please don't be mad."

"You crashed? on what staff" Belos’ eyes lit up blue. "You left your staff in your room unless you somehow have another?"

"No! no, I don't."
Belos knelt so their faces were at the same level, "don't lie to me Hunter, tell me why you were out"

"I'm sorry I left my post to go for a walk. I- I ate some poisonous berries and got knocked out."

“If you did eat something poisonous you need healing, the titan will not be pleased if you were to perish.”
Belos stood, turning away.
Regardless, Hunter persisted.
“Uncle pleases I can make it up to you I could do more shifts or-”
Hunter was cut off as Belos turned, extending his arm, cutting him across the nose. Hunter reeled back in pain. when Belos would do this he would normally be wearing his mask the cut was much deeper and would definitely leave a scar. He held his nose trying to stop the blood.

Pulling his hood over his face. He rushed back to his room ignoring greetings or questions from guards that he passed. He reached his room, opened the door, and rushed in. Flapjack flew out of his cape helping him to band-aid up the gash. When he was done he sat on his desk with his face in his hands. In pain and far too tired to do anything else Hunter wandered to his bed, falling asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow.

Chapter Text

Hunter woke suddenly from a nightmare, gasping. His face was wet with tears and sweat.

He pushed off his blanket, got up, and walked to the window. Pushing it open to let the cold air brush against his face. He reached his hand up to his face feeling the Bandaid over his nose. There was some dried blood around it but other than that it seemed fine.
He knew he wasn’t going to be able to get back to sleep so he decided to walk around the halls. It was night so there would be no one awake except for a few guards.
He'd do this a lot when he couldn’t sleep so he knew the guards' patrol pattern well enough to avoid any awkward encounters.

Flapjack flew over perching on his shoulder. Hunter snuck around the hallways heading nowhere in particular. He loved the emptiness and the feeling of being alone away from any buzz of crowds, or people who asked too many questions.

As he walked his mind wandered back to the nightmare he’d had. He would have a lot which was why he was so tired. He had been having recurring ones ever since Flapjack entered his life, they would be of Belos finding out about and killing the little bird. He hated the thought of it cause he’d grown to like Flapjack he worried that if he were to tell it about the nightmares it would leave him and he would be alone with no one to talk to.

Hunter was pulled from his autopilot when he heard footsteps in front of him. They were not only out of the pattern of guards but by the sound of it, there were two: one sounded like an average adult witch, and the other like a dog.

Walking up against the wall, Hunter peaked around the corner and his suspicions were confirmed. Hunter stared down at the shadowy figure and felt an air of familiarity about it. That's it the shadow looked like… The owl lady and her rat! If he captured them Belos would surely forgive him for his earlier failure.

“Eda, do you really know where we're going?” King whispered as they walked down the hall.
“Psh course I do it’s just- wait did you hear that?” Eda, trying to not look suspicious, glanced behind her, “Look, looks like we didn’t get all the guards. Follow my lead”. Eda started heading up toward the corner.

Hunter started towards them.

“Wait, that kinda looks like Luz,'' King said, turning his head towards the figure.
Hunter grabbed Flapjack and in a yellow flash landed next to King who panicked and tried to strike, but before he could, Hunter knocked him out of the way. Flapjack returned to its bird from flying above Hunter and letting out a friendly chirp.
“That’s definitely not Luz,'' King said, retreating behind Eda, rubbing his head.
“Well well well, if it isn't the sad but bad boy,” Eda said teasingly. King climbed up onto her shoulder looking down at him.
“Don’t mock me owl lady” he said, extending his arm out signaling Flapjack who started to fly over at a snail's pace Hunter glared at it.
Eda, seeing a window, grabbed a plant glyph activating it, and it wrapped around his arms.
“Argh not again. Seriously! Who’s side are you on, bird?” Hunter glared at it as it flew and landed on Eda's free shoulder.

“You're just the kind of person I was looking for. Now tell me what have you done with the group known as the BATs” Eda said, pointing her staff at him.
“Huh? That rebel group. Figures you’d know them.”

“That's not an answer, where is Belos keeping them.”

“The traitors from that group should be kept in the lower levels of the prison, but I don't keep track of where. Now untie me,” Hunter said, looking unimpressed.

“Hold please,” Eda said, turning around and huddling with King. “King, we should bring him with us,” Eda whispered.

“What seriously? I've had enough of his annoying voice.”

“I know but if we let him go he’ll set off the alarms and he could have been lying about the location of Raine and the others.”

“Ok fine.”
Nodding Eda turned around to face Hunter, “Sorry kiddo but I don’t trust you so you’re coming with us.”

“What?! you gotta be kidding me,” Hunter exclaimed. He continued his angry remarks as Eda led the group through the hallways toward the prison.

King glanced behind him, glaring at Hunter. He’d been checking to see that he hadn’t slipped away. This was starting to get on Hunter’s nerves, and it was annoying enough that the owl lady had dragged him along on this adventure.

“We’re here,” Eda announced as they turned the corner. “So what cell are they in or were you lying?”
Hunter sighed, “I don’t know exactly which cell. Just use your eyes,” he said, leaning up against a wall.
“Alright king you watch him I’ll be back,” Eda said, walking off.

She checked each cell while passing some were empty but most had randoms in them. Near the end, she spotted a few familiar faces, each one lit up when they saw her.
“Mama Eda,” Amber yelled happily.

“Sshh you’ll alert the guards. I’m getting you out,” Eda said, walking to the leaver and pulling it down. the rusty cell door creaked open. Soon after King arrived with Hunter trailing along behind him. “I hear happy yelling, did you find Raine?” King asked.
“Oh, Raine's friends you told me about. Hello there I am King the king of-”
“Oh my titian, he’s so cute,” Amber squealed. the group rushed forward, all crowding and patting him.

“Oh yeah, Where are they?” Eda asked the group. They pause their patting of King.
“We have no idea, they weren’t locked up with us or near us” Amber answered, worried entering onto the group's faces. Eda turned around to Hunter “You said the group was here, but one is missing. Where are they” Eda said glaring at him

“I don’t know, and why would I care?” He said, huffing and rolling his eyes.
“Seriously my friend is missing, and that’s all!? You are just another uncaring, copy-and-paste guard. You golden brat” Eda hissed holding his shirt collar.

“That's really all I know,” Hunter said, a clear nervousness in his voice.

Eda suddenly felt bad, letting go of his shirt.
Eda undid the plant around his arms. He dropped down. getting up, he instinctively covered his face. He rushed away with Flapjack following close behind him. Eda sighed she felt bad for yelling at the kid, he had just been helping them after all. She looked back at the group. They didn’t seem too fazed by that interaction after all he was the enemy.

“Are you going to keep looking for Raine'' the BATs asked.
“Yeah, I am,” Eda said with a grim determination, “Belos made a major mistake messing with my family,” Eda said glaring off into the distance. “You guys go back Owlbert, I’ll continue looking myself”

“But then how are you going to get back?”

“Like this,” Eda said, spinning around, transforming into her harpy form.
“Woah”, “cool!” the group exclaimed, in awe at her newfound powers.
They all piled onto Owlbert. Eda lifted King up, setting him down on the front of the staff.
“Can’t I continue looking with you?” King asked.

“No no you should head back, it’s getting late and someone needs to guide these guys,” Eda said, patting King and planting a kiss on his cheek. King still looked downcast.
“And don’t worry I’ll be fine,” she reassured him. Now King seemed more convinced, so Eda said, see you later to the group and backed away.

The BATs headed off glad to be getting out of there.

Hunter hadn’t gone far; he didn’t plan on going back to bed and only wanted to get out of sight. He sat against the wall around the corner from the owl lady and the others. Flapjack was nested atop his head.

