Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It was midnight over in the Boiling Isles. The sky was calm, the so-called birds were...making some kind of noise, and not a coven guard in sight. At last, the demon realm was free from oppression, free to do whatever they wanted without government intervention.

However, one group of teenagers decided to do something else this very night. Visit a local graveyard where their mother rests peacefully. With a beautiful gravestone stating that she was a ‘beloved mother’ and ‘business partner.’ The teens walked closer to get a better view of her grave.

“Can’t believe it’s been a year since Mother died.” The youngest one spoke. Their siblings nobbed at their observation. What followed was silence for about a minute until-

BANG

It turns out that those very teenagers are the Blight siblings. Celebrating their independence from the abuse they suffer through their mother, Odalia. They cheered at the sight of the destruction of her grave. Shouting all sorts of profanity against her before they stop to do the iconic photo of throwing peace signs while squatting against a gravestone. After the flash from the phone, the guards of the graveyard shouted at them. The Blights then start to run away from the guards, throwing all sorts of obstacles and illusions against them to no avail.

Emira and Edric were quick to climb the fence that they went through before; however, Amity struggled, giving the guards a chance to get at least one of the siblings. As one of the guards tried to pull Amity down, she kicked them right in the nose before Ed and Em helped her up. When jumping off the fence, another guard tries to go after them until being stopped.

“Forget it. It’s the Blights.” They said once they stopped. Leaving the siblings running wild as they celebrate their daring escape. What followed was a quick montage of the Blights’ ventures of exploring what they couldn’t on a larger scale, exploring the demon realm and now the human realm. Taking Amity on joy rides across a mall in a shopping cart, attempting to do new things like skateboarding with Luz and Hunter, and moving all of Odalia's stuff away from the Blight Manor to totally not burn them or sell them. And that’s not even mentioning helping rebuild the Owl House.

Once they were done constructing the interior of the building, they all sat on the barely built roof. The family watched the sunset as they drank and ate snacks. Telling each other tells and catching up with what’s been going on. The only one not contributing to the conversation was Emira. She watched the conversation from the sidelines as she embraced the heat from the sun. Closing her eyes to rest them as the chatter and laughter continue.

“Ugh….” Emira groans, waking up from her nap. Her view was still blurry as her slumber was disturbed by a pack of seagulls.

[Where am I?...]

Emira looked around to see that she was resting under an umbrella. With a blanket covering her back from the sand. Moving the umbrella away reveals the view of the waves crashing against the ground with people of all ages doing all kinds of activities in the water. 

[Oh right, we’re on vacation in Los Angeles. Seems like yesterday, I was just sitting on the rooftop of the Owl House admiring the sunset like I was some kind of Kingdom Hearts character. Well, then again, maybe those memories playing inside my dreams helped. Ugh, I should really stop talking to myself inside my head and start looking for everyone.]

Emira continued to talk to herself in her head. The search for her friends ended before it began as a beach ball bounced against her head. Before she could yell at whoever threw it at her, she saw Luz running towards her, ready to apologize.

“Sorry, Emira! Looks like you’re up earlier than expected!” Luz said, grabbing the ball to launch back to Amity, who were up against Hunter and Edric at their homemade volleyball court that they set up with their palismans spectating the match. 

“I would’ve slept for longer if it weren’t for those damn birds….” Emira said, showing her annoyance at the rats of the skies always making constant noise and trying to steal food.

“Hey, I’ll have you know that birds have saved mankind several times!” Luz was quick to defend.

“Since when?”

“World War 1!” Luz shouted.

“Hey! Less talking and more losing to us, Luz!” Edric yelled out, wanting to get back to the game so that he and Hunter could easily win. Amity, using a spell, sank him to his torso in the sand. Similar to what happened to him at the Knee.

“Well, I better go before Edric passes out. See ya, Emira! You’re welcome to watch us play with Stringbean and Ghost!” Luz waved to Emira. She waved back, seeing Luz immediately launching the ball in the air, which hit Hunter, who was digging Edric up. Em giggled at the sight before setting her eyes on the ocean.

[Ah, never change Luz, never change. But I do have you to blame for making me obsess with The Disastrous Life of Saiki K available to stream on Netflix #notsponsored]

(Seriously, who would sponsor a fanfic writer?)

[Luz may have changed all of us for the better, but thanks to her I've become so hyper-obsessive with Saiki K to the point of copying him to a certain extent. God- I mean Titan….]

She saw that Willow and Gus were in the ocean, enjoying the cold feeling that the water gave in contrast to the Californian heat they were new to while Clover and Emmiline rest on their shoulder. Meanwhile, Eda and Camila were just heading back to where Emira was resting, taking notice that the oldest Blight sibling was up from her nap.

“So much for a 30-minute nap, huh?” Eda smirked at her remark made on the jaded Blight.

“Again would’ve slept much more if it weren’t for them,” Emira repeated, pointing out the same seagulls behind her.

“Really? Some bird noises wake you up? I can sleep through those without a sweat.”

“She’s right, you know? She can truly sleep through pretty much everything,” Camila interjects herself into the conversation. “Remember when you slept through Hunter’s rage over a game?” Camila continues.

“Oh yeah! Ahh, what woke me up was the sound of the controller hitting the floor...which I then promptly beat his ass for.” Eda reminisces about the memory that she held dearly.

“Wait, did you really?!” Emira asked. 

“Have you seen Hunter rage during a gaming session since?”

“No…?”

“I guess that answers your question!” Eda’s response somewhat concerned the Blight, causing her to look at the ‘viewer’ as if she was in an episode of The Office.

“What are you looking at?” Camila asked, looking in the same direction as Emira was looking.

“Nothing! Uh...hey there’s a book that I have yet to finish!” Emira quickly deflected as she ran back to her resting spot to pick up a book that tells the tales of people climbing Mount Everest. The couple looked at each other, confused at her behavior but shrugged it off as something she picked up from watching one of her shows.

[Titan, they’re gonna think I’m a nerd...]

“You’re seriously gonna read a book while at the beach? Might as well stay with Vee and Raine back at the hotel!” Eda said, laying over her head to see where Emira was in the book.

“Eh, there’s only so much noise from constant traffic and police sirens I can consider to be interesting background noise. Besides, I like the view and sounds of the ocean.” Emira said while starting to legitimately read the book she held.

“When did you get all sappy and appreciative of the outdoors?” Eda asked.

“Hanging out with your adoptive daughter does a lot to a person.”

“Yeah, I figured! After all, didn’t she introduce you to your first anime that you’re so obsessed with? Saiki K was it?” Eda asked, giving Emira a devilish smirk as she blushed.

“I’m not obsessed with it!” 

“Your shrine to Saiki says otherwise.” Eda laughs as she pulls out a photo that Amity took of Emira’s shelf as she was being pushed away. In the middle was a picture of Saiki K that was surrounded by merchandise of him. Emira’s face turned full-on bright red, growling at Eda.

“I swear I’ll make Ams pay….”

“It's not her fault that you get everything from Saiki.” Eda made one last remark against the oldest Blight whose entire face turned into one bright tomato head. Mumbling curses against Eda and Amity under her breath. 

[Just because I like talking to myself in my head doesn’t mean I’m some kind of basement dweller! This is what I get for consistently winning any sort of batter against Ed and Am.]

At first, she returns to reading the following paragraph in her book. However, her existential thoughts soon return.

[Never in a million years I would feel...oddly calm yet bored at the same time. It might be a side effect of getting everything you wanted. I have the freedom and money to do anything, really, so what now? I mean, taking care of Edric and Amity is something, but once they’re all grown up, what shall I do then?...]

As Emira continues reading her book, someone with a loudspeaker comes in to play 2Pac's California Love, providing perfect narration for Emira's head.

[Welcome to the supposed City of Angels, Los Angeles. Containing all sorts of weird shit like washed-up egotistical Hollywood actors, wannabe celebrity dipshit YouTubers, pigs at every corner waiting for someone like me to fuck up slightly, and a scary amount of homeless animators looking for work in the industry. But hey, if you ignored the dirty and at times broken streets, the skyline is pretty to look at. Despite this though, Camila and Eda wanted to come here since it seems like a cool place to go to for a vacation. I wasn't about to argue about it, considering how tired I was from rebuilding the Boiling Isles, even with help from this NATO group. Never really understood what that group is about, even with an explanation from Casey... Uh, got off-topic for a bit. Where was I? Oh yeah, I didn't want to be a huge downer about the place so I didn't say anything besides offering to pay for the trip. Camila tried to protest it, but Raine and Eda managed to convince her that it was for the best. And here we are...in LA...in not the best conditions in terms of my mental health...]

Emira walked the hallways of a mall that she could barely remember the name of. Even when she was just looking out of the window, she couldn’t remember a thing. Everything up until then was utterly blank. Despite Emira’s behavior, everyone else was enjoying themselves. Luz, Amity, and Edric went off to a store selling all types of merchandise based on popular shows that interested the three nerds. Willow and Gus joined Eda and Camila in admiring all the kinds of clothing.

However, the eldest Blight just wandered around the vast shopping area. Not knowing what to do, just walking until something, anything, catches her interest. Well, then again, that shop the nerds went to is of interest to Emira, but for some reason, she just didn’t follow them.

[What’s wrong with me? I should be enjoying this vacation instead of feeling so...empty. Why do I even feel like this? Ugh. I hate myself…]

More walking led her to a map of the mall’s layout, showing key stores within. Emira stopped to look at it in hopes of finding something for her. However, loud whispering distracted her from properly looking at the map. The whispers get louder and louder as panic ensues in their voice.

[Better help so I can read these small ass words in peace.]

“Can I help you- '' Emira asked, annoyed at the constant noise the person made but stopped mid-sentence as she saw the person she was speaking to. A witch with brunette hair tied into a ponytail, wearing a white t-shirt with brown, orange, and yellow lines and torn shorts all the while a hook hung inside one of her ears. Emira couldn’t help but feel like she had seen this person before.

[This witch...have I seen them before?]

“Do I have something on my face?” The girl asked, noticing Emira had been staring at her for too long.

“Yeah, confusion,” Emira smirked at the witch, who in return gave a tsk in response.

“Well, it’s not my fault they make this building fucking gigantic! All I wanted was to find that pet store with all the cool toys!” The hook ear groans.

“You do know you can just go to any pet shop to get one, right?” Emira questioned her, which made the girl frustrated.

“Does it have toys based on mythical creatures that are similar to the demon realm?!” The girl practically yelled, leaving Emira stunned by her reaction and lack of knowledge of what she desired. “That’s what I thought!” The witch then turned away from Emira, crossing her arms. A moment of silence fell on the two witches. All the while, chatter and sounds of escalators were heard in the background. 

“So..erm...haven’t I seen you before?” 

“Huh?” The girl looked at Emira, and her eyes widened, realizing who she was talking to. “Emira Blight?! Didn’t expect a wealthy elite such as yourself to be here in the human realm. Nonetheless, a mall full of common people!” She said, confusing the Blight.

“How do you know me personally...um?” Emira signaled for a name to call this girl.

“Viney.” The healer responded.

“Viney? Ah, now I remember you helped Luz save Hexside and help me heal my idiot brother.” Emira remembered. Adding the term ‘commoner’ to add more fire to the flame to annoy Viney in return for her assumption nature of thinking Emira sees everyone as lower beings compare to her.

“Oh wow, ‘commoner.’ What a lovely way to repay me for taking my time and effort to heal your brother!" Viney sarcastically said. "Besides, what makes you think I’m poor?”

“Well, for a start, your ripped shorts.”

“It’s called fashion. Something you wouldn’t be familiar with.” Viney said before turning to walk away. Emira was confused before she remembered that all she was wearing are sweatpants and a light blue graphic t-shirt that featured the cast of Saiki K. She went to chase after Viney to continue the roast match.

“Then what makes you think you could afford anything here?” Emira remarked against Viney’s wallet, making her groan in annoyance. She was walking backward, trying to keep up with the healer.

“At least I’m smart enough to know to look where I am going.” Viney avoided eye contact with the Blight next to her, but her manticore palisman did hiss at her. Looks like even looking at Emira gets through Viney and her palisman's skin.

“Hey! I practically have eyes behind my back since I have a good sense of awareness of what’s behind me!”

“Oh really?” Viney smirked, locking eyes with Emira. This caught her off guard. For the first time, she noticed how attractive Viney was this close to her face. Before Emira’s cheeks could bloom red, she fell into a water fountain. Screaming a short ‘oh shit’ before sinking into the water. 

Emira arose from the fountain to see Viney and her palisman laughing their asses off. Emira grunts at her as Viney gives her a shit-eating grin spread across each end of her cheekbones. She walked away, still chuckling on her way. Not giving Emira a chance to cover up her mistake.

“Emira?!” Someone said off in the distance. Emira turned to see Luz running towards her.

“Why are you in a water fountain?” Luz reached out to her, helping her get out as Stringbean hovered between the two of them.

“It’s a long story with this...Viney person.”

“Viney?! Like the Viney?!” Luz pulls Emira close to shake the answer out of her.

“Yeah, I just saw her! Now please stop shaking me!” Emira begged. At the last second, Luz let go of her, mid-shaking, having Emira fall back to the water fountain. She quickly got up to say something to Luz. However, she was already running to look for Viney. Leaving Emira behind in the now boiling waters thanks to her anger from the situation and seeing Stringbean seemingly laugh at her.

“Em, why are you there?” Amity asked, suddenly appearing to the scene.

“I don’t know?! Just ask your girlfriend!”

“What!? You two didn’t get along?!” Luz said in complete shock. “I thought for sure that you two would become instant friends!” She continued.

It has been some time since the incident between Viney and Emira. After being told what happened between the two, Luz legitimately felt disappointed. She always thought that Viney and Emira would get along perfectly well with their cool and rebellious attitude. However, sadly, for now, Viney doesn’t have a good impression of Emira.

“Well, sadly for you, we are far from becoming friends.” Emira crossed her arms, dreading her recall account with the healer witch.

“Unless.~” Luz raised her eyebrows, winking at Emira. Clearing already pre-planning a way to get the two to become… ‘friends.’

“No, Luz, no. Don’t you dare start thinking about it,” Emira immediately tried to stop a millisecond of Luz’s trail of thought.

“Come on pleaseeeeee!” Luz begged Emira.

“I said no. Besides, I don’t want to bother your Viney friend.”

“Oh, come on, sis! It wouldn’t hurt to have another friend! Or better yet, a girlfriend.~” Edric appeared on Emira’s shoulder, aiding in Luz’s quest to have the two befriend one another.

“Oh, haha, very funny, Ed,” Emira said in a deadpan tone while fake laughing, pushing Edric off of her shoulder.

“What’s the matter? Too scared to get a girlfriend?” Luz teased, trying to place herself on Emira’s shoulder, but sadly she has yet to get the height for it.

“You two are the worst….” Emira sighed while the two laughed at her. 

[It’s not like that I want one, I just doubt it would be Viney of all people. What’s up with her anyway. I may have been the one that made her even madder than before, but still. What’s her problem?]

Chapter Text

“OH, YOU GUYSSSSS!” Luz burst into the room. Waking the blights up from their slumber.

“Did you seriously need to wake us up this early, Luz?...” Edric questioned, rubbing his eyes.

“Your dreams can wait another day. Right now, I have some very important information that I need to share with everyone here!” Luz then noticed that somehow, the eldest Blight was still peacefully asleep. Snoring as she held her blanket closely like a plushie. 

“Awwww, Emira looks so peaceful….WAKE UP!” Luz suddenly shoved Emira off the bed. She turned to see if Amity and Edric were already laughing but instead, she saw the two huddled together in fear. Luz was confused at first, but then she heard the growls of the beast behind her.

“For your information Luz Noceda, I have been up all night due to my existential dread keeping me up all night. Once I finally slept, I had a horrible nightmare that I don’t want to go into full detail about right now, causing me to wake up only to be in sleep paralysis. Then when I legitimately had a good night’s sleep, dreaming about the stars, YOU had to show up.”

Luz is full of terror at the sight of Emira being so full of rage, something she hasn’t seen ever in her years of knowing Emira. She joined the Blights as they whimpered uncontrollably. Helplessly watching Emira get closer and closer to them.

“And for what? For me to hear your plan to befriend Viney despite me NOT wanting to do that out of respect for her space? I’m going to fuCKING KILL YOU!” Emira lunged at Luz; however, both Amity and Edric ran with her in their arms. They screamed across the halls as Emira growled, dragged across Edrick’s sword created by her illusion magic against the walls.

“So...it didn’t revolve around Viney?”

“That’s right….” Both Luz and Emira stood in the Blights room, with scars across their skin. “I just...wanted to take you somewhere….” Luz continued still deadpan with her eyes widening alongside Emira. “But thanks to you, I now know to never get to Eda’s very, very bad side.”

“Y-You’re welcome….” Emira then started shaking in fear, remembering the beatdown between her and Eda. And by beatdown, I mean her total annihilation. “Just...make sure to never do anything to make Eda this angry….”

“Of course…I promised.” Luz replied. However, given that this is the Noceda family, this promise will soon be broken.

“Andddddd we are here! The Queen Mary!” Luz called out, pointing at the large ship to catch the group’s attention.

“A…boat?” Emira questioned.

“It’s a ship, Em.” Amity corrected.

“A haunted ship!” Hunter chimed in. However, he soon got elbowed away from Amity.

“Wait, this so-called ship is haunted?!” Edric’s eyes widen as he dreams of becoming a ghost hunter from his favorite web series.

“Since when were you into ghosts Ed?” Emira asked.

“Ever since Luz introduced me to one of my favorite web series! I always wanted to channel demons and spirits like those guys!” 

[But all they do is just sit in a dark room and ‘talk’ with a ghost. I won’t say it to his face though, it’s good to see him finally have an obsession with something. I'm just moody since I would rather go to the aquarium that we passed by. I was interested in seeing the sea life but I guess that will have to wait for another day.]

“Ok, you guys, so here's the deal: my parents have allowed us to stay here overnight in search of ghosts as long as Emira is here!”