The owl lady rounds the corner and walks up to him. She hoped Hunter hadn’t set off any alarms, she seemed relieved to find him not so far away. When Eda approached them, Flapjack tweeted loudly in a defensive tone. Hunter looked up at her. “Go away owl lady I’ve already got into enough trouble because of your little group,” Hunter said swatting her away, “that recent incident may as well have been from you”
“What incident?”

“It was a stupid mistake. I was tired. It’s none of your business away”

“Yeesh eye bangs, whatever you say. You should be in bed at this time. Though if everyone is wandering around at this time it explains why Lilly’s sleep schedule was messed up when she first moved in,” Eda said, shaking her head.

“I don’t feel like going to bed, I’m just not tired.”

“Look I shouldn’t have been so aggressive with you before you had been helpful. It’s just well they’re someone very dear to me, so if you could try to help me find them I would appreciate it.” Eda said, offering her hand to him. He took it standing up.
“fine but tell anyone and I'll never help you again,” he said.

Even after searching till dawn Eda never found Raine, they weren’t anywhere she looked. It was becoming light outside, so Reluctantly Eda gave up. She had still helped some people tonight.

Around halfway, through their search, Hunter got sleepy so Eda offered to carry him on her back. Her back, being so fluffy with feathers he fell asleep. Worried for the boy's safety in the coven after he had helped her Eda let him sleep, flying the two of them back home. She would deal with explaining their extra guest in the morning.

Chapter Text

Luz woke up after a good night's sleep stretching and letting out a big yawn. King was lying at the bottom of her bed asleep. He must have moved in here during the night she nudged him gently. “Wakey wakey,” she said.
“Nuh, tired,” he said, half-asleep. Luz giggled, deciding to let him sleep.

Luz headed downstairs and was greeted by the smell of cooking. She walked to the kitchen spotting Eda making up a large and delicious looking breakfast.
“Wow, that smells great,” Luz said excitedly “I’ll get the table ready and get king up.” She walked out of the kitchen with a skip in her step.

“Wait, Luz, I need to talk to you,” Eda said, but she had already left.

Entering the lounge Luz was greeted by some unfamiliar faces talking amongst themself, well mostly unfamiliar.
“Oh hey, Luz. This was the human who broke me out of prison the first time,” Katya said, smiling at Luz, who was very confused as to why they were there. “Eda broke us out so we stayed here for the night, hope you don’t mind,” she said to Luz.
“Oh ok, well welcome to the owl house,” Luz said, swinging her arm around the room.

“Hah, good to know you are getting along. Breakfast’s ready.” Eda said, entering the room. “I was going to tell you about this but you rushed off before I got the chance'' she smiled at the group and they walked off to the table talking amongst themselves.

“Luz before you rush off again, there is something else I need to talk to you about,” Eda said, glancing behind her. “I brought the golden guard back here.”

“You brought back Hunter? What, how? Why?'' Luz asked her.

“Well he was helping me find Raine and it got early so I brought him back here. He was injured so I suspect the emperor is mistreating him, just like he did with Lilith,'' Eda said, her face shifting to a more stern look.

“Ok, after what happened with Amity I am not sure if I can trust him but I’m willing to give it a go,” Luz replied.

“Great, we'll talk to him later for now let's eat,” Eda said, and they walked to the table.
After eating a filling meal the BATs group began planning what they would do now, since they had arrived at night they had hurriedly thrown some bed supplies down and slept there. They only needed a few pointers on where to find some supplies and were good to go.

Eda smiled. It was going to be very crowded in here until she found somewhere out of the emperor's radar for the group to stay.
“Luz” Eda called.

“Yeah what's up,” Luz said, walking over to meet her.

“Could you check what's going on with Hunter, he’s been just in the room for a while. He's in the same room that Lilith was staying in when she was here,” Eda said.
While Luz was angry about Hunter threatening Amity she had seen a good side to him and didn’t mind him staying here. He also seemed very interested in wild magic, so she hoped he would help her with glyphs.

Hunter woke up in an unfamiliar room.

He could tell almost instantly it wasn’t his, due to the messiness. He recalled the previous night remembering him helping out the owl lady looking for one of her rebel friends. They never found them, did they?

That’s it this must be the owl lady’s house. He’d only ever seen the outside of it but this was sort of what he’d expected. He must have blacked out, and she’d carried him back here.

“Tweet!” said Flapjack, flying down off the window and landing on top of Hunter's shoulder.
“Well yeah, I kinda figured,” Hunter replied to the bird, patting it softly. He looked out of the window his palisman was just perched on. A small panic entered his mind when he noticed it was late morning. Belos would know he was gone. He’d hoped to make it up to his uncle but now he was just going to be in more trouble. He stood up. He didn’t want another run-in with the owl lady so he opted for the window. He walked to it climbing onto the window sill, just as Luz swung the door open. “Hey!” She said, scaring Hunter who fell over not quite sure of what to do. “Ah! human stay back,” he said, waving his hand awkwardly at her.

“Hey I’m not here to fight, Eda told me about you helping her,” Luz said, she always likes to look for the good in most people and she did believe Hunter was a good person she'd seen it firsthand when he helped her free the palisman.
“Why’d she bring me back here?” Hunter said, keeping his guard up, “You're my enemies.”

“Enemies? You helped both Eda and me. Enemies don’t help each other” Luz said, “we don’t have to fight, when we teamed up in Latisa we were unstoppable.” She offers him a hand. “That cut on your nose looks bad, you should probably dress it,” she said, pointing to his nose.

He felt the place where Belos had cut him. The half-assed first aid attempt he’d made had scrunched up while he was asleep. He sighed he could use it. He got an idea this was the perfect excuse he’d been out getting medical supplies, then Belos wouldn’t lash out at him when he got back.

“He’s what?!” Belos yelled, slamming his mutated arm against the throne room wall.
“He's gone, sire. I’ve had the guards check the whole place twice, not a single sign of him,” Kikimora said. She and a group of scouts were gathered in the throne room, after Belos had sent for Hunter with no response.

“Search the town and bring him back here immediately; he is of utmost importance to the Titan,” Belos said, pointing to the door.

Kiki gathered her scouts and left, she didn't want to deal with Belos anymore while he was in such a state. While searching for the golden guard they discovered some prisoners had escaped; she had placed the burden of informing Belos of such things onto an unlucky scout, as she hoped to keep her face intact.

Luz placed a fresh band-aid over Hunter's newly dressed wound. “There, is that better?” she said, smiling at him.

“It’ll do, thanks,” he said, standing up, “I really should go.”
“Wait, what about the glyphs didn’t you want to learn about them,” Luz said, she enjoyed his company and wanted to properly befriend him before he returned to the emperor’s coven. Luz grabbed her notebooks and glyph pad walking back to Hunter. She placed them down and Hunter cautiously opened one. She moved next to him to see what he was reading. They sat there reading, though not trying out glyphs Luz pointed out some things or read out some parts where her handwriting was messy.

“Um, Luz?” Hunter moved the book so she could see it. “What is this,” Hunter asked, he had been skim-reading through a book Luz was keeping her notes about Philip and the portal door.

“Oh well that's the diary of the first human to come to the Isles,” she said pointing to the page, “an echo mouse ate the real thing so I have to keep notes.”
“This is weird, Belos has tons of books on the portal door and some human things. Why are there none on any guy named Philip, was he around before Belos or... no that's not possible, it’s not a big deal he just missing any information on the first-ever human on the boiling isle, oh who am I kidding” Hunter mumbled, before snapping back “human I have a favor to ask of you, you’ll get something out of it too.”

“Uh, all right what is?”

“My uncle may have taught me a lot but there was stuff he didn't tell me for whatever reason. Eda seems good at breaking into places. Can you break into his portal room or library and find any hidden books or information? And while you're there you could get some restricted books on wild magic so we both get something. deal?” Hunter asked.

“I’ll go check with Eda, but before that, the emperor's your uncle?!”

“Huh, oh um yeah,” Hunter answered, standing up Luz joined him.
“Come downstairs you haven’t had anything to eat yet, there is still some leftover breakfast,” she said, dragging him down the stairs.

“Hey kiddos,” Eda said, greeting them.

“Hey Eda be back in a sec,” Luz said as she walked to the kitchen to get Hunter some food. He followed behind her unsure of what to do now. Luz grabbed a plate and placed some food on it. It was a mix of things including griffin eggs, and some meat.
“Here, I’ll go talk to Eda about your deal, be right back.”
Luz wandered out of the room.

Hunter watched as Luz went over and talked to the owl lady. He started taking small nibbles out of the food. As he did it suddenly occurred to him that he hadn’t eaten in a while and he noticed how hungry he was and he started taking large bites of the food. He continued to watch their conversation as he ate. They spoke to each other with such ease and calmness that energy radiated off the whole place. They’re so strange, he thought.

Eda walked over to him. “Well that was unexpected, but sure we can do that, so it’s a deal” Eda answers, giving him a thumbs up. “When do we leave?”

Chapter Text

Kikimora's team scanned the forest looking for any signs of the golden guard. She hoped the poison she slipped into his food the other day had taken effect. But if he had truly deserted the coven she would still have won and would finally take her rightful place next to the emperor, and if he was to fight back she may even get him removed, permanently.

The small group walks through the forest heading towards the coven base. Eda sat on her staff up ahead of everyone. she stops, and pauses. “Get down,” she signals, and the other duck behind the nearby bushes. Luz pulls her hood over her head.
a small group of scouts walked past them just a few meters away.

When they couldn’t hear them anymore Hunter stood up. “Why are we sneaking like this? I need to get back, fast,” Hunter said.

“Well I’m not exactly very chummy with the emperor,” Eda said, raising an eyebrow, “you can rush in once we get there but for now we need to be sneaky.” She mimicked someone walking with her hand. Hunter frowned and sighed. The group continued walking.

On their way, they had to dodge a few more patrols but managed to make it.

Hunter pulls up his hood.
“Remember the plan. You go to distract Belos, and we find any secrets we can and meet up with you after,” Eda said.

“Yeah I know, be quick,” he said. Belos would be mad at him, so he already had the distraction part covered.

Hunter wandered into the fortress, instinctively avoiding any guards on the way. pulling his hood lower over his face. After trailing the halls he reached the doors, and a stinking feeling entered his gut. Why had he agreed to this? Belos was already mad at him, wouldn’t this just make it worse? What if he found the owl lady was here and knew he’d helped them? What if he found out about last night when he’d not only failed to catch the Owl Lady but had helped her and interacted with her and the human in a friendly manner?

He was snapped out of his spiraling trance by a noise behind him. Realizing he’d frozen mid-garb for the door handle. He must look so weird right now.

Eda, Luz, and King snuck around the side of the emperor's castle, holding invisibility glyphs.

Eda still hoped that they might find Raine while they were here but if they could find more info to help Luz get new magic glyphs she would be content. Once they were clear of any guards they released their invisibility. Eda pulls a piece of paper out of her back pocket flattering it out. “Ok let’s see here,'' there is a roughly drawn map on the paper. “Where are we going, Luz?” Eda asks, squatting down so they are level with one another.

“He said any restricted texts would be here right?” Luz said pointing to a point on the map with a book drawn on it.

“Ok, so we check there first then the other rooms then we go to the meetup spot back here.”

They nod at one another sneaking off.

Hunter hurriedly reaches for the handle entering the room. Belos is standing on the mess of wires setting up the portal door. It might just be him but the room seems even messier than before. Belos also appeared to be not as well kept. His hair is hanging out the back of his mask and he's facing away from the door hands behind his back. Hunter stands still by the door watching him uneasily. The door clips shut, making him jump. He swallows, clearing his throat. He prepared to speak but he just couldn’t form any words.

“Hunter.'' Belos’ voice is surprisingly tame in contrast to the mood in the room. Maybe he was just imagining it.

The library is large and there are guards spread out all over some studying and others working. they sneak around ducking into a corner.
“We can’t hold our breath forever we need disguises,” Eda said

“We can sneak up on some guards and knock them out and steal their clothes. Just like in the movies!” Luz said excitedly.

“Or we could just take these,” King said, pointing to spare guard outfits hanging up on the wall. They must have walked into a changing room.
They grab capes and helmets from the walls and King hides in Eda's hair under her cloak. They pose giggling before they walk out of the room. They begin looking around for books about wild magic attempting to blend in.
“Let's get our study on!” Luz exclaims as they begin looking through books. a guard shushes them and they sneak off.

The three of them walk out of the library with their hands full of books. They grabbed any that looked remotely related to their cause. They had to hide a few of them because they were restricted. They pulled off their disguise when there were no guards in sight.

Eda walked around the corner; she didn't have an invisibility glyph on since they hadn’t seen any guards most of the way here. she freaks out pushing Luz back behind the corner. “Shoot there are a ton of guards down this hall,” Eda takes her mirror out of her pocket dialing GG, but he doesn't answer. “Looks like Golden Boy might have invited some other guests to our party. Sorry Luz,'' Eda said, looking at her sadly. She genuinely felt kinda bad for the kid. The emperor's coven was definitely not a healthy place for someone his age to spend their years.

The guards were patrolling the halls. They had to get out of there now. King hid in Eda's hair and they counted down placing on invisibility glyphs and running for the exit. Finally, they got out of the doors. they took a breath and became visible. Owlbert emerges transforming into its staff form. They hopped onto the staff flying away.

A guard spotted them calling out to the other guards but they were already out of reach. They flew safely back to the Owl House.

Chapter Text

“Hunter, where have you been?” Belos said, there was no clear malice in his voice but that didn’t do much to quash Hunter's nerves. Hunter kneeled “I’m sorry uncle, I was out getting supplies and lost track of time” Hunter mumbled. Belos didn’t seem to pay too much mind to the excuse. “Well you worried me, you are of most importance to the titan, you know that don’t you?”

“Yes of course I’m sorry for disappearing,” Hunter said. He could feel the disappointment radiating off Belos. He desperately didn’t want to make eye contact with him. He felt extremely guilty, not only had he doubted Belos but he'd acted on those doubts. Now the owl lady was roaming around the coven base all because of him. “Don’t worry, I’ll forgive you,” Belos said, looking down at him.

Hunter's eyes widen and he instinctively looks up before snapping his head back. Was there a way Belos could have known what he was thinking just now? No, he must have just been answering his earlier statement.

“At a cost, you’ve always completed your mission on time and in prime condition, up until recently. You don’t seem to be handling your new duties as the head of the emperor's coven. Was I too eager in giving you more responsibility? Perhaps I Shall relieve you from your coven head duties?” Belos said. While it was poised as a question to him it appeared more of a threat.
“Wait uncle, I can handle the responsibility promise. Please trust me I will make up for my shortcomings”

“Very well, I allow you to keep some of your duties, but you must restrict yourself to the coven base in your breaks unless I have been informed and approved of such matters.”

“Thank you Belos, I won’t fail you again.”

“Yes, as you should. The guards will shortly deal with those stowaways who hitched a ride with you, but you should still face repercussions for your careless actions allowing them to sneak in,” Belos said.

This caused his hair to stand on end. He felt disconnected from his body and before he could think better he was backing to the door, a not thought out decision. His hands were hovering behind him in hopes of meeting a door.

Something caught his leg. A wire? But he was too far from the portal.
He didn’t have time to consider what he’d tripped on before he was on the floor, and he wasn’t any closer to the door. Hunter tried to get up but whatever had tripped him was stopping him. He looked down to see what it was. A plant, oh no. This meant… Terra was here.

At first glance, she appeared as a sweet grandmother who may bake you some cookies, but she was more likely to have poisoned them. Just how she poisoned everyone around her. She’d made Raine start acting weird. They would avoid conversations and they went almost everywhere with Terra.