[I wondered how she managed to convince all of them. Eda would, of course, would say yeah but Camila and Raine are very cautious about anything, especially if Camila’s experience with ghosts is to be believed.]

“W-Wait are we seriously gonna stay here overnight?!” Vee scarily asked, gripping and hiding behind Hunter’s arm. “I didn’t sign up to be a ghost hunter!” They continued. However, Edric pulled her out of Hunter’s space, wrapping his arm around her.

“Don't worry your pretty little face, Vee, I’ll protect you!”

“Edric, if anything you’re the one that needs to be protected the most,” Hunter mentioned. 

“No, I don’t! I’m perfectly capable of taking care of myself!” Edric was quick to defend himself, crossing his arms.

“Just now this morning you were about to eat pancakes, Edric.” Amity reminded her but didn’t get to Edric’s head.

“Ok and?!”

“You’re allergic to dairy Edric.”

“But those pancakes looked so good!” Edric gives puppy eyes to both Emira and Amity, whining like a dog to gain at least a little sympathy from his sisters to no avail.

“Don’t worry bro. I know your pain too well….” Luz came in clutch, patting his back to ease his sadness.

“Are we just gonna stand here or…” Hunter reminded that he, alongside Willow and Gus, were brought to the trip, eagerly anticipating their ghost-hunting journey.

“Right! Sorry about that… so here’s the plan! Emira, if you so please~”

“If I have to.” Emira cast an illusion spell which made an animated drawing board that shows in great detail Luz’s plan of hunting the spirits that rest in the historic ship.

“Since this ship is huge we will have to split into groups of 2! Gus with Edric, Amity with Willow, Hunter with Vee, and finally me with Emira. Each one of us will go to different areas of the ships at night to call out any spirits nearby using the equipment I got!”

[Since when did Luz get them? I seriously need to check my bank account more often…]

“Me and Emira will search the hotel area of the ship. Amity and Willow, you two will be outside looking around the deck. Gus and Edric will be in the isolation room. Finally, Vee and Hunter will stay in our room to act as our HQ!” 

[Me and Luz together? I’m sure Amity is going to pick up on it in 3, 2, 1-]

“Just wait for a second, why is Emira with you?” Amity asked, with watery puppy eyes as she pressed both of her index fingers together.

“Aww don’t worry Amity! I just wanted to make sure that we both were in the protective hands of Emira and Willow! Especially when you slightly hurted your baby little fingers!” Luz babied Amity, rubbing her hands to comfort her slight pain.

"Hurted isn't a word, Luz." Willow corrected her friend

"Shut up Willow! Can't you see I'm trying to help my precious little batata!"

( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vBVGjFdwk4 )

“Oh Luz, you’re always so protective over me, honey bun!”

( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vBVGjFdwk4 )

“No problem sugar plum!~”

( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vBVGjFdwk4 )

“Goodness gracious, my wonderful beautiful awesome amazing girlfriend. You always know what to say!~”

( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vBVGjFdwk4 )

( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vBVGjFdwk4 )

( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vBVGjFdwk4 )

( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vBVGjFdwk4 )

[Kill me please God.]

After much time of nicknames being thrown around between Luz and Amity, the group managed to stay alive through the whole thing to board the Queen Mary. Everyone was in awe at the ship’s decor. It seems like everyone was transported back to the roaring 1920s. It even impressed Emira despite still feeling empty and lost. As they traveled to their room, classical music played, soothing to the ears.

[You know, I’m starting to dig into this era of humanity. The music, the atmosphere, and even the dirty looks that people give me even after a century of progression! Wait wh-]

“HUH?! Emira, you didn’t tell me that we got B340 as our room!” Luz gleed at the sight of the room number, confusing all but Edric and Gus who all exploded with joy.

“What’s so special about this room? Is there some kind of history for it?” Emira asked, thinking of all the possible events that happened in the room. A murder? Suicide? A bloody demonic ritual that cursed the entire ship?

“In 1948, someone died!” Edric and Gus shouted, both wasting no time just standing outside. 

[Didn't expect to see someone’s death be celebrated today]

“Really just…someone died?” Willow was disappointed, expecting some granter story involving demons, cults, and other traumatic events if the room is this well-known to ghost experts.

“But no one knows how they died! Reports say that the spirit takes sheets off the beds and leaves the lights and sink turned onnnnnn.” Luz made noises mocking typical ghosts heard in cartoons for dramatic effect but had none against anyone besides Vee. 

“A-Are we seriously gonna sleep in a haunted room?” Vee begins to fidget around, panicking as she grips tightly to Hunter’s arm.

“The worst this ghost can do is waste water and power, Vee. I think we’ll be fine.” Hunter firmly stated, taking their arms off of him.

“Could be worse. This spirit could’ve been a poltergeist.” Willow said, entering the room with the others while pushing Vee in.

“A…a poltergeist?...” 

After the group had some delicious fine dining they decide to walk around and explore the Queen Mary before it gets dark for the sake of familiarizing themselves with the layout of the ship. Also so that Vee knows the exits when a ghost is chasing after her. Although everyone was awed at the decor of the ship, it seemed to grow old to Emira. 

It seems like even this era of design can’t even break through the oldest Blight. The only thing that kept her going was the instinct of following her younger siblings to make sure they don’t do anything stupid. To make things worse, seemingly no one notices her struggle to find anything enjoyable as everyone around her is distracted by the beautiful architecture on the ship.

It was as if she was back in those times that were deep within her memory bank. Memories that are so old that they start to fade away but key details could still make out. Loneliness, the cold looks, and being overshadowed. Overwhelming her, being consumed by an endless dark void.

[Why do I feel this way? What is my mind trying to make out? Why is it digging through my memory bank while I try to enjoy this trip? What’s wrong with me-]

“Hey, Emira? Are you ok?” Luz asked, snapping Emira back to reality, stopping in her tracks. Realizing that without Luz’s intervention, she would’ve fallen into a table placed in between two staircases.

“Y-Yeah, I’m fine. Where are the others?” Emira asked, wondering how she was here in the first place.

“They went off to the deck of the ship while you just kept on walking,” Luz explained, pondering why Emira just kept moving forward without a thought.

“Are you sure you’re ok Emira?”

“Yes Luz, I’m sure of it.” Emira walked off to reunite with the others, ignoring Luz’s worried eyes. All she could do is sigh and follow the witch as they regroup with their friends. 

Once the night fell on the city of angels, almost everyone became eager to start the ghost hunt. Well, except for Emira, Hunter, and Vee. However, the two were simply non-believers of spirits existing within the human realm while Vee was currently trying not to lose her shit as her heart rate started to rise. 

“W-Wait, what are we gonna go, Luz?!” Vee was quick to ask before Luz even started to explain the details of the equipment she brought.

“Calm down Vee. All you’re gonna do is give us company if we are scared ok?” Luz explained to Vee, which gave her a bit of confidence knowing that she’ll be needed for comfort if needed. “Now here's everything that I totally bought for this hunt!” Luz grabbed a bag that she took for the trip, unzipping it to drop the items within. Everything from EVP recorders, walkie-talkies, and dowsing rods.

[God Eda is having an effect on all of us I swear…]

“These EVP recorders will help us communicate with the spirits around us. Just ask a couple of questions while it records and then stop it to hear them! However, if the spirits don’t feel like talking I also brought dowsing rods! Just tell them how to respond and they’ll move these rods.” 

“Who knew ghosts can be lazy too.” Hunter jokes, easing Vee’s anxiety.

“It’s not exactly that they’re lazy, it’s just that it takes a lot more energy to speak to us,” Gus explained as Edric nodded to confirm his info. 

“Then what are these for?” Emira asks as she grabs an EMF and Spirit Box to show to Luz.

“That’s an EMF! It helps us see if a ghost is nearby or not. The other is a Spirit Box which is meant for Hunter just in case he’s bored and wants to talk with the person who died here.” Luz answered, however, doing so undid Hunter’s attempts to calm Vee down.

“Don’t worry Vee, again the worst it can do is just be wasteful. It’s not like it’s gonna possess us or anything like that.”

“But I want to be possessed by a gho-” Edric tried to say before he got elbowed in the stomach by Emira, telling him to shut up.

“All this ghost talking is actually getting me hyped up,” Amity said as she grabbed the equipment, preparing to go out with Willow to start early.

“Then what are we waiting for? Let’s go out there and find some haunted shit!” Luz led on as they cheered except for Emira. Groaning at the thought of all of them finding nothing.

“SOMEBODY FARTED!” Edric yelled, repeating the phrase over and over, changing his volume each time. Mimicking an echoing to intensify the joke.

“Was it a good idea to give Ed that thing?” Emira after minutes of Edric saying it over and over again, started to question it.

“Ehhhh, nah. It’s fine, you’ll get over it” Luz said just before Ed could say the phrase for the 6th time.

“Has anyone caught anything yet?” Vee anxiously asked everyone, sensing that the group needs a break from hearing Ed 24/7.

“Nothing here besides creepy nursery items,” Willow replied.

“Sadly no. But I think the EMF light went to a 6 but that may be because of my scroll.” Gus replied soon after, however, the group could distinctly hear Edric still saying ‘somebody farted.’

“Same here also can you tell Edric to shut up please?” 

“Will do…maybe.” Luz groaned at Gus’ answer. This bored the oldest Blight, already tired just from sitting at the end of a hallway, waiting for ghosts that may or may not exist. After almost a half-hour of nothingness, Emira is contemplating whether the latter is true.

“Come on now Emira, can’t have my buddy rest as we are on the brink of discovering ghosts!” 

“More like the brink of boredom. Are you sure this place is haunted?”

“Why of course! Why else would people make hundreds of reports of seeing ghosts every day here?”

“Craziness? Clout? Lies to attract tourists to support the business?” Emira yawned again, stretching her arms as she sat back on the wall behind the two. “Now if you excuse me, I’m gonna take a nap since I couldn’t sleep at all last night. Scream bloody murder if a ghost comes up to your ass.”

“When was the last time you slept normally?” 

“...right after we built your house.”

“Emira, now you’re making me worry about you! Why aren’t you sleeping?” Luz dropped all the equipment on the floor, questioning her friend’s mental health.

“I am sleeping! I just sleep around 3 AM or something.”

“EMIRA!”

“Whattttt? I still rest!”

“You wake up at 9 AM! That’s like 6 hours’ worth of rest when we need 10!” 

“Come on Luz, you worry too much.” Emira cast an illusion spelled to make Luz’s face go from worried puppy eyes to that of her usual joyful face. “There’s the Luz I remember!” She said before Luz broke the spell by snapping her fingers. Her eyes were now full of tears with her lips about to let out a whimper. “...Fine. Hug me if you want to.” Emira allowed. The next thing she knows is that the young Noceda has her in a chokehold as Luz hugs Emira tightly. “C-Can’t…breathe...”

“Oh sorry! All that working out with Willow made my hugs a bit tighter.”

“A bit?”

“Ok, ok. Maybe a little stronger than it used to be.” Luz chuckled, giving Emira the energy to finally smile.

“So much for your weak nerd arms huh?” The two erupt into giggles and chuckles. For once after all of this time, Emira felt like her old self again. Her snarky, cool, and class clown self who would pull pranks and talk back against any authority figure. The laughter soon died down, with the two going back to do their own thing.

“Before we go back to our ghost hunting if you're comfortable saying, why aren’t you sleeping as much?” Emira perked up a bit at Luz’s question. She thought about a reply that wouldn’t worry her that much. Then again it’s not like Emira knows why she couldn’t sleep in the first place. So her response was a bit unclear.

“If I have to be completely honest….I’m scared too.” Emira, although afraid to admit it, managed to confess.

“Why? You’re afraid that there’s a monster in your closet?” 

“Oh haha, very funny. Seriously though, I’m afraid because well…I have been having these existential thoughts recently. About…well, my purpose in life. Which makes me have these really…weird and fucked up dreams.”

“Can you remember any of them?”

“No, not really. I just wake up and feel like shit. At times I wake up like 2-5 times during the night because I get one bad dream after another.” Emira’s eyes wandered around, avoiding any eye contact with Luz. “At this point, I might be going crazy.”

“So you weren’t kidding? You truly were tried.” Luz reminded Emira of what happened earlier in the morning.

“Of course, I wasn’t kidding, Luz! It kept me up all night and…” Emira, mid-sentence, finally understood what Luz has just done. “Wait, is this why you chose me to be with you? To try to help me?” Emira finally looked at Luz who gave a devilish smirk.

“Mayhaps.” She said as she held her fingers together like an evil filthy rich businessman.

“Clever girl...” Emira blurted out before breaking into a giggle followed by Luz laughing. The laughter continued until, off in the distance, very squeaky wheels were heard from around a corner. A cart was slowly moving in front of the two girls, each of them getting goosebumps.

“Let’s continue this conversation once we are out of here?”

“Agree…” The two got up with Luz about to speak to the walkie-talkie. Pressing the button to speak, she was met with complete and utter silence.

“Haha…weird. Maybe they’re pulling a prank?” Luz tried to excuse the radio silence coming from the walkie-talkie. Before she could try to talk with anyone on it, loud screams echo across the hallway. 

“OH FUCK THAT! FUCK THAT, FUCK THAT, FUCK THATTTT!” Emira in a matter of seconds became Usain Bolt. Sprinting across the halls Luz quickly follows her, not taking a chance to look behind them.

“DO YOU THINK IT WAS A GHOST?!”

“WHO CARES, JUST KEEPING RUNNI- AH!” Emira screamed out until she bumped into someone, causing the two to fall. She quickly picked herself up to see a familiar basilisk

“What the- Vee?!” 

“Oh thank God you guys are here!” Vee pushed Emira into a wall accidentally, almost having Emira break through the wall. The hugging and shakingof  Luz distracted Vee from realizing what they did. “What happened?! We tried talking to you through the walkie-talkie and then calling you but you didn’t answer! Quick, I need your help!”

“I’m pretty sure Emira needs our help first right now…” Luz said, in complete shock at Vee’s strength.

“When…did you get…so strong?...” Emira asked just before passing out, making Vee panic and get on her knees to beg for forgiveness.

“OH, MY GOODNESS I’M SORRY, I’M SORRY, I’M SORRY, I’M SORRY! PLEASE FORGIVE ME EMIRA!” The yelling from Vee seemed to catch the attention of the being that screamed as loud stomping footsteps were quickly reaching towards them.

“I’m sure that Emira will accept your apology once she wakes up but right now we GOT A GHOST AFTER US!” This alerted Veeands the two immediately picked up Emira’s body and ran. Running corner after corner in a desperate attempt to lose whoever was chasing them. The two burst into the room, taking cover behind a bed with the concern of waking up Emira.

“Oh god, Emira please wake up!” Vee tried shaking and slapping the teen awake to no avail. All hope seemed lost until Luz realized a trick up her sleeve.

“Stop Vee, I got this. EMIRA WAKE UP! YOU’RE ABOUT TO MARRY A MAN!” Emira jolted ready to scream out a long and loud no before Vee and Luz covered her mouth. But the bit of noise that Emira managed to let out attracted the creature after them. 

It snarled and growled, looking for the 3 witches it was after. It clicked its teeth together while continuing the search. Although Emira and Luz were quiet, Vee was close to letting out a scream of terror but thankfully the spirit left, stomping its way out of the room. Once they become faded, the 3 officially start to panic quietly as possible.

“What in God’s fucking name was that?!” Luz whispered, hypervent( sus )ilating trying to look for her walkie-talkie. “I don’t know! Vee, what happened?”

“It’s a long story! So-”

(5 minutes earlier)

“Hey, hey, hey, hey guys. Somebody farted.” Edric repeated followed by Gus laughing before it was cut off by Ed letting go of the talk button.

“I’m getting tired of this…” Vee yawned, dropping herself to the bed while Hunter was using the spirit box to get little to no proper responses to his questions.

“Same here, I guess this trip was a bust after all.” Hunter declared, officially becoming bored of this. Before he gives up talking with spirits who may or may not exist, he decides to try at least one last time. 

“Hello. If anyone is here can you at least tell me your name and a well-constructed sentence? Or better yet a word?” Hunter spoke aloud, moving around the spirit box in hopes that it’ll help spirits communicate with them.

“Robert.” The box spoke, sparking a glimmer of hope in Hunter’s eyes.

“Ok then, now say something. Anything!”

“Kill.” After a moment of silence, the box said. “Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill.” It repeated over and over, stunning Hunter in a state of disbelief. After saying ‘Kill’ for the 7th time the lights in the room start to hum and then flicker. Vee quickly grabbed the walkie-talkie to scream for help.

“Guys?! GUYS! I THINK HUNTER SUMMON A DEMON!” Before getting any sort of response the lightbulb exploded. Pieces of the glass went everywhere but hit nowhere near Hunterorr Vee.

“Call Luz and Emira fast!” Hunter yelled at Vee. They immediately started screaming for Luz and Emira. In between yelling their names over and over again as the sounds of doors opening and closing, the water in both the shower and sink run, and the lights in the restroom turn on and off. Worsening Vee’s ability to form any cohesive sentence.

Then a bone-chilling realization hit Vee. She wasn’t getting any sort of response from anyone about her screaming Emira and Luz’s names. Every time they press the button, it goes to static. Hunter looks at her, wondering why they weren’t doing anything until he hears the static as well. They look into each other's eyes with the same cold expression. 

“Yeah fuck this!” Hunter grabbed Vee by their hand. The second they get out of the room they meet face-to-face with a big creature. It was made out of black goop using a white Michael Myers mask as a face, turning to look at Hunter and Vee. They faced a staredown with each other as the creature breathed heavily.

“Maybe if we don’t move it won’t see us-” Hunter’s trail of thought was cut off by the monster’s massive roar, charging its way forward toward them. Leaving a trail of black goop across the halls. Vee screamed running without knowing that Hunter and she went in different directions. It was only when she stopped hearing the monster’s goop splatting on the walls that she realized that she was now alone.

Panic ensues within Vee. Her heart began to beat faster than a rabbit’s, taking in more and more oxygen. The closest thing she’ll ever experience to a panic attack.

(ooooo flashforward)

“Then I heard that scream and ran again and now I’m here! About to burst into tears if we don’t find Hunter or get the hell out of here!” Vee after explaining previous events return to panicking, breathing rapidly, and shaking violently. 

“Hey, hey, hey calm down Vee. We’ll find him safe and sound but right now we need you to relax so we can all work together, ok?” Vee looked at Luz who gave reassuring eyes.

She took a moment to gather courage and some wit, now breathing normally. They then nodded, reaching out to Luz to lift her up.

“L-let's do some ghostbusting!”

“...Why did that sound forced?” Emira broke the silence that followed Vee’s one-liner. “I have no idea, I mean it sounded kinda cool,” Luz said in support of her sibling.

“Maybe because it just sounds so unnatural after almost having a breakdown?” 

“I don’t know. Maybe-”

“Can we please go back to focusing on finding Hunter?!” Vee yelled. “Right, right. Let’s ignore what just happened to see where he is! Ghostbusters out!” Luz attempted to do a retake on a cool and awesome Hollywood-style line.

“...God is that just awful.”

“Yeah, you're right, Emira. Let’s just go before I end up becoming a ghost-”

TO BE CONTINUED……….EVENTUALLY

Chapter Text

(Earlier)

Amity Blight is the leading student of the Abomination Coven. The most powerful witch in the Boiling Isles. Next in line to become the leading example of what perfection looks like, is currently waving her arms around to see if the lights on her EMF would go to at least the 3rd light. Meanwhile, Willow was tirelessly repeating the same questions. 

“Did something happen yet?” Willow asked in between recordings of nothing but her voice.

“Sadly no.” Amity sighed. “Wanna call it quits?” 

“If it means that I don’t stand around like an idiot, then I’ll happily admit defeat.” Willow started making her way back inside with Amity rushing to follow her.

As they both escape the sounds of waves crashing against the Queen Mary, wet stomps against the ship’s walls. A giant crawl crashed against the decks floor, leaving behind a poodle mixed with the sea-salted waters of the ocean with black goop.

It was a quiet night at the Queen Mary, perhaps a little too quiet. When they arrived at the Queen Mary, Willow expected it to be crawling with tourists hungry for a quest to prove the existence of ghosts. However, barely anyone is around at this time of day. Occasionally, Willow does see staff members walking around and people exploring the ship, but that was when the sun was up.

In her eyes, when the lights start to dim, it seems to tire out a lot of average everyday humans. Back in the Boiling Isles, no matter if their Sun or Moon was shining below the bones and muscles of the dead Titan, there was still plenty going on. Luz likes to call it the “realm that never sleeps,” a reference to New York.

This also explains why Amity is very much a night owl alongside her siblings. Yet Emira still manages to wake up early because if she stays in bed, they’ll sleep until 1 PM. Sadly, that’s the reality they have been living through ever since the reconstruction of the Owl House. Speaking of which, Willow really needs to ask Amity about what’s wrong with-

“Wait a minute…Amity?” Willow turned to look beside her, realizing that Amity wasn’t right by her side.

Worried, Willow retraced her steps back to the deck in search of her purple hair friend. Despite her efforts, Amity was nowhere to be seen. The only thing Willow saw as any sort of clue was some kind of watery black trail left behind. Grabbing a piece of it revealed to her that it was sticky and gooey, giving her all sorts of bad possibilities as to where Amity is.

Before Willow could even think of running back to Hunter and Vee, she was wrapped quickly by the same goop that she found, muffling her screams as she was dragged across the floor to be taken below the lower floors of the ship.

“Somebody farted!” Edric echoes into the walkie-talkie, breaking into a hysterical laugh with Gus. Barely even maintain a constant stream of oxygen to their lungs causing them to cough violently. 

“Oh god, you are literally killing me, Ed!” Gus says falling to the floor, exhausted from laughing. 

“Titan…we should go back to ghost hunting though…” Edric barely mumbled out in between catching his breath. 

“You’re right but…give me a mome-” Gus said until he wheezed causing the two to laugh again. 

“Dammit, Gus!” Edric said before laughing along. After calming down again, they resume their ghost hunting. 

Unlike the rest of the group, they actually have a good time trying to communicate with ghosts, coming up with theories as to why ghosts exist in the human realm and who will attempt to reach out to them.  So when they eventually got at least a whisper from another room, their smiles stretch across their cheeks.

“We’re finally about to experience a paranormal experience!” Gus cheered with Edric screaming, running to the room to set up an EMF recorder, grabbing their scrolls to get footage of anything paranormal and a series of questions to ask.

“Ok, where should we start…” Edric pondered while looking over a series of 10-page papers full of numerous questions. 

“What is your name?” Gus asked, silence followed. 

“Amy.” a whisper was heard close to the two witches. Edric and Gus looked like each other, simultaneously shitting their pants and shaking out of excitement. 

“Amy, what brought you here to the ship?”

“Trapped.” soft footsteps followed. Giving the impression that it was pacing around the room. “Forever trapped from the sins of the past.”

Each step gets closer and closer, circling Ed and Gus. In a state of panic, Gus turns on the light from his scroll, pointing it at where he last heard a footstep. The light revealed a creature looking similar to that of a dead human corpse. It stood on all fours, with its torso twisted to face the floor with a violently shaking head.

“Do you think that’s a demon from the human realm or-” Edric asked before the creature screeched loudly. Gus and Edric both screamed a ‘holy shit’ before running and smashing the door before the monster could escape.

“WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT?!” Gus yelled into Ed’s face while running away from the door. 

“I DON’T KNOW?! MAYBE IT’S THOSE DEMON CREATURES FROM THAT FANFICTION ABOUT SOME GUY TURNING OUT TO BE GOD’S SON?” Ed yelled back, running after Gus.

“YOU MEAN THE BIBLE?”

“YEAH, THAT!”

“I DON’T KNOW, BUT IF SO, WE NEED A CROSS!”

“ANY CROSS?”

“YEAH, ANY CROSS AS LONG AS ONE LINE WAS LONGER THAN THE OTHER!” 

The door was crumbled into dust, with the demon looking at the two with just one eye as the other was covered by its dirty long hair.

“HOW THE FUCK DID IT DO THAT?!” Edric looked behind him after hearing a door smashing into bits n pieces, making direct eye contact with the monster. 

“I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT, BUT I AIN'T ABOUT TO LOOK BEHIND ME!”

“Anddddddd…he’s not here. I don’t know why we bothered.” Emira slowly opened the door to their room, seeing nothing besides the equipment that Vee and Hunter left behind. 

“At least it narrows down where he isn’t in,” Luz chimed in to bring more positivity to Vee. 

“Does it really?” 

“Shut up, Emira!” Luz whispered under her breath, nudging her attention to Vee. Even with their boost in confidence she still feels like crying. 

“Oh, erm. But I guess we know that he isn’t in the room…haha,” Emira gave a big wide fake smile to Vee. In return, she sighs. 

“It’s fine Emira. Also, work on your smile more. You’re not gonna attract anyone with that smile of yours.” Vee said bluntly to the Blight. She didn’t mean to sound mean but it sure did make Luz fight the urge to laugh while Emira just stood there unamused.

“Thanks, Vee for the unrelated insight into my insecurities.” Emira patted Vee on her head. Even if she unknowingly insulted her, Emira couldn’t bring herself to be mad at them.

They couldn’t ponder where else to look for Hunter as the panic screams of Edric and Gus were heard from across the ship. Their ears perked up, trying to locate where the screams were headed. That was until two-stop dead in their tracks as they almost crashed into the group.

“Oh, thank the mighty Titan themselves, you guys are here!” Edric quickly hid behind his sister while Gus posed as if he was some kind of hero in a Marvel film. “Luz, we are gonna need a nice cross with a dead guy on it because there’s a demon after us!”

“A-A demon?!” Vee began to shake Emira. “Will any cross work?!” Vee questioned while shaking Luz next after Emira fell. 

“Cannnn youuuu stopppp shakingggg peopleeee whennnn you’reeee scaredddd!” 

[God we are so dead- wait]

“Wait where’s Amity and Willow?!” 

All stood still at the sounds of stomping footsteps. Their instincts were replaced by the horror movie trope of staying still until the second the lighting shines on the monster’s disgusting features. However, it was just some guy who just really likes to make loud noises with his feet.

“What?” He simply asked. 

“So you’re telling me that you guys had experienced some next-level paranormal shit that even I have never seen before?” The person asked. He was a staff member who worked behind the counters and occasionally gave tour guides around the Queen Mary.

“No dude, what we saw was a fucking demon! Like I’m talking straight out of a Japanese horror film! Just like that one film with that tape that kills you in a week.” Edric explained.

“You imbecile, that was a ghost, there's a difference you absolute buffoon.” The staff member corrected Edric. 

“Unrelated but you sound very familiar…” Luz recognized that ever-so-deep enticing voice. 

“Have you seen Part 1 of Hunger Games Mockingjay?”

“I think so?”

“I was an extra in the film who gave that heroic speech.”

“I don’t remember that scene from the movie.”

“Then shit if I know why I sound familiar.”

“Can we please go back to the situation at hand?!” Vee smashed their fists on the counter table, catching everyone off guard.

 “Did that hurt?” Emira asked, seeing how red her hands had become. 

“Oh, very. Can you fetch me some ice packs, please sir?” Vee quickly changed back to her usual soft and shy persona.

“On it. Next time just scream to hurt your vocal cords instead of breaking your bones. So that I can just tell you to shut the fuck up.” The worker spoke whilst going to the back, putting some ice cubes in a bag, and calling it a day.

“Rude much?” Luz said while Vee grabbed the bag. 

“Well, when you have to deal with people moving stuff around and blaming all on ghosts 24/7 since day 1 of working here, you simply stop giving a shit about maintaining a positive attitude.” The staff member sighs. “But if what you guys said was true, I guess some of those were caused by this supposed ‘demon.’ And also explains the black goop I see every time I clean the rooms.” He continued, catching the attention of Vee. 

“So you have seen it!”

“Just the goop, not the 'demon.' Always thought it was literal shit that no one bother cleaning up. Although, I heard rumors from other people that they extend to the engine room for whatever reason.”

“Really?! Well, to the engine room!” Gus and Edric, now filled with determination both rushed their way toward the stairs before Emira cast a spell to make a wall, stopping the two. 

“Hold it, do you know where you two are going and what your plan is?” Emira said, picking up the two by the collar of their shirts.

“They were heading the right way before your dumbass decided to give them a concussion.” The staff member said. 

“Don’t worry they've been through worse.” Emira grabbed them by the ears and dragged them across the floor. 

“Is that something to be proud of?”

“Trust me, Emira is not proudly saying that,” Luz said, getting off the chair to catch up with Emira, with Ed and Gus following suit. “Thanks for the info Mr….”

“Fuck off, please.”

“Ok, ok, sorry. Jeez.”

Everyone’s footsteps echo throughout the engine room. The impact of their feet clamping against the metal floor as the engines roar. Emira and Luz were on high alert for any suspicious activity. While Gus and Edric were anxiously excited about seeing the monster that Vee was talking about. And despite them looking the most confident she has ever been, she’s on the brink of going apeshit.

“Soooo what’s the plan?” Luz asked to fill the silence between everyone during the dreadful noises of the engines. 

“Hell if I know. Just blast them with any kind of magic?” Emira said.

“But that’s illegal! According to a temporary law from the United Nations, witches aren’t permitted to use any kind of magic until further notice! All we are allowed to do is care for our palismans!” Vee broke her trace of ‘bravery’ to remind Emira. 

“You’re now worried about the law when just before we snuck into an employees-only area earlier to find some ghost?” Edric adds, sliding in with his face next to Vee’s.

“Well, that was because you covered my mouth to keep me from loudly panicking!” Vee slaps Edric across the face. By slap, I mean a very small soft ‘slap’ on his face. 

“Ow, that-! Wait, that didn’t even hurt at all. Did you even make contact with me?” Vee just let out a simple ‘hmph’ ignoring Edric’s comment.

[Man, how come Vee's holding back now?]

As they continued their walk down to the engine room, only one noticed something was…off. The sounds of metal started to soften, and their legs began to become heavier over time. Gus was the first to notice why he wasn’t able to catch up with everyone else. He shined his light onto the floor revealing remains of black goop. Before he could touch it some had fallen onto his hand. 

Gus’ legs began to shake, chills traveling through his spine. Gus’ catalog of horror films and games showed that whatever they were looking for was right above them. He looked at the light he held, thinking if he even wanted to look up but his mind persisted. As soon as the light shined on the sight above them, Gus began to quake in absolute terror.

“Gus, what’s wrong?” Luz turned to ask. Soon as everyone turned to look at Gus, they looked above with horror. A massive amount of goo smashed together to make human-sized cocoons that covered Amity, Willow, and just barely Hunter. The monster stops to lock eyes with everyone below after finishing covering Hunter.

“I hate all of you for dragging me into this,” Vee said before letting out the loud ear-piercing scream that they have built up over the venture. The monster retaliated by launching its long ‘arms’ toward everyone. They all dodged the attack taking positions to attack with magic spells.

“Goddammit, can I have peace for once in my life?!” Luz cursed. Instinctively she tries to pull out a glyph until remembering that she has none on her and even if she did it wouldn’t work. The monster saw the look on Luz’s face and decided she was an easy target. However, its attack was soon stopped by a barrage of arrows summoned by the jaded illusionist.

“Ed! Gus! Try to distract it while we try to free Amity, Willow, and Hunter!” Em shouted out dodging another hit from the black goop. Ed and Gus nodded to each other, together they started an illusion spell catching the attention of the goop monster.

“W-WAIT WHAT DO YOU WANT ME TO DO?!” Vee panicking said, still processing the events at hand. Emira sighed in frustration, created a rope, and threw it to have it wrapped around Willow. 

“Nice one!”

“Thanks, Luz! Vee, try to catch Willow when we pull her out!” Emira said, already pulling with Luz. She tried her hardest to pull the cocoon down, wiggling the rope around to loosen the grip. Slowly piece by piece it breaks free, Vee catching it but in the process almost crushing her.

“I’m fine!” Vee quickly said before Emira and Luz panicked. Using their claws to cut open the cocoon and immediately having Willow wake up from her slumber. She coughs violently as she tries to breathe in as much air as possible while Emira and Luz rush toward her.

“Oh, Titan! What happened?!” Willow finally spoke after gaining enough oxygen through her system. She reaches out to the three, having Willow’s arms wrapped around their shoulders with Vee supporting the two. 

“A lot! There’s a demon trying to kill us!” Following Luz’s explanation, a roar with stomping footsteps followed. 

“Oh God-”

“Titan!” Vee corrected Willow. 

“Whatever!” 

“Willow, help us get Amity and Hunter down!” Emira threw the rope again, this time being wrapped around Hunter. They pulled and pulled before Willow joined and immediately had the cocoon falling onto Vee’s arms.

“Woah…remind me to join you guys' workout routine.” Emira was awed at Willow’s strength, admiring her muscles. 

“Well, do you want to wake up at 5 in the morning?” 

“Erm... never mind, I like sleep.” 

“You hardly ever sleep Emira.” Luz reminded Emira while Vee was cutting open the cocoon which held Hunter who awoke soon after. 

“Holy shit balls I’m alive!” A crash was soon heard, the monster angered by every trickery that Gus and Edric pulled off enraged it more and more to the point of smashing against the metal floor.

“No time for a recap! Help catch Amity!” Emira shouted, quickly throwing the rope one last. The 3 witches pulled while Vee and Hunter prepared for the fall of the last cocoon. Once it fell to their hands Vee was quick to set Amity free with Hunter quickly placing her over his shoulder.

“Come on guys! I’m not about to be held accountable for property damage!” Emira urged Edric and Gus to run away from the creature and follow them back to the upper deck. 

“What the in the everliving fuck is going on…” Amity spoke as her awakening was slow to the mind. 

“Monsters from fucking HELL are after us-!” Emira explained while they try to run to their room to get everything and get the fuck out of the ship.

Opening the door showed the previous monster that Gus and Edric faced. It was searching around the drawers with its twisted arms until It turned to stare down Emira’s soul. Everyone stood still, not making any sudden movements. After a while, Emira, using a spell, closed the door without grabbing the doorknob.

“Do you think it saw us?” Emira whispered to Luz. 

“I don’t know-HOLY FUCK!” The monster bursts through the door, causing everyone to scream and run in all directions. Despite that, they still ended up in the dining area together with the spider-like creature screeching confusingly. Thinking of who to strike first.

“You know what everyone? I FREAKING HAD IT! I’m tired of these mother-flipping demons on this Monday-to-Friday ship! FUCK WHY CAN’T I SWEAR?!” Vee sharpens her claws, having enough of being nice, wanting to go apeshit.

“Yeah, you’re right! Fuck this!” Amity pulls out her palisman with Willow, Luz, Hunter, and Gus doing the same, confusing the twins. 

“What the fuck?! How did you guys sneak them passed security here?!” Emira said. 

“God, I wish I was at Palismen Adoption Day…” Edric said under his breath.

“¿¡Quien le importa?! Let’s kill this bitch!” Luz, with a fire ax at hand, that she got…somehow without anyone looking, lungs at the beast. The ax successfully scarred its face. Luz pulled the ax as Stringbean spat our venomous poison toward the creature. “Cue the music, Gus!”

“Righto!” Gus, using a magic spell, turns on a nearby Jukebox, playing Queen’s Don’t Stop Me Now. As the piano rages on with Freddie Mercury's singing, the group unleashes an all-out attack on the monster. 

Flames from Amity shoot out. Gus, Edric, and Emira’s illusions are being used as physical attacks. Vee climbed on top of the creature and scratched its skin and muscles with Luz assisting them, before being thrown off. In response, Gus formed a very shitty cross to hold in front of the demon.

“STOP IN THE NAME OF ALLAH!” The monster simply slashed the cross in hand and punched Gus in the gutter. 

“Wrong God!” Luz said while picking Gus back up. 