Unable to stand up fully because of the plant around his ankle he leaned forward taking Flapjack out of his cloak and nudging him to the exit. Flapjack protested, but seeing the look on Hunter’s face it hopped to the door.

A mass of vines slithered into the room from the door and it flung open. Terra walked in, hands behind her back and a smile on her face.

Flapjack was caught off guard and hopped into a corner to stay out of sight.

Worried about the palisman, Hunter draws attention away from it by trying to stand up. His leg is still caught by the plant which makes him unbalanced on his feet. The distraction worked, Belos and Terra both directed their attention toward him. Terra tightens the vine around his leg causing him to wince and folds over. reaching down to it.

“Don’t bother, he won't get out of this room” Belo said, stepping down from the platform.

Belos was going to kill him for his treachery. Why had he worked with the human and the owl lady? It's not like he’d really gained anything from it, and now he was going to die all just for a worry that most likely wasn’t real. Belos stepped closer to Hunter, now right behind him. Belos stepped on Hunter's bound leg. Taking out his staff and raising it up.

Crack.

Hunter heard it before he felt it. A sickening pain spread through Hunter's leg. The bone was now most likely broken. Hunter couldn’t tell if Belos had used his staff or his foot to do it, but that wasn’t really the main thing on his mind right now. tears welled in his eyes He clasped his hands over his mouth to prevent a scream. Though maybe if he didn’t someone would have heard and come to his rescue.

“Consider this a reparation for your treachery,” Belos said, leaning down.
Through the stinging pain and general fear, he was feeling Hunter struggle to fight off the dark spots seeping into his vision.

Belos straightens his posture, turning to Terra. Hunter heard them talking but he could only make out the occasional word due to the state he was in. Hunter made an attempt to get up pushing himself up on his arms which shook as he did. The tears in his eyes dripped onto the floor.

He looked up in the direction which Flapjackhad hoped off to. He couldn’t see the little bird which hopefully meant Belos couldn’t either.

He tried to crawl forward but his arms were no match for the combined pain from his leg and everything else from the day. They gave way and he hit the group ground losing consciousness.

Terra glanced in Hunter's direction. He wasn’t going anywhere with his broken leg. “So he failed the loyalty test now he’ll never leave this room again.”
“No. He's not just some expendable guard, he still has a role.”
“Ah, it would be too much of a hassle to replace him, so you want me to 'take care of it',” Terra said, interlacing her fingers in front of her, “but then why break his leg? He’s not going to remember any of this anyway”

“There needs to be a reason for the gap in his memory, and I wouldn’t allow him time off for the common mold”

“Ok then,” she said, waving her hand behind her as she turned to leave the room.
“I'm practically your babysitter now,” she joked, as she exited the room. Now she had another person to watch over.

Chapter Text

“What!? He stayed behind,'' Hooty exclaimed, “and here I thought I was going to have another best friend who was an ex-coven head.”

Eda pushed past him entering the house, It seemed empty.
“Oh by the way those BATs people left. There was a note but unfortunately, it may have accidentally ended up in my stomach, hoot” hooty hooted.

“Oh, well I hope they’re all right,” Eda said. King and Luz followed her inside making themselves comfortable. They didn’t really know what to do now, but they were all just glad to be back.

Hunter sat up shocked. He was in his bed in his room, but he had no memory of how he got there.

”Well glad to see you awake I was starting to get bored of waiting,” Terra said. Oh great, Terra was here she kind of reminded him of a sweet grandmother but- wait this train of thought seemed weirdly familiar.

“Now drink up,” Terra said, holding up a cup of a strange-looking tea to him. “Why would I do that?”

“Emperor's orders he doesn't want you bedridden for too much longer with that leg injury of yours,” Terra said, holding the cup closer to his face. Hunter shuffles himself up with his arms. He took the drink and brought it up to his face. He hesitated but took a sip nonetheless. It tasted weird and gave him a wave of nostalgia. Terra stood up “Well see you later golden guard,” she said, smiling. She walked out of the room, closing the door behind her.

later… (Reaching out, and Them’s the breaks, kid, take place as they do in cannon.)

Luz laid on the couch, her head hanging off the side. She had tried herself out from all the planning she’d been doing. She needed to: help King find his dad, find out what Belos was planning, (and how to stop it), and build a portal home.

Buzz! Eda penstagram chimed, taking Luz's mind off her to-do list. Her trail of thought now lost, she decided to investigate what that buzz was for. Luz gasps falling off the couch. she struggled back on, sitting cross-legged. She couldn’t believe it, Hunter reached out to her hoping it wasn’t just him sending something to the wrong person again. She opened the message.

“Hello human,iF you still lack a way to return home Belos has partiaLly fInished the door to the Part where the portal is,functioning;This is A one time offer we are NOT FRIENDs./”

“Eda! Come quick you’ll never guess who just reached out to me,” Luz said, scrambling off the couch. Eda walked over to her. “Did you steal my Penstagram again?” She said, leaning over to look at what was on the screen. “Oh.”

“If we take the portal it’s a way home, and it stops whatever Belos is planning,” Luz said while typing a reply.
“That sounds great but, are you sure we can trust him? He ditched us last time he said he was going to help us”.
Luz looked down considering this thought. “I mean yeah…” She clicks send looking up from the scroll. “But the day of unity is getting closer and we still don’t have a way to stop whatever Belos is planning. An opportunity was just handed to us so we should at least check it out.”

“I don’t know Luz.”

“I’ll be super careful I promise, please Eda,” Luz said. Eda looked away. She sighed. “Ok fine, but we’ll just check it out. Getting you home is important. If worse comes to worst you need to actually go through the portal this time ok?”

“Ok, I guess that's fair. Thanks, Eda,"Luz said, “but I'm not just going to leave at the slightest sign of danger. I’m not just some weak lost kid. Your like family to me-”
“I know kid, of course,” Eda said, hugging Luz and smiling.

Damn it how had she been so stupid. Luz glares angrily at the wall, though There wasn’t much to see. The Emperor's castle had such a dull exterior.
“Hello human,'' Hunter said, leaning into view. His hands behind his back. “Enjoying your stay? It was very kind of you to drop by, and so close to the day of unity to”
“Why would you do this? You couldn’t have just let this slide and after what we did for you?1”

“After all you did for me? You’ve only ever messed up my mission, which happened to get me in trouble with emperor Belos,” Hunter said, his face right up to the bars of Luz’s cell. He backed away standing up straight. “But it’s fine now that we have you. I shall tell Belos all about what you did, and how you were the reason I was once unable to deliver palismen to him. He will then praise me and forgive me for my past mistakes.”

“Oh yeah and what are you going to tell him about the library incident? You were the one who let us in that time, hah got you-”

“What?”

“Last week you let us take some books from your uncle's secret collection.”

“Oh, I see what you're doing. You’re trying to trick me.” Hunter said, letting out a short laugh.
Luz’s face flashed with confusion “huh?”
“Well it won’t work. I was off duty for all of last month, also If even a single book from my uncles ‘secret’ collection had been touched he would know and so would I. Oh and by the way I had the coven scouts lock the owl lady and that annoying rat in the toughest cells in the castle. Don’t even think about escaping. None of you are leaving until Belos has dealt with you, though once he does the only way you’ll be leaving is on a statue base.”

Belos swung around Surveying his machines. they need to be perfect for the day of unity. He only had one chance for this.
“You’ve forgotten me haven't you? my face, my voice and soon you'll forget my name.” The voice is a raspy echo. Belo’s eyes were fixed on the opposite wall, but he could still see the shadowy figure out of the corner of his eye. “Oh come on, LOOK AT ME! Look at my face, or are you scared I’m-, are you scared that you won’t like what you se-”

The room was silent almost suddenly. In the next second the door creaked open. “Emperor Belos, we have news from the castle.” Kikimora states.
“Let’s hear it,” Belos said, staring down at Kikimora.