“Well, it’s not my fault you humans have billions of different Gods and Goddesses!”

Despite being attacked from all fronts, the monster still managed to defend itself. Launching tables, chairs, forks, and knives all around. Even grabbing Vee and spinning her around before launching them to Luz. As they hit the wall, Luz and Vee could see the leaks of black goop come through the walls with the Black Goop monster regaining its form.

“GUYS! THAT BLACK GOO THING IS BACK!” Luz shouted out to the group.

“Shit! Edric, Amity, let’s get rid of this fucking bastard!” Emira and Edric summon their ropes used at the Knee to be attached to both arms of the monster. Amity summons a giant fireball hitting directly the liquid monster’s face, screaming in pain.

The monster using the goo surrounding it grew out an extra arm to grab Amity by the leg and had her above its mouth. Preparing to eat her with a single bite. Quick to react, Edric and Emira stopped pulling and used all of their strength to make a giant spinning saw blade. Having it cut to what they assumed was the monster’s throat which exposed its beating heart.

Once the blade cut through, Luz saw the opportunity to kill the monster once and for all. She charged with the ax with Stringbean following behind her, readying her large strike against the center of the beating muscle. Luz strikes the heart 3 times before the monster collapses, presumingly from the heart being fatally damaged. As a final blow, Luz took the cut cross and impaled the whole thing inside the heart. Soon afterward, the body starts to rumble with the goo forming fizzing bubbles.

Everyone soon notices that this corpse was about to explode, even the spider-like monster that they were fighting realized the body’s fate; it was going to explode. The group quickly gathered with Emira and Edric forming a shield around them with the monster trying to get in. However, it fell victim to the massive explosion of the melting hot black liquid that burnt the creature. The liquid soon evaporated only leaving bits and pieces of small sticky goo on the floors and decor. It even destroyed the Jukebox, causing the music to be cut short.

“Thanks for the mess you guys left.” A familiar voice called out to the group. It was the Queen Mary staff member from earlier. 

“Oh, did you see all of that?” Emira asked while desummoing the shield. 

“Well, a bit of it during the fight but came back after hearing a bomb or something. Thought one of you morons set off a pipebomb or something.”

The demon from before, now covered with goo, rises to scream. It scared everyone who all scrambled to attacking positions before the staff member pulled out a gun and shot the monster dead.

“Where the fuck were you keeping that?!”

“In my pocket.” The staff member said before taking a bite of the bread he had.

"Man this is gonna take a lot of time to clean this place up..." Gus groans as the group oversees the trashy environment.

“Eh, I say just go before someone comes in to sue you for turning this into a set for The Shining remake.” He said while chewing a piece of gum.

“And have you taken the blame?” 

“Look kid, I've been looking for a good reason to get fired so I can move on to another asinine job, so can you all kindly fuck off so my boss can yell at me like they were auctioning for Marriage Story.” The staff member said, shooing everyone away as he grabbed a broom and just swept at a random spot that isn’t even dirty.

Although confused at the whole interaction, they respected the guy's wishes and left him alone. Just before the manager walks into the room and faints.

“Hot damn! Looks like you guys had an eventful night.” Eda remarks. It was early in the morning at Long Beach with the gang dreadfully packaging away their stuff in the car that Eda borrowed to pick them up.

“Eventful doesn’t even cover it…” Luz yawned and stretched after placing the last case into the car and headed inside the car. 

“But thank the Titan that’s over…I need a nap.” Vee follows suit with everyone one by one tiredly getting into the rental car, with Emira being the last one who was still outside.

“Hey big boots, thanks for coming with them to the trip!” Eda patted Emira’s shoulder as she passed by the elder witch. 

“Don’t mention it…” Emira soon yawns. 

[Man that night was something. I didn’t get time to talk to myself much…]

Emira turned to look at the Queen Mary to admire it before leaving. However, she spots something odd on the deck of the ship. A figure leaning over the railing, seemingly staring at the teen. Emira was too spooked to speak, let alone point it out. Pointing out that someone was looking at her, with colorful robotic cubes hovered around them.

“Hey kid, is there something wrong?” Eda broke her state of trance. Emira turned to her, shaking her head. 

“It’s nothing.” Emira looked at the ship again, seeing nothing on the deck besides tourists walking by.

“You wanna know something, big boots?” Eda asked Emira, trying to lighten up her mood. 

“I guess.”

“I owe you big time because last night was the best alone time I have ever had with someone~” Due to Emira’s tired state, she didn’t comprehend what Eda said. But before she could even enter the vehicle she stopped dead in her tracks. Her eyes widened, turned to Eda’s smirking face, and in return winked at her.

“ What the fucK- ”

Chapter Text

The clock read 3:30 AM on Emira’s scroll. She sighs, throwing her arms on each side of her bed. With her earbuds, she listens to Joe Hisaishi’s Merry-Go-Round of Life in an attempt to ease her mind to slumber to no avail. The music accomplished the opposite. It made her think about her life up to this point. While also daydreaming about dancing with someone to music. Her brain always had a talent for multi-tasking between dreaming and self-reflection.

The figure had a blank face but wore a beautiful navy blue dress, complementing Emira’s yellow outfit she wore at grom. They dance to the music's waves, following its flow and vibe.

[Why would I think about this? It’s not like I want someone in my life like that.]

The dream was cut short. The music started to speed up and become distorted as memories started to replay in her mind once again.

“Seriously Dad?! You’re leaving?!”

Emira groans, shutting her eyes tightly in an attempt to shield herself from the past.

“Sorry Emira, this trip is important.”

“More important than spending time with your kids now that they don’t have a fucking mother?!”

“...Soon enough you will understand Emira.”

“No! I wanna know now!”

She changed directions of where she wanted to sleep several times, struggling to keep her eyes closed.

“I’m sorry. Please take care of Amity and Edric.”

“Dad! Alador!”

Emira awakens. The clock now read 4:15 AM, causing her to sigh. The only time she managed to sleep led to another strange dream. Emira stared off at the ceiling, letting her body decide when to sleep instead of forcing it.

[Another day where I barely get any sleep at all. I wonder how I even get the energy to get up and go out.]

A frantic knock was heard at the door by Blight as she awoke slowly. As Emira raises, noticing her messy puffy hair, but paid no more attention as she remembered that someone was at the door. The knocks become more and more frantic and harsh as Emira makes her way slowly.

“Calm your titties, what do you whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa….” Once she opened the door, her heart sank. Her eyes widened. Her mind is now fully awake. What awaited behind the door was something she feared, someone blue-haired, someone they knew, someone related to Eda.

“GUESS WHO’S HERE!~” Lilith had made it to California. Ready to give Emira the biggest hug until she slammed the door and locked it shut.

“AMITY, EDRIC! SHE’S HERE!!!” The two jumped from their beds, confused until they heard Lilith speaking behind the door.

“Oh, come on, dear! Let me in, sweetie!” Lilith begged while resuming her knocking, now turning into bangs. Both Edric and Amity let out a scream of absolute terror and rush to Emira, helping her block the door by pushing stuff in front of the door. 

“Oh god, I didn’t know she was gonna come this soon!” Amity said as they finished building the blockade. 

“Wait, you knew?!” Both Emira and Edric yelled. 

“I was going to tell you guys sooner than later, but then we got busy at the Queen Mary,  and I forgot about it!” 

“Oh, how can you forget about your best auntie-in-law in the entire demon realm?!” A shiver traveled throughout the Blights’ spine. Hearing that sweet, happy-go-lucky tone that they feared. They didn’t want to turn their heads to see Lilith with the window open, showcasing the last thing they didn’t do to secure their ‘safety.’ 

“Come here and give Auntie a hug!” Lilith walks towards them as they huddle together wailing as if they were about to die. The fabric of Lilith's shirt muffed their screams as she hugged them tightly, suffocating them.

[Are we afraid of Lilith? No, absolutely not.]

–

Cut to Edric brushing his teeth. Due to it already being used for a month now (and his bad luck) the toothbrush safely breaks in half mid-brush.

“Great….”

“WANT A NEW ONE?!” Lilith appears out of nowhere with a new toothbrush in hand, causing Edric to jump and fall out of fear.

–

[I mean, sure her popping out of nowhere is something I fear every day, but we aren’t scared of her. Rather…would rather not have her be under the same roof as us.]

–

“Awww, look at the baby, on her way to her 462nd date!” Lilith pinches Amity’s cheek as she teases her. 

“I’m not a baby, Lilith! I’m 16!”

“Awww even when you’re mad you’re still a little kitty cat! Eeee!” Amity grows as she tries to push Lilith away.

–

[We don’t hate her. I mean it’s clear that she loves us and all that jazz but the way she shows her affection is too extreme for us. But at this point, since the reconstruction of the owl house, it’s starting to get annoying…]

“Where are you going?!” Lilith panics, blocking the door to prevent Emira from leaving without an explanation. 

“Just going out for a walk, Lilith.” Emira tried to budge Lilith away but she stood her ground. 

“Out there in the dangerous streets of LA?! Not on my watch! I forbid you from going through this door!”

Emira was unamused at Lilith’s protectiveness. Sighing before remembering that Amity had left her palisman by her bed. An awful idea formed but saw Lilith noticed her scheming. 

“DON’T!” Lilith screamed but it was too late. Emira grabbed Ghost and flew straight out the window and down to the sidewalk. Once she landed, Ghost became alive just to hiss at Emira before heading back to their hotel room.

 “Eh, worth ITTTT-” Emira almost screamed before being able to control it at the sight of Lilith already standing next to her.

“How in the hell did you get down here so fast?” 

“Determination. Now come on young lady, we’re going back!” Lilith grabbed Emira by her ears and started dragging her back to the hotel while in pain. 

“Why?! I’m old enough to take care of myself!”

“Yet not old enough to be considered a legal adult!” Lilith pulled Emira’s pointed ears more harshly, having her owing the entire time she pulled her back to the hotel. 

“Well, guess what, Lilith?! FUCK THE POLICE! ” Emira, using a spell, zaps Lilith’s hands to escape from her wrath.  She ran and ran, ready to cheer for her daring escape. Lilith, however, formed a bubble that caused Emira to comedically hit her head.

"What the hell is this?! Let Us out!" Emira yelled out while rubbing her head. 

"No! We aren’t going anywhere unless you start listening to Auntie-In-Law Lilith Clawthrone at once!" Lilith crossed her arms in an attempt to show authority over Emira.

"You're not my aunt! You're just an overprotective old hag!" Emira out of anger formed an unknown spell, quickly regretting it. Before they had time to react to the unusual magic by Emira, their eyes were flashed by a bright light.

Picture this ; a city full of casinos and top-tier entertainment for teens and adults alike in the middle of butt-fuck nowhere in the desert. Full of knock-off mascots and women in… interesting outfits selling their businesses on the sidewalks of the Bellagio Fountain as the water shoots in the sky, in sync with Elvis Presley’s Viva Las Vegas. 

Despite the unbearable heat in the gambling and entertainment capital of the world, the tourists of Las Vegas enjoy all the sights and shows. They ate dinner at a recreation of Paris’ Eiffel Tower, shopped in the Coca-Coke Store, and watched a rising witch illusionist star perform the arts in their show. All the while mafia throws their victims into a lake nearby!

Unfortunately for Emira and Lilith, they were teleported about 44 miles away from the city. They fell about a foot from the ground, landing roughly on the hot sands of the desert, screaming beforehand.

“Oh, Titan are you ok?!” Lilith rushed to Emira who had landed her head on the sand. The heat traveled through Emira’s body and caused her skin to burn a bright red. 

“AHHHHHHH! WHAT IS THIS GOD-FORSAKEN PLACE?! HOT! HOT! HOT! HOT! HOT! IT BURNS, IT BURNS! ARG AHHHH!!!!!” Emira ran in all directions, looking everywhere for shade to shield her from the blasting sun. She fell to her knees before jumping in the sky as her skin makes contact with the sand again.

“Snap out of it!” Lilith shook Emira back to her senses. “We can’t survive if you decide to panic!” Emira breathes rapidly, trying to maintain the heat before noticing that, despite being teleported to the desert, they were near the Prizm Outlets mall. Emira zooms into the shopping center, with Lilith desperately trying to catch up to her. 

As she entered the gates of the chill heaven, she felt relief at last. The nice breeze atmosphere coming from the A/C greets Emira’s heating body. It was as if the angels of the heavens above had graced her with the gift of chill. However, it wasn’t enough to distract Emira from where they were.

“Where the fuck are we?! Are we in hell? Why are we in hell? For being witches or for being gay?! There are a lot of conflicting sources on that!” 

“What did I just say, young lady?! I said calm down! We need to focus if we are gonna survive this.” Lilith whispered to her since she noticed that people are starting to notice how much of a craze Emira is. But it did have someone come up to them 

“Say, fellas, are you from that witch realm?”

“Why yes! We are just simple tourists from the demon realm visiting uh….”

“Las Vegas?” The person finished, shocking the two. 

“Yes! Las Vegas! To uh…gamble n stuff!” Lilith quickly walked away as she still pulled Emira by her ear. 

“Can you stop fucking pulling my ear for Titan’s sake!” Emira said as they moved across the mall, smacking Lilith’s hand away. 

“It looks like whatever you did had sent us away from Los Angeles to Las Vegas.” 

“And where is Las Vegas exactly?” Emira asked with Lilith pulling up her scroll to show her that they were not only 4 hours away from LA but were in a completely different state; Nevada. “WHAT?!”

“Huh, mama is asking if I have seen where Emira and Lilith have gone,” Luz said, looking at the text messages while on a date with Amity to Santa Monica Pier. 

“That can’t be good.” Amity sighed, throwing herself onto the bench that they sat on. 

“Yeah, I was wondering, do you guys hate Lilith?”

“No, no, no! The problem is that she's a little...too in-your-face with her affection. Babying us, trying to help us with any little problem we have, and being super protective.” Amity nervously chuckled, wrapping her arms across Luz’s waist. “B-But let’s not worry about that on our 462nd date together! Today is just me, you, and the blazing sun that’s giving me yet another sunburn!”

“You’re right batata.” Luz envelops Amity’s cheek, admiring her golden eyes. “Ready for our 1,469(nice)th kiss my beloved beautiful awesome sunshine baby doll bubbas girlfriend, Amity Blight?” 

“You bet your fucking ass I am!” Both of their eyes shine and shimmer, giggling as their faces get closer and closer. Their lips are inches away from contact, ready to mark this on their calendar as the day they had their 1,46-

“A PHONE CALL IS HERE! A PHONE CALL IS HERE” Luz’s ringtone rang. Chuckling nervously in response to Amity’s angrily sighing. The second she saw that Emira was calling her, Luz was about to explode. 

“This better be important this time, Emira Blight. You know what happens if you interrupt me on my dates with your sister, right?” Luz’s eyes twitch and widen, making a tightened grip fist as she thinks of all the ways to 'teach' Emira a lesson.

Ignoring what Luz said, Emira spoke about the events that have happened from beginning to end in a quick matter. Going from barely understood English to complete gibberish.

“Emira, chill out! What happened?!” 

“LILITH AND I GOT TELEPORTED TO SOME CITY CALLED LAS VEGAS!”

“What?! How?!”

“I don’t know?! Some sort of wild magic between my spell and Lilith’s but can someone please help us get back?!” Emira begged, falling on her knees at a nearby Taco Bell inside the mall. 

“How can I help?! We don’t have anything on this kind of magical spectacle!”

“Actually, we do. I brought books that contain studies on wild magic to entertain myself on that plane trip to LA.” Lilith remembered while Emira just stood there unamused. 

“So did everyone from the Boiling Isles ignore the basic laws set by the governments of the world?”

“Didn’t you say, and I quote: ‘Fuck the police’?” Emira could only grunt in response to Lilith. 

“Why don’t you guys just fly back to LA?” Amity asked, giving Emira flashbacks to the heat she had experienced. 

“With this heat? God no! I’m gonna stay here until you guys find a way back!” Lilith agreed with Emira’s feelings on the weather. Despite not being very emotional about the heat, she did find New Vegas to be super hot. Too hot to bear what seems to be a 3-4 hour flight on her staff to LA assuming they don’t get caught by law enforcement.

An idea just popped up in Lilith’s head. A possible bonding opportunity has appeared on Lilith’s lap. If somehow she can manage to delay Luz and Amity’s research on the spell they have conducted, she can take Emira on a short trip across Vegas and bond together. And therefore win ove- 

“Ok, ok fine! We are heading back to the hotel. So much for our date…”

Lilith yelped and excused herself, confusing Emira as she hung up. Lilith went outside to meet with the unbearable heat of the desert as she quickly dialed up Eda’s phone.

“What is it now, Lily?” 

“STOP THEM!” 

“Fucking hell! Lily, what the fuck is wrong? Did you do something? Which gang did you piss off? The Crips? The Bloods? MS-13? The Mexican Cartel?!” Eda already assumed the worst since Lilith isn’t really used to the human realm yet. 

“What?! No! I need you to find my wild magic book and try to hide it!” 

“Oh, this thing? I stole it from you when we picked you up from the airport, ha!” Eda snorts as she closes the book as audio proof to Lilith. 

“What?! Fucking- Ugh! I don’t have time to be pissed off at your stealing habits! I need you to hide it somewhere and play dumb!” 

“That’s it? That’ll be easy as pie as the humans say! But why am I doing this?” Eda hid it where no one dared to look, her hair. 

“Ok, so Emira and I did some kind of teleportation spell, right?”

“Right- Wait what, how?!” 

“I have no fucking clue, but Luz and Amity are on their way to find out with that book. So I need you to delay their search so I can…I can…” Lilith tried to muster the courage to admit her intentions. Not because she wanted to think of a lie, but rather it was because this is the first time showing affection towards someone outside the Noceda family.

“So I can…spend time with Emira here while I’m here.” 

“....Wow. The ‘cool-aunt’ title got you deep, huh?”

“Fuck off. Just…keep them busy alright?”

“Whatever it takes my prissy Lily to help my goal of collecting every single traumatized child!” Lilith hung up, sighing before turning to enter back to the mall to find Emira lying on the ground, scaring Lilith half to death. 