“The castle guards found the owl lady and her accomplices and have captured them” Kikimora looks up at him “they came to break into the portal room, just like you said they would.”

“Of course they did, I understand the human mind better than anyone”.

Chapter Text

Eda sat at the back of her cell, hidden in the shadows. The plan was simple: the guard would see the seemingly empty cell, they would panic and immediately check inside. When they did she would knock them out, steal their uniform and run free. It’s just like she’d seen in those cheesy action films. It was perfect.

-Earlier, night time-

Raine had felt their heart drop when they heard that the owl lady had been captured. they'd done everything to keep her safe and out of the way of her plan. Even though it was risky Raine had made up their mind they would save Eda, they had to. If the others were against it they’d do it themself they couldn’t let anything happen to her. They planned on telling the others at their next meeting, which was happening soon.
Oh yeah it’s soon I better get going, after all, we’re meeting outside of the castle today, they thought. Raine gathered up their necessary papers, placing them into a bag. They got out their hidden stash of clothes and put on a more discreet outfit.

Raine walked along the back path to town scanning it as they went. Finally, the scenery begins to shift to that of the night market. Raine entered deeper into the market looking around at the shops and at the same time watching for guards.

They reached the shops which Darius had used as a marker for where they should meet but he was still vague about the exact spot. So Raine began looking around. It was dark so they couldn’t be sure but Raine swore they just saw some very familiar faces and not Darius and Eberwolf.

“Raine!” someone called. OMT it’s the BATs!
“Guys? Oh I’m so glad to see you” Raine said, “but not so loud, don’t want anyone noticing us”. The group nodded. They all leaned in closer together. “How’d you get here?” Raine asked
“We showed them the way,” Darius said, walking over to the group with Eberwolf.
“I heard there was a breakout, guessing that was that you?” Raine said

“No it wasn’t, if I did it, it would have been way more discreet”

“It was Eda” BATs added
“We’re unable to do that since security has increased ever since that breakout,” Darius said “but I am glad we didn’t have to do it and risk blowing our cover, we can thank the owl lady for that”
“Yes we can… um, speaking of the owl lady,” Raine said, preparing themselves to bring the idea up. Before Raine could even voice the idea something unexpected happened Darius started to smile. “I figured you bring that up” he looked over at the others “oh I guess you know what I am going to say then”

“Yep, you’re pretty obvious”

“Well that’s not going to change what I have to do I going to save Eda no matter what you guys say”

“And we figured you’d say that as well. The thing is we’re a team so we’ll help you do it.” Darius answers he looked at Eber wolf before they both agreed on something. “But doing so puts our current plan at risk and puts all the pieces in place for our first idea making the best solution to go with it, that is our compromise.”
“What is this plan?” Amber asked.

“The plan to use the Owl Lady’s curse to stop the day of unity.”

-present time-

A scout walked along following their usual routine while on patrol. Checking for any signs of a break-in, or a break-out around the castle. He was looking over a shadowy corner that he could have sworn he saw some movement in, so he moved closer with cautious steps. Edging closer he stepped into the shadow then, Thwack! He was hit over the head. He fell to the ground knocked out cold.
“Phew, that was a close one, Darius,” Raine says.

Another hooded figure steps out from the shadows the guard was just about to investigate. “Yes, close indeed,” he answered. “Let’s continue on our way, we can't risk any more close calls,” he said, and he began making his way down the hall. Raine followed behind.

The group arrived at the turn leading to the cells and watched. A pair of guards start passing through. Raine was tempted to knock them out with a spell or something, but being this close they didn’t want to take any risks, so they waited. Now the guards were clear of the entrance. Raine slipped in. The BATS had made an advance plan so they knew almost exactly where Eda was being held, and the funny thing was she was said to be unguarded, lucky them. They creeped down the halls searching for the exact cell Eda was in passing by cell after cell that were mostly empty. Where is Eda?

From her spot hidden snugly in the shadows, Eda saw a group pass by her cell. she could have sworn she saw a familiar face when one glanced in.
“Raine?” Eda questioned, instantly regretted calling that. If someone had heard her plan would be ruined. Had she really risked her plan on a desire to see an old friend? Besides the last time, she saw Raine they- well they weren’t exactly happy to see her. There was no way that would work out in her favor.

Then the head poked back around the corner, reaching into their cape and rearranging some glasses which was another point for the Raine theory. Ok so maybe this won’t end horribly Eda thought.
“What is it?” a male voice asks somewhere out of sight. Most likely the other person who was with them.
“Thought I heard someone,” they said.
Well, they sounded like Raine.
“We need to find and free Eda, and then get out of here asap,” the other said.
That’s my name, they’re coming to free me?!
“We don’t have time to check out every random noise you hear”
That other voice seems familiar too…
“I was just looking back. what if we’d missed something?” probably-Raine whisper yells.

Eda can feel her eye twitching. She lets out a hearty laugh, causing Raine to jump. Darius rushes over to them.
“You guys looking for me?” Eda said, stepping to the front of her cell.
“Oh, guess we did miss something,” he said.
“Eda!” Raine said, taking off their hood.
“What are you here for? tips on how to do a break-in? Here’s one: don't start arguing when there might be guards nearby.”
“Well I’m glad your cell wasn’t that heavily guarded then,” Raine said

“Wait isn’t that a bad thing, like- what if this is a trap.”

“Unlikely, most of the guards are contributing to the preparations for the day of unity, and they don’t need you for the day of unity.”

“But we need you to help stop it,” Darius chimes in. He moves forward and uses an abomination arm to open Eda’s cell. Eda hops out of the cell and stretches. “Ok” she stands up straight “what can I do to help?”

“Alright I’ll explain it to you.”

“Wait, before that we need to find King and Luz. Do you know where they are?”
“Yeah we have a vague idea,” Raine said.

“But we don’t have time-”.

“You can tell me the plan on the way there,'' Eda said. Raine and her started heading off down the hall. “Ok fine” Darius groaned, speed walking to catch up with them.

Luz sat there, carefully watching her surroundings waiting for the perfect chance to begin her break out. There was plenty of dust on the floor. she’d use it to draw glyphs but she had to be extra careful and make sure to choose the right one to escape with. She also minimized her movements to not disturb more dust.

“Scouts” the golden guard calls. A pair of scouts entered Luz’s line of sight. They had likely just entered the room. They hurried to him, standing at the ready.
“The emperor has personally requested my presence at the titan's head for the day of unity. So I will be heading out now. You shall be guarding the human until further orders, understood?.”

“Yes sir,” they said in chorus.

“Good. farewell, and enjoy your day of unity,” the Golden Guard said, Spinning on his heel and leaving the room.

When Luz hears the door shut, she breathes a sigh of relief. Scouts are pretty easy to beat.

Ok so now he’s gone I should hurry and get out of here, but which glyph should i use? She thought. A Light glyph wouldn’t do anything so that’s a no, a fire glyph could melt the lock but she’d have to wait for it to cool down. And a plant one wouldn’t do much, so ice was probably the best to use. It could break the lock, and if that doesn't work she could break some off to pick the lock with.

She lifted up her leg and carefully dragged her shoe along the cell floor drawing an ice glyph. She taped it and ice shot up at the lock. cracking it and making a small noise. She froze checking to see if the scouts had noticed but they were busy having a conversation. Luz stood up no longer worried about disturbing the dust. She broke off one of the icicles using it to fully break the lock. She slid open the cell door and stepped out. She then switched into an offensive position ready to attack the scouts.

That was when the scouts noticed her. At the same time, she noticed her glyph notepad sitting on a table not too far away. They panicked and rushed toward her and she ran for the table, snatching the notepad and the nearest writing utensil she could find. She instinct drew an ice glyph throwing it down on the ground. One of the scouts had almost reached her and didn’t have enough time to slow down so they slid on the ice and fell over.