“Sweet pea! Are you ok baby?” Lilith carried Emira by her shoulder, barely letting out a groan of pain.

“I hate this place…who decided it was a good idea to pull a city in the middle of a desert…” Emira with the help of Lilith walked her back to the mall, taking in the fresh cool air. 

“Then why did you come out to see me?” 

“To ask what we are going to do while we wait…”

“Well…” Lilith took a long pause, trying to make her suggestion as natural as possible. “How about a quick trip to Las Vegas? If Eda’s stories are true, it’s a fun place.” Lilith softly smiled at the Blight. Emira let out a defeated sigh.

“It beats being stuck here all day, I guess…” 

“That was the most excruciating 20 minutes of my entire life…” Emira said, collapsing onto the grounds of Wynn Golf Club.

“To be quite honest, the heat was starting to get to me, but the ice we made did help a bit,” Lilith recalled. 

“How when it melts in seconds…” Emira falls flat onto the grass-covered golfing area. “How is there grass here…” She muffed out while Lilith was looking at her scroll, trying to see the time to travel by foot. “Why did we even land here with all these dipshit elitists?” 

“Didn’t want to land somewhere full of traffic. But I’m quite surprised the police here haven’t said anything.”

“Because they don’t care. After all, from their point of view, what’s the point of trying to stop us when they can’t get away with killing us.”

“Oh shush sweetpea. Don’t be so pessimistic especially when we are having a girl's day out in Vegas!”

"That’s exactly why I’m being pessimistic. I could be home having fun right now…"

“Come on, Emira! I want to relive my bad-girl historian days! Let’s boogey down to gambling town!~” Lilith says before imitating gunshots as she dances with her finger guns. Emira looked away, as she cringed so hard.

"This woman is going to be the death of me….]

Unfortunately for Emira, the trip continues onwards. Travel from one tourist attraction to another.  Exploring the recreation of the Eiffel Tower to seeing the water fountain show close by. But soon enough the trip began to tire her out.

[Why did I even say yes to doing this? My legs are killing me and this heat is making me consider jumping over the Hoover Dam! And that’s not even my biggest gripe about this trip.]

“Hey, sweet pea look! Best niece and aunt shirts, so we can match! Look how colorful it is!” Lilith yelled from across the store that she and Emira just barely entered causing Emira to blush red all over as everyone in the store turned to look at the two.

[Lilith is embarrassing to be around.]

“Lilith!” Emira yelled back, causing the store to be full of laughter. Despite fully knowing that everyone was looking at her, she covered her face to hide how embarrassed and angry she was. Only being made worse when someone recognized her and her background.

“Emira Blight?” 

[Oh shit! It’s them!]

“Oooo who’s this sweetie? One of your friends from the human realm?” Lilith said, pulling her arm out to shake the human’s hand. “I’m Lilith Clawthorne! Nice to meet you…”

“Casey Williams, the child of one of the executives at Blight Industries.” They returned the handshake giving a small smile to Lilith as she stood there in shock. 

“Oh my goodness! Your father works with NATO!”

“You’re correct, Ms.Clawthorne. Strange that of all places that I’ll run into you two, it would be in Las Vegas. Weren’t you supposed to be in Los Angeles with your family?” Casey questioned, all the while confused as to why Emira wasn’t making eye contact with her.

[I hate my life. They can’t see my acne-covered face! And of all the shirt-short combos I had chosen, I had to wear sweatpants and my Bad Girl Coven shirt. I didn’t even bring my concealment stone to this trip since I figured I wouldn’t run into anyone from Blight Industries! Shit this is bad, really bad!]

“Is there something wrong with you Emira?”

“It’s nothing Mx. Williams. My sweet pea is just a bit teensy-weensy shy because she still has acne.”

[HUH?!]

“Don’t tell them that!” Emira with her face covered turned to make eye contact. “I don’t have any acne to hide at all! It’s just awkward to speak with anyone outside business meetings, you know?” Emira fake laughed to make her lie more convincing however Lilith wasn’t too keen on telling lies.

“Come on now sweetie, it’s not nice to tell lies. Don’t feel ashamed of your acne!” Lilith then suddenly pulled Emira’s arms away from her face. She tried to still hide it but soon both of her hands were locked to Lilith’s. Soon enough, Emira’s will to live was crushed.

“Oh, how peculiar. I don’t remember you having acne during our business meetings. Did it start forming recently?”

[YES! I can still salvage this!]

“Y-Yeah! I guess puberty started hitting me this late in my teenage years haha-”

“Really? I thought it started back when you were 13…” 

[This woman I swear….]

Emira went from being embarrassed to being frustrated at Lilith for not being able to read the room and not keeping her mouth shut about stuff she doesn’t want anyone but her family to know.

“Looks like your child still has much to learn then if she keeps on lying.”

[CHILD?!]

In Emira’s visions, those words stabbed her chest. Shattering the last pieces of her dying ego. Despite the ego now diminished, however, she still holds out hope of fixing her reputation.

“Whatttttt? Child? Oh no, no, no, no! I’m no mere child. I’m very mature. Super mature with mature items in my room, mature outlook on life, and so independent!” 

“Don’t you have a Saiki- oof!” Before Lilith could expose more of Emira’s private life, she took matters into her own hands…or rather feet because she stomped on Lilith’s foot. Lilith was on the verge of screaming but held back as Emira gave her an apologetic shrug before pushing her outside.

“Sorry about her, she just had a leg cramp all of a sudden. You know how weak and random old people's bones are. See ya later Casey!” They couldn’t wave or say a simple goodbye due to Emira running off with Lilith so quickly. “What the fuck is wrong with you?!”

“Did I do something wrong?”

“Yes! Everything you just did was wrong!” Emira’s true colors toward Lilith’s constant enforcement of being her aunt were beginning to leak. Blinded by her anger to see Lilith’s confused, heartbroken eyes. “I don’t even know why I said yes to this stupid idea! We should’ve just stayed in a hotel room and waited until Eda called us for some answers to this nonsense!” Emira then had a sudden realization. They were on this trip for hours without a single phone call from either Eda or Luz. 

“Lilith, why hasn’t Eda or someone called us by now?” Emira glared at Lilith, staring at her with the burning flames within her. Lilith looked away in fear of how Emira would react. Lilith couldn’t bring herself to come up with a lie in time, so she told the truth. 

“I…may or may not have Eda buy me some time by having her hide the book we need…”

“You….” Emira grunted, quickly walking away from Lilith before being stopped by her. 

“Emira, wait! I’m sorry-”

“No! I fucking had it with you, Lilith! You kept us here way too long and for what? For your amusement?!”

“Emira, it's nothing like that. I just wanted to have some quality time as aunt and niece.” Lilith forced a smile, trying to pat Emira’s shoulder before her hand was slapped away.

“What’s with you trying to force yourself into a guardian figure when I don't fucking see you as nothing but Amity’s old mentor?! I will never see you as my aunt ever in my life! You’re just an annoying old hag who babies me, follows me, and shares every single private detail about my life! I never want to see you or hear you again ever in my life! I hate-...hate…” Emira ranted on and on but stopped once she saw Lilith’s tearful eyes. Sniffing as she attempts to wipe the tears away, her heart breaks piece by piece as every word from Emira’s mouth comes out. Filling in the blanks of Emira’s last sentence.

“O-Oh…my greatest apologies Emira. I-I just thought…” Lilith couldn’t bring herself to finish. Turning away as she took a deep breath. “Book a room somewhere Em, I won’t be long. I just need some alone time you know…” She walked away, no longer trying to hide her whimpers and rapid breathing from all the tears she shed. Leaving Emira speechless, unable to stop her from escaping her vision.

[I really messed up…]

Emira walked around Paradise, sitting in the shaded area as the cold mist from the machines above landed on her skin. Groaning from both the heat and her hurting Lilith badly. Softly head her head onto the table.

[I didn’t mean to say that I hate her, I just…ughh. Why do adults have to be so complicated? I mean I’m almost an adult but...it’s not the same!]

Her scroll then suddenly appeared, ringing loudly as her ringtone of All Might saying ‘A phone call is here!’ repeats on and on until she answers. Seeing that of all the people calling her, it was Eda.

[Great, how am I gonna explain to her that I hurt her sister’s feelings?...]

“Hello?”

“Emira! Is Lilith with you?! She doesn’t answer my calls!” Gunshots were heard in the background as Eda yelled into the phone.

“How did hiding that book from Amity and Luz lead to a gunfight?!”

“Wait, you found out?!”

“Yes, I did find out! Now, why the fuck are you in a gunfight?!”

“I’ll explain later! Now, where is my sister?!”

“Well, funny story Eda! I kinda, sort of, did an oopsie daisy and told her that I never ever wanted to see her again! Haha, funny right?” Despite fully knowing Eda couldn’t see her, she gave the biggest, widest fake smile she ever made. All the while Eda stood there in shock as gunshots were still being exchanged.

“You better start saying your prayers because once I survive this shootout, you are so dead, Emira Blight.”

“I didn’t mean it, I swear! I just got frustrated and angry at her for being embarrassing and annoying. Combined with this heat that never fucking ends and so many thoughts running through my brain this entire time, like what’s the meaning of life? What happens after death? And how do you have the time to scold me while you’re busy fighting off some people?!”

“I get it! Look, Lily can be weird and out of touch but have you ever considered why she’s doing this?” Eda asked, having Emira ponder all the possible reasons as to why.

“...out of jealousy at how I called you mom that one time?”

“Huh, I never considered that. That’s beside the point though! Why not talk to her? Knock some sense into her besides getting upset at her?”

“...Fine. I will”

"Promise?!"

"Promise..."

“Ok great! I was hoping you’ll answer right away since it’s getting intense here! See ya later! Byeeeee!” As Eda hung up, a high-pitch scream was cut off, leaving Emira to her thoughts.

[Do I really need to talk to her…]

Emira was looking back at the moments of Lilith attempted to become her guardian figure since the reconstruction of the Owl House. Always trying to pull harmless jokes, sharing baby photos with Luz and Eda, and hugging her and Amity and Edric together. While they did dread every encounter with her to the point of fearing for her sudden arrival.

Then a sudden memory was starting to resurface. The sounds of traffic and people conversing were suppressed, replaced by the sounds of a high pitch ring that echoed. Screams and cries were heard before Emira snapped out of it, with the sounds of civilization returning.

[Ugh, I need to start looking for Lilith. Now if I was a 40-something woman who has self-esteem issues, where would I go to cope?]

It didn’t take long for Emira to guess. I mean Lilith’s favorite drink is Apple Blood after all. She remembered that she was close to the New York New York Casino which Lilith had an interest in trying out gambling in them as a way to say she wasn’t the only Clawthorne to gamble in Vegas.

[I mean it does have alcoholic drinks so close enough.]

“A-And then she said she d-didn’t wanted to see me again!” Lilith bawled her eyes out to, funny enough, Casey who was eating some chocolate from the bar.

“I’m sorry to hear Ms. Clawthorne. But I seriously think you should talk to her about it.” They awkwardly laughed, patting her shoulder to comfort the witch while she chug down 4 shots of liquor at once.  "Oh thank goodness, look who’s here Ms. Clawthorne! Your beloved child, Emira Blight!” They pushed Lilith’s head to face Emira who was wandering around the Casino looking for Lilith. She gasped as she ran to Emira in her sober state.

“Emiraaaaaaa! I’m so sorryyyyy!” Lilith almost dragged Emira down the floor but she managed to stay upright as Lilith was on her knees hugging the witch. “I’m a horrible person!” Lilith hiccuped and cried some nonsensical words out. “Please go find yourself a better mother figure!”

“How drunk is she?” Emira asked.

“Well, she isn’t drunk anymore, more so sober. Dunno how her body managed to do it in a matter of minutes though.” Casey spoke calmly while Lilith was still crying her heart out.

“I’m sorry about her…I’ll take care of this, just go back to enjoying your vacation!” Emira waved goodbye while dragging Lilith away from the bar, with Casey just utterly confused about their relationship at this point.

“Is Lilith her aunt or mom?...”

-

[Didn’t expect to see them again. But I guess I should be glad that Lilith didn’t run into anyone dangerous.]

Emira sighed while Lilith was now softly crying, hiding her face with her knees. They sat at the corner of the building, next to the restrooms. It was surprisingly quiet even though they weren’t too far away from the sounds of the gambling machines with people either cheering or yelling. 

After a while of sitting, Lilith eventually stopped. She looked up to see Emira staring off into the distance, amused by the number of people losing their money. It made her smile, as it reminded her of Eda but her smile quickly turned to a frown. Lilith looked away before Emira could sense her looking at her, finally letting out a functional sentence.

“Hey um…Em. I’m finally ready to talk…”

“Oh…”

Silence. None of the two made eye contact with each other. Favoring to look away as they felt ashamed for how hurt they each looked. Waiting for each other to break the silence and start the ball rolling with their series of apologies and explanations.

“Look, Lilith…I’m really sorry about getting angry at you.”

“No, Emira, you have every right to be angry and frustrated at me for everything I have done. I messed up. I understand why you…hate me.” Lilith’s voice cracked, making Emira panic.

“No, no, no no! I don’t hate you, Lilith! Not at all. I didn’t mean to say all those mean things to you. I didn’t even apologize for calling you an old hag from before.”

“I deserved it. My title of being the cool aunt just went over my head.”

“Title?” Emira was confused, looking at Lilith now, waiting for an answer.

“Yeah. Luz started referring to me as Cool Aunt Lilith in her diary back when she was still stuck in the Boiling Isles. Ever since being given that title, I decided to do everything in my will to live up to that name.”

“Then why come to us?” Lilith paused for a moment, trying to get the courage to look at Emira. After a minute of silence, she looked into Emira’s eyes as she held a sense of guilt.

“Whenever I look at you, I just see my younger self.” Emira widens her eyes as Lilith continues to speak. “A witch who's consistently overlooked by their younger sibling. You could’ve had a better life if I had just stepped in to help instead of turning a blind eye to it to avoid any sort of accountability…” Emira continued to look in shock as Lilith continued her explanation for her recent attachment, barely even able to grasp her words. “When I heard about Alador leaving you guys and how much it hurt you, I thought I could take his place while at the same time…redeeming myself for not being there for you. Especially you since you have no one to fall to when you’re stressed about taking your father’s duties.”

When Lilith finished she buried herself on her knees. Emira’s eyes softened on her, she rested her chin on her knees letting the noises of the casino take over to let Lilith rest. While waiting, a smile began to form.

“One reason I can never really hate you, Lilith, is because of shit like that. You have changed a lot since you left the Emperor’s Coven. To be honest, ever since Dad left I have been wishing that I had someone to fall on when I’m stressed about helping Ed and Am out.” Emira laughed, bringing life back to Lilith as she smiled, having the hope of truly being her aunt.

“So that means-”

“I guess it won’t be so bad to have you around from time to time,” Emira said, causing Lilith to glee in complete and utter joy. Her eyes shined and glimmered, trying to hug the Blight before being stopped by her. “Erm…let’s just start over first ok?” She said, gripping onto Lilith’s hand and shaking it with Lilith returning it.

“WHAT THE FUCK” all the men in the restroom screamed as a flashing light appeared. A loud poof sound could be heard followed by rushing footsteps while someone was screaming.

“OF ALL PLACES YOU HAD TO TELEPORT US WHY DID IT HAVE TO BE IN THE FUCKING MEN'S RESTROOM?!” Amity screamed out when they were out with Luz passed out at the mere thought of being there.

“Don’t blame me! I barely understand how this shit works!” Eda said until seeing Lilith and Emira nearby. “Oh thank god we teleported to you guys on the first try! You guys didn’t upset anyone dangerous?” Eda eyes down at Emira, reminding her of the pending beatdown she will face with Eda causing her to chuckle.

“Unless you consider the staff here dangerous then no," Lilith says.

“Yeah, Lilith had a little too much to drink.” Emira softly elbowed Lilith as she reminded her. She coughed as a way to move the conversation to what was important at hand right now. “So you found out what kind of magic spell we did?”

“Well according to your wild magic book Lily, it was some kind of teleportation spell used by illusionists to travel back to their original locations after traveling for so long or in case of danger. The spell would require at least two illusionists, one to form some kind of bubble around them while the other performs the spell which involves the person thinking of the area they want to return to. However, it requires you to fully concentrate on where you wanna go with a clear and precise location." 

As Eda describes what to do, they moved back to the middle of the desert to not alert any police nearby. Take formation as Eda and Lilith both start to form the bubble around them with Emira preparing to perform the spell. 

"Think you can do that Em?” Amity asks after Eda finished explaining.

“I think so but do we seriously need to do it in the heat? How is the bubble not shielding us from the sun?!”

“It’s gonna get hotter if you don’t hurry up and take us back to LA. I wanna go back to my room and cry over the fact that I was in the men’s restroom…” Luz was about to faint again before Amity stopped her. Emira rolled her eyes before standing up ‘straight’, breathing slowly while shutting her eyes.

[Think, think, think. Think of California, think of Los Angeles’ coolness….actually, it’s pretty hot there too but enough of that! Let’s get out of this hot hellhole!]

Emira stomps her foot forward, performing the teleportation spell. Having them go from Las Vegas, Nevada to…the United Kingdom. Late at night as Big Ben stood tall. Everyone looked at Emira, knowing full well she wished to be somewhere more chill.

“Haha…at least I can concentrate more.” Emira shrugs while smiling weakly. The sound that the spell made caught the attention of 3 London police officers, rushing toward them with batons in hand.

“Hey, you 5 witches! Was that ruckus caused by any of you bloody bastards? You interpreted our jolly good tea time!” The British officer angrily shouted at the 5, confusing them.

“What did he say?” Eda whispered.

“I have no idea….” Luz whispered back.

“Guys, they’re still speaking English…” Lilith’s words were ignored as Emira dragged Amity to say something back.

“Don’t worry, Am and I got this.” Emira and Amity walked forward toward the cops and spoke with the most stereotypical British accent.