Having time to think, Luz planned out the next glyph drawing a plant one. The next scout had gone around the ice but he’d almost reached Luz. She backed away slightly. When he was within arms reach she activated the glyph. It restrained him.
Now no longer on a time limit, she threw another ice glyph onto the frozen section of the floor. Which encases the first scout. She turns to the scout encased in plants.

“Where is the golden guard going right now?” Luz asked

“Why would I tell you, besides he’s obviously going to the titan's head,” he said.

“No, I mean where in the castle is he headed? It must be somewhere with vehicles.”

“Yeah, down the hall to the left. It's that big open space at the back. That's where all the coven vehicles park.”

“Ok thanks” Luz said, heading to the door. Ready to get out of here.

Eda walked past the cells feeling gloomy. They were nearing the end of the area Raine said the kids were likely kept in, and she still hadn’t found them.

Until she heard an oh so familiar neyh! She perked up instantly. She called over Raine and Darius. She hurried to the source of the sound. There was King locked up in a cage. Eda opened the cage, and King hopped out stretching.
“Eda, I'm glad you’re here. I was worried” King said, as he hopped up on her shoulder snuggling into her hair. Eda smiled sweetly, patting his head.

“Hey! Stop,” someone yelled from far away. Eda turned around to find a scout standing there. They started stomping towards them. King jumped up on her head yelling out and firing a magic blast at them. It hits, knocking the scout out. After that, the others caught up with her and King. Darius tied up the fallen scout and they headed off.

Now they just needed to find Luz.

Chapter Text

Hunter wandered to his vehicle while humming a tune.
Luz trailed behind him, keeping just out of sight. She knew she couldn’t hold her breath for too long, but she had an invisibility glyph just in case. If this were anyone else she wouldn’t have wasted time following along and simply gone to find a way out of the emperor's castle but with everything that happened she had to get to the bottom of this. Why did he not remember their visit to the library? He said he was sick in bed, but how? Luz had seen him with her own eyes, and he didn’t look unwell at all.

Raine wandered through the hall with everyone following closely behind. When they reached the door they listened in. Raine signals that there are two guards inside. They huddle up to discuss what to do.

They decide for a passive approach, Raine will go in just being their coven head self and pretend to be checking on things while the others hide outside waiting for the signal. Raine whistled, pushing off their disguises. They strolled into the room.
When they walked into the room they were greeted by an unexpected scene. One of the scouts was trapped in a cluster of vines and the other was covered with water and trying to free him. They noticed Raine and spun around panicked.
“Ah, coven head Raine. I swear, we were going to report this when I got scout Steve free.” The scout said.

“Oh let me help you,” Raine said, they used their music magic to cut the vines that held him in place.
“Thank you very much,” Steve said, brushing the vines off himself.

“No hassle, are you alright? Uh, sorry I don't believe I know your names,” Raine said.

“Name’s Leo, and that’s Steve. At your service,” Leo said.

“Great. So Leo, what happened?” Raine asked. Steve and Leo stare at each other.

“Uhh, the prisoner escaped” Leo bleated out, looking down shamefully, “but we were just about to go inform you.”

“Oh, That’s ok, well it’s not ok but y’know don’t worry that isn’t the end of the world.” Raine repeiled, while thinking of how to deal with this.

“But we’ll catch her, Raine, I swear.”

“Don’t worry I'll take care of it, you guys can just wait here. Enjoy the rest of your day of unity, bye.”
Raine rushed out of the room. They turned the corner signaling to the others. “She’s not there?!” Eda exclaims, meeting Raine half way. Raine nods. They whispered “But some guards are, so we should keep it down.” leading Eda further from the door. “They said she escaped so she is not in danger.”

“Well then let’s hurry up and find her,” Dauris said.

“Wait!” someone called from the doorway. Everyone's head swiveled. Raine jumps attempting to block the others from view.
“Ah hey scout Steve.”

“It’s ok you don’t have to hide them from me, I'm not going to report you. I just realized we hadn’t told you which way the human went.”

“Wait, you're ok with us helping out wild witches, why?”

“Let’s just say I've been regretting my life choices recently and I've got a better view on things now. At least it all will be for the greater good on the day of unity.” Steve said.
The rebel group all exchanged awkward looks. Eda stepped forward.

“Uh Steve we’ve got some news for you. How about you tell us where Luz went and we’ll tell you the truth about the day of unity.”

“What-”

Luz activated an invisibility glyph. She held her breath as a group of scouts walked past. She tip-toed past them, letting out a sigh of relief when they were out of sight. She could no longer see Hunter but the way ahead was straightforward. She continued walking down the hallway, drawing a new glyph as she did.

She looked out, scanning the area for Hunter. She had hoped to catch up to him in the hallway but no luck, so sneaking onto his ship would provide a perfect chance for them to talk and her to get to the bottom of this.

She arrived at the vehicle bay. The area was vast and open. Majority of the blimps seem to have taken off, making it hard to sneak around. Luz pulled up her hood and armed herself with more glyphs. She activated the invisibility glyph and tiptoes across. Once she reaches the nearest ship she pauses ducking down and taking a breath. She then drew another glyph and repeated the process.
Now near the middle of the bay she looked around for Hunter. She spotted him talking to a scout, while standing halfway on a blimp. She draws up a fourth glyph and prepares to go.

She heard some running footsteps from the entrance. She turned to the entrance spot and two scouts emerging out of it, they seemed familiar and she realized they were the ones guarding her cell. She panicked.

One of them noticed her and began approaching. Before moments later they pause and their gaze shifts elsewhere. Luz realized why. Kikimora was standing to her left. She ducked behind some supply containers, Holding her breath hoping no one would notice her. Then she heard the engine start up and she peeks out looking for a spot to jump to. The scout is still staring right at her but he’s even closer now. Dammit if she gets off he’ll catch her. Lucky Hunter was also taking off, hopefully they were headed in the same direction.

As the Blimp flew off Luz noticed it was slowly getting further away from the one Hunter was on. Oh no. She was way too high up to jump off. She just had to hope wherever this blimp was taking her wasn’t too far from where she needed to go.

“So? Do you see her?”

“No, she’s gone.”
Leo stops Surveying the land, and turns to Steve.
“Ok should we go look for coven head Raine to inform them of our discovery?”

“No, I told them which way she went. They probably saw this by themselves.” Steve says.
Leo nods. And the two of them started walking.
“That was unexpected, you getting all chatty back there. What caused that?” Leo asked.

“I guess I just wanted to branch out more before the day of unity,” Steve said.

“Heh why are you saying it like you're not going to be able to afterwards, uniting with the titan isn’t going to kill you”.
Steve paused and took a deep breath. “Leo, why'd you join the emperor's coven again?”
“Huh? Oh because of my little sister, she’s always been looking up at me and pushing me to achieve greater heights.”

“Alright, does she have a coven sigil?”

“No she’s still at school, Hexside to be precise.”

“Ok come on.” Steve said, taking Leo’s arm and leading them into an empty blimp.

“What? Why?” They asked.
Steve starts up the ship, and it begins its journey. “We’re going to Hexside, it will all make sense when we get there, and if it doesn’t then I’ll explain it to you in excruciating detail.”

After an excruciating ride that felt like forever the transport landed. Luz hopped out the back of it ducking down. huh, this place seemed vaguely familiar. And that voice seems familiar too, ohno it’s Amity’s jerk mom, and Kikimora is still here. This is my worst nightmare, two of the people I hate the most are just a few meters away from me. I have to get out of here! Luz jumped over the fence behind her. She squatted down and tiptoed away. Now to figure a way out of here without being spotted…

Chapter Text

“We’re here,” Steve said.
The blimp landed on the path toward Hexside.
When Steve left the diver area about to exit the blimp he turned around and tapped Leo on the shoulder. “Hey Leo, we're here. Let's go,” he said.
Leo turned around. “Oh yep, sorry dude just got zoned out” Leo replied. Steve led them out, and they started walking toward the school.

Once the school was in sight Leo noticed something. “That’s odd, why are they all gathered outside?” they said to themself.

Both of them reached the crowd. The students and teacher are talking amongst themselves. Leo looked around noticing a group of the emperor’s coven’s blimps flying away from the school, weird…

Steve stopped and the conversation in the crowd died away. They were looking at them.

“More guards, what are you doing here? I thought we scared the rest of you off” Willow said.
“Oh good that means you're safe,” Steve said.

“You won’t be if you don’t back off,” Amity said.

“We mean no harm. I’ve come to help,” Steve explained, taking off his mask. Leo scanned the crowd before their eyes caught it. “Sis!” they called, walking forward and greeting the girl in the background.
“Leo, it's good to see you,” their sister said.

The group watched the two of them talk. “Huh, I guess you're cool then,” someone said.
“But if you’re not here to arrest or put coven sigils on us, then why are you here?” Willow questioned.
“Coven sigils? Arrest?! What the hell!?” Leo exclaimed, turning to face the others. “you’re too young for your sigils, and why in titans name would anyone want to arrest you?!”

“good timing, that’s why I wanted you to come here. I told you it would all make sense.”
“None of this makes sense!” Leo said, moving toward Steve.
“Oh, I'll explain.” he said, pulling Leo off to the side.

“Ok, now that’s dealt with we need to figure out what to do now.” principal bump said to the crowd of students gathered outside Hexside.
“We were barely able to fight off the other scout before what if more come back?” Gus said. whispers spread through the crowd. principal bump sigh putting a hand on his hip. “Wait everyone, there is something we still don’t know, why did they want to put coven sigils on us so bad?” Someone called out into the crowd.
“And we still don’t know what happened to Luz,” Willow said, huddling with Gus and Amity.
“Maybe those scouts can help us,” Amity suggested. Willow called over the scout from where they were talking, and the two of them walked back into the crowd.

“Hey guys, could you explain to us what’s going on?” Gus said.

“Yeah, you owe us an explanation if you want us to trust you.” someone said moving through the crowd toward Steve and Leo. Steve turned to face this new voice. “Steve?!” Matt exclaimed.
“Mattie! Hey,” Steve said, moving forward to ruffle his hair. “How are you, little bro.”

“You have a brother!” Gus gasped.

“Stepbrother,” Matt said. dodging his hand.

“That's great, but Luz is out there somewhere, being hunted by scouts, or stuck in a cell. and I won’t rest until my girlfriend is safe,” Amity said.

“The human, Luz? Oh, she got on a transport that was headed to Blight Manor to pick up additional supplies,” Steve said.

“What!?” Amity yelled.

“Oh that’s not good,” Gus said.

“You have a blimp right?” Amity asked. Leo nodded. “Ok then let’s go!” amity said rushing down the way the scout had come. Leo and Willow followed after her.
“Wait, shouldn’t we make a plan first?” Matt said before Steve grabbed his arm and rushed off after the group.

Hunter arrived at the Titan’s head. He landed his blimp, and as he hopped off he was greeted by some scouts. The scouts had gathered up most wild witches. Hunter was very impressed with how well everything was going. The emperor was sure to be in a good mood. He went up to one of the senior scouts to check on their progress.
A little red cardinal watched from a nearby perch.

Steve landed the blimp and everyone scrambled out. The group gathered together and began sneaking around back; they had to find Luz before any coven scouts or even worse Odalia.

Amity leads the group as they head around to the back of the Blight manor. They checked that there were no scouts nearby before huddling together
“So do you guys actually have a plan or what?” Matt asked.
“Well we just got to find Luz. nothing complicated,” Willow said, shrugging.
“Yeah we should split up to cover more ground, but we’ll need disguises so one illusionist in each group,”

“Leo and I don’t really need disguises,” steve said, “so we could be a group,”

“Ok that works, let’s get going”
They agreed on the groups and split off in different directions.

Hunter moved on from his conversation heading to the imposing ivory doors. Hunter knocked on the door, standing confidently.

The doors slid open, revealing Belos standing with his staff in hand. Hunter stepped into the room.
“Hunter, welcome,”

“Uncle everything is running smoothly, we should be ready to unite with the titan in no time. What was it that you needed me for?”
Belos moved to a table at the side of the room, placing down his staff and cape revealing a blue jacket underneath.
“I wanted to share some news with you.”
He pulled his hair back putting it into a ponytail.
“I’ve finally figured out a way to cure my curse, permanently.” Belos turned towards Hunter with a satisfied look on his face.

“That's great, what can I do to help?” Hunter said.
Belos turned away again, walking further back into the room.
“Not to worry, I've already completed the first half of the spell.” Hunter followed behind him. “Now all I need is a power source,”

“I’ll get to work find that right-”
Belos spun around suddenly, looking down at him.
“Ah. No need, it is already here.”

“Oh. So then, what did you need me for?”
Belos looked back up, letting out a short laugh. The door clicked shut.

Amity’s group searched around the manor avoiding any scouts when possible. The group were sneaking around another corner when Amity paused, signaling for the others to do the same. “I can see something, it doesn’t look like a scout.” She informed the others.

Gus took the lead, applying an illusion to make himself blend in with the scenery. He creeped close to the figure who was also sneaking around. Despite the figure being somewhat concealed Gus was pretty sure it was Luz. Gus took a good look around himself checking if there were any scouts, or Abomatons.

“Luz?” He called. The figure jumped slightly, before turning to face him. Luz’s face shifted immediately before calming. “Gus, what are you doing here?”
“We’re looking for you,” He answers.

“We?” Luz questioned, looking around and spotting Willow and Amity. Hurriedly Luz went to them. The group exchanged greetings. Amity pulled Luz closer to her but Luz pulled back, clearly in a rush.
“We should get out of here, it's not safe,” Luz warned.
Willow hummed in agreement.
“Wait! Ed and Em, they’re still here we should get them out,”

“That’s smart- uh how are we getting out of here?”

“We have a blimp,” Gus clarified.

“Thanks, you guys wouldn’t mind if I just head there. I can’t bear to spend another minute here.”

“oh, if that’s what you want.” Amity said, smiling. “See you soon.”

Luz snuck away, heading for the one place she knew would guarantee a way out of there. She reached the back of the manor, and spotted the blimp Amity had mentioned. She sprinted the last few meters basically crashing into the steering wheel. she activated the blimp and began flying off.

Amity heard the starting of the blimp’s engine and rushed towards it calling out for her. But Luz looked away “I’m sorry amity. This will keep you safe, all of you.” Luz called out. Gus and Willow reached Amity and the three of them watched her leave in shock.

“Hey Hexside kids!” Leo said, emerging from inside Blight manor. “We checked all throughout the manor and we couldn’t find her. Did you guys?”

“Yeah we did,”

“That’s good, but uh where is she?”

“She took the blimp,” Amity scrunched up her shirt in her hands, “she left to go ‘save the day,’ alone!”
The others paused, shocked. Before Steve finally broke the silence. “There are some blimps out front and they are guarded by very few scouts. I’m sure we could take ‘em. So let’s go help her save the day!”

Eda, King, and the BATS, arrived at the titans head. Eda took in a deep breath, sighing. Raine placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. “We’ve got this,” Raine smiled, “and once we’ve stopped the Day of Unity we’ll go get your kids.”
“Thank you Raine,” Eda said, laying her head on their hand.

Darius, Eberwolf, Raine and Eda hopped off the blimp, leaving the others behind as back up. They snuck through the crowd, heading for the center podium. Once they reached the entrance Raine stopped. “You guys should go ahead. We don’t want to risk anyone spotting two Raines. I’ll wait down here,” they suggested.
“Are you sure? Will you be alright?” Eda asked.