“Ain’t this a cranky big mistake? Why would us lovely blokes throw a wobbly around town?” Emira’s British accent was over the top and the usage of her slang confused the 3 officers, especially for using ‘cranky’ which was Australian slang.

“Y-You’re quite right my lad! We aren’t anything cheeky, just taking a pissed at each other you know?” Amity’s attempt at a British accent was a bit tamed down but was still unconvincing. 

“I say, have you paid a single quid for your TV licenses?” One officer asked to get full confirmation of them committing at least one crime.

“...What’s a TV license?” Emira asked with Luz gritting her teeth, knowing full well what happens next.

------------------

“AHHHHHHHHHH!” 

“COME BACK YOU BUNCH OF FUCKING MUPPETS!”

The officers chased all of them down the nightly dim rural area of London, with several cops on their way to stop them. They run into what looks like an old abandoned building and board up any possible entrances with anything they could find

“ALL OF THIS OVER A FUCKING TV LICENSE?! What the fuck is a TV license anyway?! An approval to own a fucking TV?” Emira screamed out.

“It’s like a tax you have to pay so the government can fund the BBC but I think this is a little too much!” Luz said as she sees the police just hitting the door with their batons in hopes of it opening.

“We have no time to talk about an irrelevant form of showcasing media! Perform the spell again! I do not want to be in the presence of a British person!” Eda said, revealing her loathing of the British. As the bubble was formed once again, Emira was quick to perform the spell thinking of where they originally came from, teleporting everyone to…a random studio in Japan of all places for some reason.

“Not the perfect time to think about Saiki, Em!” Amity was quick to accuse her sister. “I-I wasn’t!... Ok, maybe a little…” They all groan angrily until they hear someone singing. It was full of men with tattoos all over their bodies cheering for one of their own as they sang 24-Hour Cinderella from Yakuza Zero.

They were all in a trance during the crew's performance, singing while doing all sorts of stunts, never being able to disrupt their singing. However, the sight of 5 outsiders watching them sing made caused them to scream, causing all of them to pull out their pistols. They all raised their hands making grunts as they struggled with how to speak Japanese.

“Um…yare yare?...” Emira said in a desperate attempt to plead with the men before they started to shoot, they all quickly took cover.

“Great job Em!” Amity punched Emira’s shoulder.

“It's not my fault that I don’t know Japanese!”

“Then why did you say ‘yare yare’ if you don’t fucking know Japanese?!” Amity yelled at Em while they tried to run away from the attackers.

“I don’t know?! I thought saying ‘good grief’ would diffuse the situation!” 

“Well, it didn’t and now we are in another gunfight!” Eda shouts.

“Wait, what do you mean ‘another gun fight’?!” Lilith asks, finding a way out of the shootout.

“That’s a story I’ll tell if we make it out alive!” Eda says as she throws what was left of the potion bombs she made beforehand. “The smoke should cover us, now quickly get us back to LA!” Eda formed the bubble again as Emira prepared the spell again. She tried to focus on where to teleport them. Just before the men could shoot, Emira performed the spell, blinding them as they teleported away from Japan.

“Anything to report, Gus?”

“Sadly, I got nada to report, Willow.”

“I don’t think that’s how you use ‘nada’ in a sentence.” Willow was off at the beach in search of the 5 who went missing.

They wanted to complete their search operation before calling the police. Willow looked at the waves of the water as the sun sets, pondering where they could've gone to. However, off in the distance, they could see sparks starting to appear 5 feet above the water. Curious, she stepped forward a bit. A flash blinded her for a moment before seeing all 5 of the witches fall into the waters of the beach.

“OH GOD WATER! I CAN’T SWIM! WHAT A WORLD, WHAT A WORLD!” Emira gargled as she sank into the waters before being picked up by Lilith by her collar, seeing that they weren’t too deep into the waters.

“Oh, thank g- Titan you guys are alright! Where were you guys?!”

“Oh just a mini adventure of our own, getting in trouble with the cops and criminals alike,” Eda said leaning onto Lilith’s shoulder, causing her to drop Emira back into the water who was back to drowning again…somehow. 

“Oh god, Emira!!! Get up Emira! It’s not that deep, come on!” Lilith panicked, trying to help Emira up but soon was dragged to the water with her. Everyone watched in disappointment but Eda soon smiled at the two.

“ They gotta bond somehow. ” she thought

Lilith was sitting in Eda’s room, still waiting to dry up a bit. While waiting, she and Eda discussed what happened in Las Vegas.

“Wow, you were…”

“A bit too much?”

“A bit? Ha!” Eda snorted. “Lily, what you said you did sounds unbearable to deal with!” Lilith’s smile weakens a bit, reminding her of how angry Emira was at her. “Oh, did I touch something sensitive about what happened?” 

“A bit, it reminded me of how mad Emira was…but it’s fine! I said my apologies and we decided to start things over again. Besides, if I ever want to be a part of Emira’s life, I have to handle her future outbursts.”

“‘Future outbursts’? What do you mean by that?” Eda asked while Lilith was taking a sip of her coffee. When she asked Lilith paused and softly placed her cup on the table.

“Children tend to purposely forget traumatic memories for the sake to stay in their bubble of innocence. When they get older, it isn’t long until they start to remember what they wanted to forget.”

“...and you think those 3 are experiencing that right now?”

“I’m not sure about Edric and Amity but Emira… something is seemingly bothering her. I caught her staring at her reflection and at times blanking out.” Eda was reminded of what Luz told her about Emira’s recent strange behaviors.

“You think her memories are starting to come back?”

“I believe so, and I’ll be here to help her in any way I can.”

As the sisters' talk continues, Emira attempts to sleep again. This time listening to a video titled Silent Chill Redux , a collection of calming Silent Hill tracks from the 2nd and 3rd games. It was suggested by Luz herself, telling her that it helped her fall asleep. She reached the track Never Forgive Me, Never Forget. Her eyes were tired yet she stayed awake. Not by her body not letting her, but rather not wanting to go to sleep. Not knowing why.

Was it because she feared that something would show up in the dead of night? Or because of the fear of not being able to wake up, being placed in a constant state of sleep paralysis? Or maybe, just maybe, she feared appearing in those strange dreams again.

“I-I just can’t stand it!”

[Just when I was about to sleep…]

Chapter Text

Emira groans as she rises from the ground, rubbing her head to ease the pain in her head. She looked around to see her surroundings, seeing that she had awakened in an alleyway as police sirens and helicopter sounds were now louder than before.

“Where am I?...”

“BLIGHT!” A familiar voice came from behind Emira, causing her muscles to tense up. She turned to look to see the brunette, fish hook earrings-wearing healer and beast keeper herself as Stringbean follows behind her.

“Viney?! What’s going on?!”

“What do you mean ‘wHAt’S GOinG oN’? You got Luz captured!” 

“W-What?!”

(Hours earlier)

“Soooo, how are you enjoying your 463rd date Amity? Does it make up for our last one?” Luz smiled ear to ear, holding tightly to Amity’s hand as they waited for their food at the Ramen Maruya in Little Tokyo. They were seated outside among other couples and friends.

“Of course, this is so cool! The Japanese architecture here is so beautiful, and I can’t wait to try out the ramen here!” Amity shakes with excitement, barely being able to hold still on her chair.

Once the food arrived, both were in awe of their meals; the Chashu ramen. The pork chashu laying on the edges of the bowl as the spoon held the boiled egg was enough to make the young Blight drool. When she took her first bite, her pupils dilated, taken straight to the heavens. 

“This is the greatest thing I have ever had… What have I been missing out for this entire time?!” Amity then munches down the food as ‘presentable’ as possible.

Luz looked at her girlfriend eating, admiring how beautiful (?) she looked while enjoying her ramen. However, she was soon distracted by a couple of voices behind her that sounded familiar to her. Looking out the corner of her eye, she gasped at the sight of Jerbo, Viney, and Skara.

“Oh my god! Jerbo and Skara! You guys went with Viney to LA too?!”

“Luz!” They all said. “It’s nice to see you again without worrying about The Collector's spies!” Jerbo said, but Skara soon noticed that Amity was with her.

“Ooh, what’s this? Are you having another date with Ms. Amity Blight?~” Both Amity and Luz blushed.

“Y-Yeah it’s actually our 463rd date now.” Amity shily scratched the back of her head, blushing some more. 

“You guys keep up to date on how many times have you two gone out with each other?” Viney chucked.

“Yeah! And also how many times we kissed, hugged, held hands, cuddled, snuggled, and slept together!” Luz pulled out a notebook that counted each of these events, causing the group to awe even more, making Luz and Amity’s blush take over their faces.

“You know Luz. I’m not gonna lie; I wish I had someone like that in my life,” Viney said, staring down at her reflection in her glass drink of Iced Green Tea. Immediately she was jumpscared by Luz rushing towards her, gasping.

“May I help you get a date?!”

“Uh…no. Knowing your track recorder, having you help me will require a full adventure.”

“Come on Viney! You've been single your whole life! It’s time to share your life with someone else!” Jerbo encourages Viney, with Skara jumping in the excitement.

“Blight,” Viney called to Amity coldly. “Are you sure your girlfriend can help me?”

“Well, she did fix a lot of relationships in the past, so I don’t see how it wouldn’t transfer to helping start a new one.” Amity thought, ignoring how Viney was giving her a cold shoulder.

“...Fine. Shoot.”

“Ahhh!!! Let’s gooo! Ok, let’s start with what you like in a person!”

“Women.”

“...that’s it?”

“Yes.”

Silence. Complete silence. Everyone was confused but figured maybe this was because of Viney’s lack of experience in relationships. Or she just wants to get this over with.

“I can work with that!”

“Huh?”

“I lied! I can’t work with that little bit of information! Butttt” Luz turns on the projector, revealing her plan that she totally 100% didn’t plan out since the mall incident.

“Emira?! You’re planning to have Viney get with Em?”

“Well, yes. But actually no!”

“...Huh?”

“I know you’re confused, but let me explain.” Luz clicks on to the next slide, turning this into a PowerPoint presentation on how to help Emira and Viney form a friendship. “Ok, so having them fall in love right away is a bit unrealistic, right?”

“Right.”

“So I decided that they should at least be friends!” Luz shows a drawing of Emira and Viney holding hands as they skip across the beach.

“Ok…but didn’t Emira say she doesn’t want you trying to devise a plan that would bother Viney?”

“Perhaps, but Emira never said anything about schemes, plots, ruses, and or shenanigans~" Luz evilly laughs under her breath before continuing. "Besides, she's been down in the slums recently, and my gut feeling tells me that it’s something adult-related which is out of our expertise. So I think a new friend around her age range could help!”

“But it looks like Viney hates us Blights. How can they ever get along if they don’t want anything to do with each other”

“Says the one who tried to murder me…twice,” Luz says, changing the slide to her drawings of an evil Amity laughing at the sight of Luz almost being dissected and another one where Luz was smashed by her giant Abomination.

“...I hate that you can use that against me every time we try to argue.” Amity sighs. “I guess this is a fine enough plan, but how are you going to get them in the same vicinity as one another?” 

“Leave that to me. I know the perfect way to get them together.” Luz rubbed her hands together like some kind of Saturday cartoon villain, grinning ear to ear.

“Thanks again for helping out, Emira!” Camila said while taking out the fried bananas from the pan.

“No problem! I didn’t want to have you do all the work cooking today.” Emira smiled at her, cutting up the bananas. “Especially since someone here is busy.” She looked in annoyance at Eda and Raine, staring into each other's eyes as they drank their apple blood.

“Sorry kiddo, we drank a little too much apple blood to help.” Eda hiccuped before trying to look down to check out Camila’s well… you know. That was before Emira stomped on her foot. “Ah! Motherfucker!” 

“That’s what we are.” Raine laughed out, slapping her knee.

“Can you guys wait until I’m done here to do whatever weird stuff you two do?” Emira expressed annoyance before being reassured by Camila.

“Don’t worry, hija. Don’t let them ruin our peaceful domestic moment together.” 

“You’re right. Butttt, I get the feeling it’s about to be ruined anyway in a matter of seconds.” Right on cue, Emira receives a text message from Luz. “Speak of the devil, and he shall appear. Although I’m unsure of his existence….” Emira scanned over the text sent by Luz, immediately putting the knife away as she made her way to the door. “Sorry Camila, your daughter wants me to go somewhere with her.” 

“Oh, it’s fine! I’ll finish up fine here. Keep her safe!” Camila waved goodbye to Emira until Eda onto her shoulders, giggling.

“Cheekssssss,” Eda said while grabbing her…‘cheeks.’ Thankfully, Emira was already gone by then. 

“Hey! I just found this really cool hang-out spot that I just know you’re going to love! It has a lot of cool stuff to look at! Sure art may or may not be your thing but trust me! When have I ever taken you somewhere boring?” The text from Luz stated.

Emira, at first, didn’t think much of it. She just thought Luz wanted to spend time with her somewhere cool. However, as she stepped next to a series of lamps placed together with people taking pictures, she was a bit skeptical when she saw someone familiar. 

[That girl…what was her name again? Viny? Vine? Viney? Viney. Why is she coming here as well?]

She ignored it, shaking her head to get rid of the thoughts of why she was there.

[Come on Em. It’s not like Luz has some other ulterior motive to bring me here. I think she respects me and my wishes. Maybe she’s just here to meet up with a friend or something…why am I even still thinking about her? Just stop.]

“Oh my god, my plan worked!” Without realizing it, both Viney and Emira were about to crash into Luz.

“Huh?” They both said.

“Welcome, ladies to our trip together to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art!”

“WHAT?! With her?!” Viney and Emira pointed at each other.

“Oh, come on, it’s time to let bygones be bygones!” Luz hugs both of them, trying to get them close together. Out of the kindness of their hearts, they didn’t push her away but glared at each other down as they were close.

“Hey Luz, can we talk?” Emira asked despite already dragging Luz away from Viney. 

“Hey! What’s wrong?” Luz asked.

“Everything! I told you that I didn’t want to bother your friend, and yet here we are!”

“Come on Em! Give Viney a chance!”

“No! She hates me, and I’m not really fond of her, so I’m leaving.” Emira tries to walk away before Luz pulls her arm down, stopping her in her tracks.

“Emira, wait! Trust me on this one!”

“But why? Why should I try to be friends with Viney of all people?”

“Because I feel like you two would bond over some adult issues you two share. Sure, you have my parents and Tia Lilith to help you with that, but why not talk with someone outside our family, someone around your age?” Emira took a quick look at Viney, who was waiting patiently. Surprisingly enough, she didn’t leave. She just stayed waiting for her to make up her mind.

[Huh…I'm surprised Viney hasn't left while Luz wasn't looking. Maybe she isn't as petty after all….]

“...Fine, I’ll try to tolerate her.” Emira rolled her eyes before being pulled into a big hug.

“Ahhh!!! Thank you, thank you, thank you! You’re not gonna regret it! Trust me! You’ll love Viney by the end of this trip!” 

“I seriously doubt it….”

[Art museums aren’t my forte at times. Sure, sometimes they have something interesting like a Picasso painting and funny titles like this statue of a chicken called ‘The Cock.’ But what makes me not want to go to art museums are the people.] 

The trio is on the third floor of one of the LACMA buildings. Looking at the art amongst others who examine each artwork, whispering with their group.

[If I had Saiki’s powers right now, it would confirm my suspicion that these people are one of those annoying types that like to act like they’re smart enough to understand the meaning behind every piece. Like, come on. Just admit that you have no clue what the artist was trying to communicate. Like what I’m doing right now. I don’t have a clue what this artwork is supposed to be, but it looks nice, and that's all I’ll say about it. I’m smart enough to understand the symbolism of Silent Hill 2 but not smart enough to interpret some painting that belongs in some rich asshole’s house. Speaking about assholes though…]

Emira notices the distance between her and Viney, which they have been keeping for a while. Because of this, Luz has to switch between the two to keep up a decent conversation and not have neither leave out of boredom.

[I know I agreed to try to bear with Viney, but it looks like I don’t even need to do that since it looks like we non-verbally agreed to stay away from each other. Fine by me, yet I don’t think Luz will let us be like this for much longer.]

After looking at each piece, they move to the next section. However, Emira was stopped by Luz as she softly elbows Emira by her stomach.

“Ow! What the hell was that for?” Emira whispered.

“Talk to her!” Luz whispers back.

“Do I really have to?”

“Yes?! You agree to do this!”

“I only agree to be around her presence, not interact with her in any way.” 

“Well, now that’s a part of our new agreement! And if you try to invalidate it, I will tell everyone about your Saiki shrine!”

“God fucking- Ughhhh!!! Fine.” Emira, as revenge, pulls Luz’s hoodie down to completely cover her face. Regretting ever sharing with anyone her love for Saiki. Emira made her way to Viney, who was ‘admiring’ the artwork, while Luz prepared to moderate the conversation. “So…you come here often?” Luz facepalms when Emira asks. “I mean like this general area since like…you’re visiting LA and stuff.” Emira tries to cover up her mistake.

“No…I don’t.” Viney was quick to end the conversation, causing Emira to turn to Luz to show her annoyance at her, but Luz signals her to keep trying.

“You know…you don’t look like someone who’s into this type of art.”

“Just because I’m not as rich as you doesn’t mean I can’t appreciate some of this shit that belongs in some rich asshat house.”

“That’s a whole different sentence right there.”

“But I bet you were thinking it.”

“I wasn’t.” As the conversation continues, Luz slowly goes from annoyance at Emira’s incompetence at starting small talk to worrying that they’ll end up burning down the museum.

“Sure thing, Emma.”

“Emira. It’s Emira. I don’t know why you started this argument when we can find common ground in the fact that this does belong to the elite.”

“You’re a part of the elite.”

“I’m not. My family name doesn’t even bring that much money anymore since we lost the company.”

“Then how do you even get money?”

“Residuals for my dad’s work. Which isn’t a lot.”

Luz’s worries dim a bit as their conversation became seemingly neutral at best, condescending at worst.

“So you aren’t powerful enough to control politics of either realm but powerful enough to stay back and be a lazy bum all day.”