“Yes,” they move closer to Eda, “I promise. The plan will succeed and we’ll be fine.” Raine smiled reassuringly. *Kisskiss*?.
Eda turned away blushing. Her and the others headed up to the ceremony location, as she activated the illusion gem.

Hunter backed away from Belos, voice wavering as he spoke. “What do you mean?”
Hunter stumbled, landing on the floor. Belos paused in his approach, transforming his arm into a goo blade. “Wait, I haven’t done anything wrong! and everything is going well. please,” Hunter begged.

“I suppose. It’s a shame, after all you were the most loyal .”

Luz weaved through the crowd. She was tunnel visioning on the titans head, where the scout from earlier had told her he would be. She had spotted the blimp Hunter had taken when he left confirming he was here. Belos was likely with him. As scary as he was, Luz was determined to stop him and protect everyone, even Hunter.

Hunter jumped up and bolted past Belos. He swung his blade at Hunter as he passed. Hunter didn’t even try the door; he had a feeling that it wouldn't work.

Belos sauntered after him, bored, like he had done this hundreds of times. Hunter would’ve taken a moment to be glad about that if he wasn’t currently running for his life. Once Hunter was out of Belos’ sight he ducked behind some of the pillars. He peeked around the pillar trying to figure out a way out. Hunter's eyes landed on the staff Belos had put down. It was balanced on a table near the door.

The cracking noise, made by Belos' cursed limbs, alerted Hunter to the blade heading his way. Hunter leaped back as the pillar he just was hiding behind was cracked in half.

Knowing Belos would need time to recover He sprinted for the table . Hunter reached for the staff as he was approaching the table. Hunter grabbed the staff, turning around to cast a spell. He felt a sudden pain in his side as he was knocked into the table. Belos had skipped retracing his arm and had swung it at him.

Hunter screamed. Having already dropped the staff he grabbed at his side where the injury was. Blood began to seep out of the gash despite the pressure he was putting on it.

Belos' shoes clicked on the ground as he walked over. Hunter flinched back. “Please,” Hunter mumbled. Belos loomed over He with an unamused look on his face. Belos looked towards the door. “Hm the moon is almost in place,” Belos said to himself, before grabbing his staff and cape and teleporting out of the room.

Hunter gasped, looking around the room. Belos had actually left, he must have thought he was too injured to get away. He scanned the area for anything that could be used to stop the bleeding. He remembered he was still wearing his cape, it would have to do. He began to tug it off his shoulders, each movement causing a new wave of pain to surge through him. Finally, he pulled it around to him. He took a deep breath and looked down at his wound. It was green, vibrant green. He bled before and he’d seen plenty of witches bleed but none of it was green.

In his brief moment of panic Hunter had almost forgotten he was bleeding out. Hunter ripped off part of the cape and tied it around his side. Hunter sat up, wincing as he did. He wasn’t sure what he could do now he was confused, in pain, and he had a headache.

In the next moment he heard a call of a bird from nearby. He looked around spotting a little red bird, a cardinal, that seemed so familiar. “Flapjack?” he asked. The bird replied and instantly its tweets and chirps made sense.

Hunter was hit with a sudden wave of nostalgia. Hunter began to cry, overwhelmed by his emotions and all the memories returning to him. Flapjack hopped up onto his leg chirping kindly. “Flapjack, I’m sorry,” Hunter said. Flapjack moved closer nuzzling against him, as he did he began to slowly glow gold. Thank you Hunter, he chirped.

Belos appeared in the centre of the tower. All of the coven heads were in order, from construction, abomination, bard, beast, illusions, plant, oracle, healing, and potions. He scraped out the spell symbols on the ground. He stands there watching as the moon reaches its eclipse, and the spell begins. As the magic begins draining upwards Belos starts to leave. The spell begins to slow the glowing lines of magic begin to grey. Belos looks around for the source of this issue. “Is something wrong, Emperor Belos?” Terra asks, taking a step out of her circle.

“No, stay put I’ll be right back,” he demanded, turning and walking down the stairs.

Eda, disguised as Raine, snuck a side eye at Darius, and they exchanged a look. Darius dropped a bloop of abomination goop onto the floor and it slid down the side of the tower.

The spell finally fizzled out and at the signal Dauris jumps from his spot using some abomination goo to secure Vitimir, the potion coven head. Following his lead Eda and Ederwolf both jumped into action. Eberwolf jumped on Adrian summoning beasts to assist him.

Eda ran forward to restrain Terra, but despite her quick speeds Terra was already ready for her. Terra summoned up a cluster of vines to grab her. Eda dodged it, throwing an ice glyph at Terra which was blocked by more vines. Eda ducked away again, getting an idea. She pulled out a new glyph holding it close to her side. Terra grabs Eda, and she feigns a dodge getting snatched up by them. Terra dragged her close to her. “I should’ve known,” Terra said, crushing the illusion charm Eda was using.

Eda smirked and activated the fire glyph burning up the vines and searing the side of Terra’s hair. “You should’ve,”

Eda was then able to trap her with an ice glyph.

After the three of them had secured all the coven heads they deemed a threat, the remaining coven heads backed down immediately. They agreed to hear the three of them out so Dauris explained the true purpose of the day of unity, that it was made to drain their magic.

Afterwards the oracle coven head Osran confirmed their story, stating “I had foreseen this would occur, and that it was in my best interest to allow the events to unfold undisturbed.”

The statement left everyone shocked but helped convince the remaining coven heads. Terra, Adrian, and Vitimir dismissed the statement claiming that they didn’t care and didn’t believe the others. This made Eda extra glad they had planned to restrain them.

The group huddled together out of earshot of the coven heads. “We need to find and arrest Belos and we also need to find some way to convince the rest of the general public of Belos’ true intentions,” Dauris stated.

Eberwolf nods. Eda adds “I’m sure once Belos is out of the way everyone will believe us I mean the main reason there doing what he says is out of fear,”

“That may be true for the witches you know but many are deeply loyal to him. They believe in his vision and may continue to hold up the system. Terra and the others are an example of that,”

Eda paused, she just wanted this whole thing to be over with quickly so she could make sure Luz was safe. “Yeah, I guess so but remember what Osran said? He foresaw this. He could show the people the truth. They all know oracle magic can't be tampered with,”

“Huh you’ve got a point. Let's see if we can get him to help us. But first let’s deal with Belos,”

Raine, now standing with the rest of the CATs, looked up on the center podium as the flow of magic faded. “Is that it?” King asked, hoping up on the balustrade near them. “Yeah, they’ve stopped the spell. We still need to help everyone to find out the truth about Belos and his schemes.”

The crowd of witches began muttering amongst themselves confused as to what was happening. Since Raine could no longer feel the strain on their system and the pain radiating from their coven sgyil they assumed the other witches could too.

As Raine looked out into the crowd they caught sight of a purple blob crawling closer. Raine stepped out of the blimp meeting the blob half way and picking it up. It transformed into a mini abomination and communicated to Raine a summary of the events that had occurred.

“What’s that?” Katya asked, as she and the others walked up to Raine.
“A message from Dauris. He said they managed to secure the uncooperative coven heads and they convinced the others that Belos is bad.” Raine looked back down as the abomination waved its paw up at them. “Oh, it’s telling us to follow it. Let’s go CATs,”

The Cats rushed through the crowd led by the abomination.

“Hunter?! You’re bleeding,” Luz said, sounding horrified. She moved out of the doorway.

Hunter panicked, turning away from her. “Stay back Luz,” he didn’t want her to see the blood.

Luz padded towards him. “I appreciate your concern Hunter but it’s fine. I’ve seen blood before, my mum is a vet,”

Hunter was confused. Luz hadn’t seemed to notice the green color of the blood. Maybe humans bled that color?

Hunter pressed down on his wound with more force, as he felt more blood leaking out. He sneaks a quick look at it. Red! It was red, normal red blood. He’d never been so relieved at the sight of blood before. “I’m ok,” he said, trying to push himself up.