Luz’s anxiety returns, rushing toward them to give a big hug before Emira fights back.

“Are you guys having a good time?” Luz fake laughs with Viney and Emira following suit.

“Of course, so much fun!” Emira tries her best to seem happy. Yet her voice quivers in anger.

“Totally!” Viney does much of the same but drags her finger across her neck while looking dead into Emira’s eyes, signaling to Emira how much she wants her dead. In return, Emira summons a small blue flame as her eyes twitch.

“Ahem…” They look up to see a security guard, very displeased with their antics, starting to get louder and louder, gathering a crowd of people whispering ‘fight, fight, fight” over and over again before stopping.

“I’m going to have to ask you three to quiet down and leave you off with a warning. Do it again, and we will have to ask you to leave.” He walks off, dispersing the crowd around them. Viney and Emira immediately start to blame each other quietly.

“Great job Elmira!”

“It’s Emira! E. M. I. R. A. Emira!”

“I can spell dipshit.”

“If you can spell, then how come you can’t pronounce it fucking right?!”

“Because I don’t care, Phil.”

“ THAT’S NOWHERE NEAR CLOSE TO FUCKING EMIRA! ”

“According to nameberry.com, it is.” Viney has the website open on her phone as she reads all the names ‘close’ to Emira.

“Can you guys shut the fuck up before I end up charged with first-degree murder?” Luz pulls out a butter knife before putting it away as she realizes what they both are doing. “Are you two purposely trying to get us kicked out?” 

“...Maybe.” Both Viney and Emira smirk in unison. Luz was close to exploding, close to screaming, but she maintained her anger. She held her breath and let it out before she could pass out.

“Woah almost passed out there. Although I may have almost lost my composure, I have finally realized something.” Luz continued.

“Which is what?”

“You two bonded.” Luz’s smile grew bigger than their smirks from before. “You guys may have done this to avoid talking to each other. However, it motivated you guys to work together. So I think I can call this attempt a success!” Viney and Emira sigh in defeat as Luz walks past the two.

“This is your fault,” Viney said, walking away to catch up to Luz.

“My fault?!” Emira scoffs before sprinting after her.

“Now, now you two. I know just the thing that’ll make at least one of you two happy.” Luz says.

“Which is what?” 

“You’ll see.” They were back at the entrance. They were slightly confused as to why Luz was making her way to a button-

“ What, ” Viney thought. After some time passed, they heard something coming up. To Viney’s amazement, it was a big, long, and spacious elevator slowly arriving on their floor. When they entered the giant elevator, Viney freaked out. “THIS IS THE BEST THING I HAVE EVER SEEN, AHH!”

“Is it really- OWIE OWIE OWIE OWIE-” Emira was interrupted by Luz grabbing her arm and twisting it without a struggle to let Viney fully enjoy herself without Emira’s attempts to annoy both her and Luz.

The elevator stopped on the first floor of the building. It was pretty barebones for the most part, with there being only one odd structure made inside the building. However, when they entered the next area, their jaws dropped. The next art piece was a whole well-constructed city with trains and trams going around the city, while a long track circled the city with cars racing to the other side. The girls could not contain their excitement. They squeal, they are awed, and they are even out of breath. 

“OH, MY GOD! LUZ, LOOK AT THE TRAINS. THIS BUILD HAS TRAINS!” Emira was shaking out of the excitement of the tiny trains moving around.

“Look at all these amazing cars, so many cool toy cars!” Viney was so shaken. So excited that she started to tear up a bit.

“I knew they would enjoy it, right Stringbean?.” Luz clapped the end of Stringbean's tail. “You did it again Luz. You’re getting closer to fixing this relationship.”

“Excuse me ma’am, but can you tell your friends to please stop .” An odd-looking fella appears next to Luz. They seem to be an officer of some sort however, their face was covered.

“Oh, sorry, sir-”

“Wait a second, is that one of the Blights?”

“Erm, yes. Why do you ask?”

“Hm. Interesting.” The two stand there in silence while Emira and Viney pop around every angle at the small metropolis. Suddenly without warning, right when Luz was out of their view, she disappeared along with the officer. In a split second of Viney and Emira losing sight of Luz, she was completely gone. 

Viney wanted to ask Luz something but noticed that she was now gone. At first, she didn’t think much of it until she saw that her phone was left behind. Her heart starts to race, going from one thought to another, trying to reason this situation before taking a series of breathings.

“Blight! Blight!!! Come over here!” Viney loudly whispered, waving her arms around to no anvil. Emira was still excitedly popping around the small city until Viney grabbed her by the ear to whisper to her.

“Ow, the fuck are you-”

“Shut it. Luz is gone!” Viney whispers. 

“So what? She’s probably somewhere looking at art or something.”

“Without her phone?!” Viney holds the phone close to Emira, having her at a loss for words.

Her heartbeat rose, and her thoughts raced. She pushed Viney away to run outside, looking for Luz anywhere, ignoring security telling her to stop running. From the corner of her eye, she saw someone suspicious amongst the crowd. A tall figure wearing a long cloak that drags across the floor, causing them to stop every time due to everyone stepping on it. Emira ran after them as fast as she could. The figure noticed and quickly pulled out a gun, shooting it in the air as a warning shot. In a panic, they all ran in different directions, but despite that, Emira managed to tackle the shooter before they could do any harm. The cloak falls, revealing the shooter to be some kind of frog creature.

“What are you?! Who are you?! What have you done with Luz?! I want answers!” Emira grabbed the frog by the collar, shaking them while enlightening a blue flame on her hand.

“T-The Luz you seek is in that automatic vehicle!” The frog manages to spill out, pointing out to a van driving past car after car to escape quickly. Emira ran after it, running into Viney as she made her way through the Urban Light structure.

“Where’s Luz?”

“In that van! These weird frog demons have taken her!"

“I can never have a day where slice-of-life bullshit happens when you Blights or Luz are a part of my life!” Viney summons her palisman, preparing to take off. “Come on Blight! We got a Luz to save.”

“God, how come everyone is breaking this law but me?!”

“Are you complaining about us not following the law despite hating rules and the elite that make it?”

“No! I’m complaining because I don’t have a palisman, so I can bring it to break it!” Emira hops on behind Viney, going full speed to chase after the van. Meanwhile, in the van, the group celebrates with cocktails and cheers.

“Finally, brothers and sisters and those that don’t fit those labels, we have successfully found a worthy person to complete our rituals to our God! May our ancestors smile upon us!” One of the frogs said, followed by clapping by those around him. One of the members unzipped the bag that Luz was kept in so she could get enough air to breathe in. However, in a split second, Luz uses her raw strength to break the zip and jump onto the frog, having them in a chokehold.

“I may not have glyphs, but I have a shapeshifting snake and my muscles motherfuckers!” Luz jumps off him, smashing him to the side of the van, quickly knocking him out. Luz and Stringbean immediately began trying to fight off the frogs despite her being in such a claustrophobic space. But her fight against these weird frogs in cloaks soon ended, with them managing to overwhelm her, injecting her with something to have her snooze throughout their trip and throwing out stringbean.

“Sir! I got her! I got he-” One of the frogs celebrated before being struck by a ball of flame, quickly cooking up their brain on impact.

“What in God’s name?!” The driver jumped in fear, almost crashing into one of the cars.

“Sir! Those witches are after us!”

“What the fuck are you doing?!” Viney hits Emira’s hand away before she could shoot another flame ball.

“I’m attacking those goddamn frogs!” Emira tried to use another fire spell, but Viney stopped her away.

“Stop it, you dumbfuck! You could hurt Luz by hitting her with it or blow up the fucking car!”  Emira's eyes widened, realizing she was doing more harm than good, and quickly stopped. 

Right when the two were behind the van, the frogs opened the door with their guns aimed at them, right at their heads, looking dead at their eyes. If they didn’t move they would be dead, but Emira thought fast and made Viney fly crazy in a zig-zag, causing Viney to lose control. Viney was about to cuss Emira out; however, they crashed into a nearby alleyway because Viney attempted to get off the streets. 

(Now)

“What do you mean I got Luz captured?! It wasn’t my fault she got taken by some kind of frog demons that magically took her without us knowing!” Emira was quick to defend herself, shifting the blame off of her.

“Because if we just kept flying, you could’ve attacked them and saved Luz!” 

“While flying in a straight fucking line while staring death in the eye?! Oh, how fucking smart of you!” 

“Ok! Fine! Maybe that wasn’t smart of me. But I think we should stop arguing and search for Luz.”

“But you fucking started- UGH!”

“I said stop arguing!”

“I am!”

“Then shut the fuck up!”

“Ok!” 

Viney and Emira made their way out of the alleyway to see police cars blocking the streets as helicopters from both the LAPD and several news stations flew overhead them. They went back to the alleyway to hide from an LAPD copper that was scouting the area.

“Great. This attracted the attention of the cops. Fuck, now what?” Viney asked, with Emira refusing to answer, following her earlier instructions to stay quiet. “Seriously?! You’re gonna be this fucking petty when Luz is in danger?!”

“I’m not being petty! I seriously thought you wanted me not to talk at all!”

“...Holy shit, you’re more fucking stupid than I imagine.” Emira scoffed at Viney’s remarks, ignoring them to get back on the topic at hand. “I wonder if they know who they’re looking for?”

“Who knows, I was flying too fast for anyone to get a good look at us, but I’m sure we must have flown by a camera at least.” 

“Either way, we gotta get out of here without those cops seeing us.” Emira looked for any way out, staring at the entrance of sewage. 

“No. I don’t know what you take me for, but I’m not going inside that!”

“Haha, just fucking around with you. I figured out a way to replicate Luz’s invisibility glyph using a spell. Took a lot of studying but hey, I guess it paid off.” Viney looks at Emira, completely dumbfounded. 

“You…study?”

“Yes? I mean, how else was I getting good grades last semester?” Emira was left puzzled by Viney’s face of surprise but moved on. 

“Ok, so how are you gonna turn the both of us invisible?”

“Just hold my hand and don’t breathe or touch anything.” 

“I’m not holding your hand,” Viney said, crossing her arms while moving far from Emira.

“What are you? An elementary kid? Just hold my hand.” Emira reaches her hand out to Viney reluctantly.

“If I have to.” Viney rolled her eyes before she gripped tightly to Emira’s hand, taking a deep breath before Em could perform the spell. There they stood, present yet not seen.

They walk past the police, the news reports, the speculators, and the influencers using this opportunity to pose for some pictures because they’re poison to the earth. Going to another alleyway to let go of their breaths to become visible. The two quickly let go of each other's hands, almost pushing each other away.

“We got out of the scene of the crime. Now what?” Viney asked. Emira paced back and forward, preparing for an answer, but her train of thought was interrupted by someone walking toward them. 

“You guys know something about what happened here?” The mysterious man said, with Viney nor Emira didn’t know how to respond, just standing there in silence. “Look, kid. I’m no cop or with those frogs. I’m asking since we wanna know who this Luz kid is.” 

“Wait, how do you know her name?!” Emira was quick to ask, but the person hesitated.

“Answer my question first. Then I’ll tell you everything I know.” Emira looked at Viney in case she had any objections to it.

“If you say so.”

“Wait…run that by me again. There’s a dimension full of frogs?” Viney asked with Emira equally as puzzled. They were walking by what used to be a neighborhood, with residents sleeping outside or having a drink with friends.

“That’s our best guess so far. They call that place Amphibia or some shit.” The man said, visibly wearing a very budgeted typical rebel uniform with a colorful scarf covering his identity, only going by the name Benjamin. 

“So they aren’t frog demons….”

“Correct you are my friend,” Benjamin said while lighting a cigarette, taking a quick smoke before continuing to speak. “Those fuckers messed up the communities down here while invading that day with their shitty cartoony robots. And just when it seems like it was all over, these frogs had to appear out of nowhere.”

“But why do they have Luz?”

“I’ll explain once we reach the house.” 

“What?! But we have to do something fast now!”

“Don’t worry. We have everything under control. However, I do have something you might want.” Benjamin said, revealing Stringbean underneath her sleeve.

"Oh thank the Titan! Stringbean! You're ok!" Emira breathed a sigh of relief as she hugs and petted Stringbean, hissing happily.

They soon reach their destination, a barely standing house that looks rotten. The yard was full of small pieces of shrapnel and bullet cases that crunched beneath their shoes. The rebel knocks on the door, in the rhythm of Mario’s world 1-1 theme.

“Password.”

“Was the knock not enough?”

“After what you put me through, no.” The person behind the door said despite still opening the door for them.

“Say hello to Arlo, the hipster.”

“I’m not a fucking hipster. I hate hipsters.”

“Sure, whatever. Behind him is Russell, the son I never had.” Russell waved hello at them while organizing the ammo types.

“Are those actually your real names? Because if so, your parents must hate every single one of you guys while naming each of you,” Viney asked rhetorically.

“They did, can’t say the same about Russell though. However, they aren’t our real names, it's our codenames. We gotta stay hidden somehow.” 

“Say, Ben, what’s with the Blight kid and her friend coming down here homie,” Russell said, finishing putting away the last bullet.

“Our little friends here happen to be close with the recent kidnapping by that frog cult.” 

“Aw shit, really? Fuck man.”

“Wait a fucking second. Luz was taken by a frog cult?!"

“Yup. We don’t know much, but we know that recent disappearances across this area of downtown LA are connected to that frog cult-”

“And they never come out, wooooo” Arlo continued Benjamin’s explanation, making ghost noises for comedic effect.

“I would say we just go on a rampage and make frog soup, but I think that will put this Luz person in danger.”

“Why haven’t the police done anything about the frog cult? I know the LAPD isn’t the best, but I’m sure they would’ve done something if they kidnapped people from the northern side of LA.” Emira questioned.

“We aren’t sure. They don’t even respond to calls about this anymore, and all news stations actively avoid talking about it.” Benjamin answered.

“Which is why folks down here formed this rebel group, to do the jobs that cops are supposed to do since these….” Russel tried to finish his sentence but couldn’t

“These…what?” Emira asked

“These…fuck. For some reason, I can’t say the word I’m trying to say. It’s almost like some higher being is keeping me from saying it.” Everyone was confused at what Russel tried to say but moved on.

“I would say that we should just go in there gun blazing. However, unfortunately, we lost contact with the best heisters in the world, so we’re going to have to go old school with this.” 

“Just tell us what we have to do.” 

“Sister…” The frogs chanted as they surrounded Luz, barely waking up from her slumber. She jumped at the sight of the frogs in cloaks chanting while holding an upside-down Christian cross, causing her to fall. While falling, Luz discovered she was tied to a chair by her feet and arms. 

“Good afternoon, sister. You’re finally awake.”

“Who the hell are you, people?!” Luz screamed with her pupils dilating with fear and anxiety dominating her emotions.

“Do not worry, sister. We mean no harm.” Another frog said, walking behind Luz and started pushing her outside the dark room.

“Well, you harmed me by kidnapping me from my friends and my little buddy!” 

“We deeply apologize for that. We just wanted to know if you were worthy to participate in one of our group activities.” They pushed Luz outside of the room, immediately being welcomed by a statue of Jesus Christ as a frog, standing mighty above a makeshift pond with cult members praying to it. 

“What is up with you guys?” Luz didn’t know if she should be terrified at how weirdly obsessed they are with what seemed to be their interpretation of Jesus Christ or awed at the amount of work they must have put into building this.

“We are the enlightened. Finding our new lord, Jesus Christ. Doing deeds for the sake of his name and giving him offerings.” 

“I don’t like how vague you are.” Luz gulps, realizing she can’t do anything but hope that Emira and Viney are outside the building planning a breakout. All the while, the cult members explain their background.

“Back in Amphibia, we were led on a path of lies and deception by our old leader. We bought into his ideals of torturing the poor to satisfy the multi-dimensional gods from across the multiverse. Hoping that one day they’ll answer our calls to bring down King Andrias’ reign and rebirth our renaissance.” The cult member spoke, taking Luz from room to room, seeing each cultist's activities and most disturbingly, their punishments. “After discovering his lies, we tried to look for a way to escape his eventual wrath. After hearing about King Andrias’ plan to go to Earth, we hid in his castle and awaited our arrival. During the invasion, we were able to catch a ride with one of the bots to land nearby a church. Being welcomed by the arms of Jesus Christ and warned about the Beast that roams everywhere”

“The Beast being…?” Luz nervously questioned. The frog looks Luz dead in the eyes, tightening her grip on her shoulder.

“Humanity.” She coldly said, sending shivers down Luz’s spine. At that moment, Luz knew if help didn’t arrive soon, she was good as dead. The cult members took Luz to a dark room with candles surrounding what Luz assumed to be their leader. He was chanting softly before being interrupted by his followers.

“Master, we bring a possible offering to our Lord and Savior.” Luz attempts to stay silent, not making a single noise in fear of retaliation. The supposed master of the cult turned to examine Luz before asking her questions.

“Who are you, human?”

“Um…my name is Luz!” Luz chuckles nervously, trying to keep her happy-go-lucky persona despite this being her worst nightmare.

“Luz Noceda…you’re friends with Emira Blight, correct?”

“Y-Yeah! Great friends! After all, she is my future sister-in-law, haha!...” 

“Future sister-in-law, hm? Must mean you are a part of royalty.”

“I mean kinda since sometimes I steal her credit card to buy stuff, and then when she gets mad about it, I make puppy eyes which warms her heart to forgive me, but I wouldn’t say that I’m a part of royalty.” 

“But you benefit from it.”

“...Never really thought about it like that.” 

“You reek of youth with the benefits of connections to royalty. You make a perfect offering to our lord!”

“What?!” Luz immediately tried to loosen the ropes, but the cult members held her down. They dragged her close to a table with a large sheet covering what is revealed to be a machine that draws blood. They released Luz’s right arm, pinning it down by force as the machine slowly located her veins before the needle stabbed through her arm. 

Luz winches in pain and panics at the sight of her blood being transferred to a blood bag. The machine stopped, pulling out the needle from her arm. The frogs then grab the bag, opening its lid to pour it into a small cup for the master to consume. He takes a small sip, taste-testing Luz’s blood.

“Ring the bells, my children! Prepare for the ceremony! Gather everyone! Because tonight, we will rip her heart out and feast upon it as an offering to Jesus Christ!”

“Oh no, no, no! Please don’t! I don’t taste any good! Uh, uh, hearts aren’t healthy for you! Please reconsider! NOOOOO!” Luz’s screams echoed throughout the building before the bells silenced her screams. The ceremony is about to begin.

(A few minutes prior)

“There’s the first signal. Remember, look for a way inside the building before the second bell rings. Once you do, I want you two to find the perfect opportunity to save your friend, and we’ll be there for support if anything goes wrong. Got that?”

“I think so…?” Emira said dumbfoundedly, but Viney reassured them. 

“Don’t worry. We know what to do.” 

“Hope so. If not, I hope you have strong enough eardrums.” The rebel closed the door to the van., being driven off the property to somewhere out of the witches’ sight.

“Please don’t do anything stupid, Blight.” Viney nudges Emira to follow her as Stringbean begins to rest on Emira's shoulder; however, Emira walks in front of Viney to try to take charge.

“What the fuck are you doing?!”

“What does it look like?! I’m going to save Luz.” Emira tried to sprint quietly but was stopped by Viney.

"You heard what the guy said! We have to follow their plan!”

“And why should we?! We don’t know these people! For all we know, they could be working with these damn frogs!” 

“So you’re willing to risk Luz’s life by going straight into the building because you don’t trust these people who gave us this deliberate plan to help someone who they barely know?!” Emira ignored Viney’s question, walking away from the conversation. “Is this why you and Ed never had anyone besides yourselves? Because you’re so stupidly judgemental that you can’t trust anyone?” Viney said, trying to get her attendance. Much to her anticipation, Emira stopped in her tracks.

Emira was nearing her breaking point. She wanted to scream at Viney, scream about how she knows nothing about her, yelling at the top of her lungs. She didn’t care if it would alert the guards nearby. She wanted to duel with Viney right there. But she didn’t. She held her hand, counting the time needed to take a deep breath, and let it all out.

“What do you have against me?” 

“So I was right, huh?”

“Answer me.” Viney rolled her eyes at Emira's demands. 

“Really? Oh, Titan, I have a list of reasons to hate you, Emira Blight. First off, you’re a rich kid who had the privilege of never having to work for anything in your life! You can pull all kinds of mean pranks on everyone without ever having to worry about being expelled from school. Instead of helping Amity improve her behavior, you decide to torture her for your sick twisted amusement because you couldn’t handle the fact that she got all the attention. Worse of all, you left her and Luz to die in that library.” 

Viney got closer and closer while her voice rose over time. Her face was fuming while Emira stared down, barely being able to be reminded of her sins. What hurt her the most was hearing about the library incident. Of all the things she regretted deeply, the event at the library was the most regrettable thing she had ever done. 

“H-How…did you find out about that?”

“Skara. She told me everything that Amity said about you. I always hated you Blights for always being stuck up. Having everything you guys could ever want. But when I found out about what you did, I hated you the most.”

Emira stood there, an empty shell, staring down at the ground. Completely ashamed and exposed. The two stood there in silence, forgetting their mission to put aside differences so they could work together without any tension. 

“Look, I know nothing I say can excuse anything I did. I was a very…very horrible person but trust me when I say I have been trying to improve myself. I know it’s funny to say after saying to not trust those rebels, but I said it because I’m just out of it right now. Luz means a lot to me, and I don’t want to lose her to a bunch of cultists. She helped me change a lot and…I want her to continue changing all of us.”

Emira managed to let out a rare genuine smile. For the first time, she managed to open up about how she felt toward the young witch-training human. Emira was never really one for openly expressing how they felt towards someone, just sharing banter with her siblings, Luz, and her friends. So for Viney, seeing that she was willing to let herself be exposed, vulnerable to her despite sharing her loathe towards the Blights. 

“I….” Viney was interrupted by the sounds of the second bell ringing. Their attempts to resolve their tension, unfortunately, had them waste precious time looking for an entrance. Emira expected to be blamed and be at fault for wasting time, but instead, Viney simply hurried her up.

“Why are you just standing there?! Let’s go!” Viney grabbed her by the arm, dragging her for a bit before she managed to catch up to Viney’s speed. They slowed down as they got closer to the building so their footsteps wouldn't be heard. They look around the corner seeing cult members gathering together, talking as they wait in line to enter.

“Fuck, we have to find another way in!” Viney whispered.

“Or we can just disguise ourselves as the frogs,” Emira suggested.

“How if we look nothing like frogs?” Emira’s eyebrows rose at the healer, leaning on a wall. 

“Did you forget who you’re talking to? I’ll have you know I have the entrance exam at Hexside because of my fantastic illusion skills!” Emira bragged.

“Can you create a labyrinth like Gus?”

“...No. But I can disguise us as frogs, all we need is a creepy long black cloak, and we are set to go.” 

“Ok, even if you can do that, there’s no way they’re just gonna let us through that easily!”

They did indeed let them go inside the building easily. Turns out that if you can pull a convincing enough illusion and have a black cloak, it’s enough to fool any cult guards. Now in their frog forms, both Viney and Emira were quick to follow the members to the ceremony. All the while the frogs prepared Luz to be sent to the main hall.

“LET ME GO!!! OR ELSE YOU ALL WILL REGRET THIS!!!” Luz struggled while being held down on a movable table by a large group of frogs. They tied her down to prevent her escape. Despite the ropes being tightened Luz still tried to break out of them. She pushed and pushed until she knew she was in front of an audience in the hundreds. Cheering and applauding the second she came to vision.

Luz was at the very center of the main hall, close to a large wide staircase structured similar to the ones seen at the Aztec temples. With wooden chairs on each side for all the members to be situated while still having a good view of the soon-to-be sacrificed human. In Luz’s eyes, it was all over. In Emira and Viney’s eyes, however, the rescue was about to begin.

“What now? There are hundreds of frogs here! We can’t stop this without them blocking our way to Luz.” Viney whispered to Emira. Emira pondered for a bit but saw that the frogs pulled out a table full of knives differing from different parts of the world, and an idea popped up.

“Let’s be the first to volunteer with whatever they’re gonna do with those knives.” 

“W-What?!” Then what came was the third and final bell rang. The crowd cheered, singing several prayers at the top of their lungs. They begin to calm down as the leader of the cult enters. 

He raised his hands, signing it was time for prayer. They kneed down on both knees, with Viney and Emira following suit. One by one, they chanted in some foreign language that neither of the two witches could understand. Instead of trying to speak the words, they lip-sync them.

Meanwhile, in Luz’s end, she utterly lost her shit. Her breaths became more rapid and frequent, and her entire body shook in terror. She remembers listening to stories of ex-cult members explaining their horrible experiences with them but never expected that one day, she’ll have an experience of her own surrounding cults.

“Thank you all my wonderful children for coming here tonight. Today Jesus Christ has given us an offering, in return for our acts and deeds. I present to you all the mighty human! Full of youth and rich in blood, straight from royalty!” The crowd goes wild, cheering as they chanted ‘Eat the rich’ over and over again. “2 lucky guests will ascend these stairs to join us to drink her blood! And that’ll be these two frogs!” The light shines upon Emira and Viney, much to their surprise. “These members are new around these parts, so how about we give them a first great impression of our society!” The leader continued.

The crowd goes wild, encouraging the two to begin making their first steps on the staircase. The second they moved, the crowd cheered. Stomping their feet together in sync with the footsteps of both Viney and Emira.

“Are we seriously about to drink Luz’s blood?!” Viney whispered.

“Shh, don’t worry about it.”

“How can I not worry about it?!”

Before they knew it, they met eye-to-eye with the top members of the Christ Cult. Each holding their cup of Luz’s blood, with the leader holding two reserved for them. He walks up to the two, passing them each a cup.

“We are happy that you have decided to join us, my children. Your mind has awakened to the truth about our world. May we all drink in peace.” 

One by one, each member begins chugging down the blood of the human. Viney and Emira hesitated until the leader pats their shoulders, attempting to reassure them. They both gulped before they slowly drank their best friend’s blood. Luz knew that there was no point in trying anymore. She accepted her faith, staring death in the eyes. 

“My newcomers, I'd like to give you the opportunity of a lifetime: deliver us her heart!” The master shouted, echoing before the cheers returned. They led the two disguised frogs to a table full of knives. Emira and Viney were overwhelmed by how quickly the ceremony was happening. They could barely hear themselves think with all the screaming and chanting from hundreds of frogs.

“Right now?” Viney whispers.

“Not yet,” Emira said, grabbing a tactical knife from the table with Viney following her. She was stopped midway, however, as the cultists stopped Viney from getting close to her.

“You’re staying with us,” The members said, stopping Viney from following Emira. Emira looked at Viney, questioning what to do next. Viney nods her head in Luz’s direction.

Luz looked at her supposed killer with fear, breathing what she thought was her last breaths of air. She looked away, closing her eyes tightly to prepare for her seemingly impending doom. Praying quietly in Spanish while the crowd chanted ‘Rip and Tear!’, stomping their feet in sync. The chants go by faster as Emira raises the knife in the air, causing the top members, even the leader to begin chanting the phrase.

“Rip, rip, and tear! Rip, rip, and tear! Rip, rip, and tear!”

Even though Emira was preparing to use her series of spells, all of this was nerve-wracking. She could barely move, let alone think. Her heart was telling her to begin fighting back, but her brain could barely process it. 

Time slowed down in her mind as she began to attack. She threw the knife at one of the members closest to Viney, being impaled straight in between his eyes. Emira then used a smoke spell that covered the top of the main hall, causing everyone below to panic and rise from their chairs to bare arms. Viney quickly took down the 2 members close to her, smashing their heads and leaving them knocked out.

“Protect the master!” One of the members shouted, pulling the leader away from sight with the last 3 reminding members to run after them. Emira quickly started to try to tie Luz but met little to no success.

“What the hell?! Who are you frogs?!” 

“Don’t worry Luz it’s us!” Emira undid the illusion, going back to their normal witch selves. Returning Stringbean to Luz as she hisses rapidly.

“Stringbean! Oh thank god- Wait, DID YOU DRINK MY FUCKING BLOOD?!”

“I’ll explain when we get out of this!”

“Maybe it’ll be faster if you had a knife?!” Viney pulled out the knife that impaled one of the members and without thinking, threw it, almost stabbing Luz.

“OH MY GOD, I’M SO SORRY!

“WHAT THE FUCK VINEY??? DON’T THEY TEACH YOU NOT TO MESS AROUND WITH KNIVES?!” Luz shouted while Emira grabbed the knife to cut the ropes off Luz.

“No?! Why would we when we have magic?!” 

“I don’t think you need to get an education to know that you shouldn’t throw a fucking knife,” Emira added his own two cents at this, having Viney roll her eyes. Once Luz was freed from the table, a couple of guards from the left side charged toward the witches armed with knives.

Luz jumped off the table to lunge at one of the guards, already choking them out with her bare arms. Emira barely managed to tackle another one who tried to attack Luz, taking the knife away from the guard and slitting his throat. Meanwhile, Viney, thanks to her brute strength, alone kicked two guards to the ground and stomped both of their heads, almost crushing them into mush.

“Titan, how strong are you?!” Emira was amazed by Viney’s strength. Totally not feeling anything remotely related to physical attention. Just feelings of platonic admiration for Viney’s wonderful…beautiful…muscles.

[What is this feeling?]

“Strong enough, Blight! Now let’s move before more come to surround us!” Viney leads the way, with Luz and Emira following her. On their way to escape, they continued to fight off cult member after cult member, each with its own challenges. Almost being stabbed, shot, punched, and kicked out of duty but still standing with a couple of scratches and light bruises.

After what felt like hours of running throughout the building, they found the main entrance surrounded by several statues of a frog Jesus Christ. They rushed their way to the out world. However, they were met with strong resistance from frogs armed with AK-47s aimed at the trio. Soon enough, they were surrounded at every corner by frogs holding guns.

“Emira Blight. What an unexpected surprise.” The master walked toward the witches with Emira and Viney shielding Luz from the frogs around her. “Please, children, don’t make this harder than it needs to be.”

“Oh, I will. You frogs aren’t getting any closer to Luz!”

“My child, I sense a great disturbance from your aura.”

“I’m not about to get pep talked by some craze Christain frog from another dimension.”

“May the Lord have mercy on your soul if you choose to not let him cleanse you of your greed and angst.”

“You guys wanted to eat my heart!” Luz interjects herself into the standoff. “If anything, y’all motherfuckers need Jesus!”

“Zip it, human. Now, what will it be? Will you give us your human, or will your souls be swallowed whole by the demons beneath us?” 

There was dead silence from the trio’s end while the frogs murmured and cursed at them. Emira and Viney, although show a face of being fearless, were scared shitless. They had no plan to get out of this, only hoping that the rebels they met will arrive soon-

“FUCK YOU, HIPSTERS!” A loud yet faint scream was heard before the same van from earlier drove through the wall before hitting the master, squishing his guts out as the car crashed into the wall.

“Well…that wasn’t the most goriest thing I've seen in my life.” Viney and Emira turned slowly to look at Luz, trying to process how this ray of sunshine could run into anything remotely vio-

“Oh wait, you spent most of your time on the internet. Makes sense.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

Saved by the immediate sounds of gunshots. The trio rushed into the nearest cover as bullets traveled everywhere, being exchanged between frogs and rebels. The building became a warzone that Emira, Viney, and Luz had to escape from. 

“Hey, kid! Looks like you fuckers are still alive.” Benjamin said after sliding towards them behind the cover. “You guys have to get out here before the cops come!”

“What about you guys?!” Viney asked.

“Don’t worry. We've been evading the LAPD for months now! Just go through that hole we created and run as fast as you can!” The three nodded their heads, but before they ran for dear life, but were stopped by Ben for one last thing. “Hey, one last thing. You guys forget a thousand things every day. Make sure this is one of ‘em. Got it? Now go!” 

Benjamin jumped up and began to give covering fire to have the witches escape. They run and run, going through the hole to the outside world. However, one frog tackled Luz and barely scratched the skin off of her leg with a knife. Luz punched him away before falling to the ground due to the pain of her scarred leg. Emira and Viney rush to Luz’s aid, pulling her away from the frog.

“I have been dying to taste human blood for years. Only for you two bloody dirty devil worshippers to drink it all!” He screamed out, angered by the fact of how little blood was left on the knife.

“Jokes on you. We didn’t!” Emira pulled out the same two cups from earlier, still full of Luz’s blood.

“Wait, what did we drink then?!”

“Just normal water.”

“Oh, thank god you didn’t drink it. That would’ve been weird- WHAT THE FUCK!” The frog grabbed one of the cups away from Emira, having one spilled on her shirt. He slurped it down his throat, drinking the blood in one single gulp, making weird noises of satisfaction and giggling once he finished his drink.

“Thank you for this glorious opportunity. I WILL FOREVER STAY YOUTHFUL-” He says seconds before getting shot in the face.

“...Was that the goriest thing you have seen?”

“Almost…”

They stood there for a bit before hearing the sounds of police sirens and helicopters arriving at the scene. Viney quickly picked up Luz, and the 2 booked it before the cop cars arrived at the front of the building.

“Ow!”

“I said hold still, Luz!”

Viney and Emira tried their best to heal Luz’s scar somewhere in an alleyway. She was lucky her cut wasn’t big enough to bleed out a huge amount of blood, but the two wanted to try to heal it before they headed home. 

“I think Luz can walk now. As for the scar, it has to heal on its own.”

“Shit, Camila is going to kill me….” Emira started biting her thumb, worried about the dreaded chancla that Luz always talked about.

“Don’t worry. I’ll just say I accidentally cut myself.” Luz said, slowly getting up despite her leg still in pain.

“I hope they buy it. I should’ve known the moment I was with you guys, my day would’ve been crazy.” Viney chuckled, patting Luz’s head softly to not put too much pressure on Luz’s leg.

“I just wish you guys could’ve got along by the end of this though….” Luz was disappointed in her failed attempt to get the two to at least become acquainted with one another. However, Viney begs to differ.

“Well…I don’t mind starting over knowing that Emira isn’t so bad.”

“Really?!” Luz jumped in the air in excitement. However, she fell once she legged because of her scarred leg. Emira let out a small ‘huh’ surprised by Viney’s words, seeing that she reached out for a high five. 

“What do you say, Blight?”

For a bit, Emira stood still, intrigued by Viney’s offer but more so by her face. A small amount of the cold night wind blew Viney’s hair enough to make it follow the waves of the air. Emira battled her instinctive need to let out a single red-shaded blush at the sight of a beautiful girl. She smiled back at the healer, softly high-fiving her hand.

“I don’t see why not.” Luz cheered in excitement., hugging the two, causing her to be very close to Viney. Viney didn’t notice it since she was busy giggling at Luz still maintaining her child-like self, but Emira’s face became blood red, letting out a gasp.

[What are these things that I’m feeling????]

Luckily when the hug ended Emira’s blush went away. They said their goodbyes after they all fist bump one another. Viney sneakily rides off to the skies on her staff, making sure to avoid the cops from earlier. Emira aids Luz as they soon walk to a nearby bus station to take them home.

It was now midnight in LA. Luckily on their way back to the hotel, Emira and Luz didn’t run into more trouble. When they entered the elevators, they tried to make themselves look semi-presentable, as if they didn’t fight off some frogs in a cult. Luz even walked on her own without gripping Emira’s arms when they made it to their floor. However, when they entered Luz’s room, Camila was there, waiting for them.

“Oh! Camilaaaaa. Fancy seeing you awake at this time!” Emira gave a quick fake smile yet her quivering voice revealed fear.

“Where were you two all day today?” Camila said deadpan, crossing her arms while tapping her shoe rapidly onto the floor.

“Don’t worry, mama! I was just hanging out with Emira and my other friend Viney! Haha…” Luz tried to take over the conversation from Emira.

“And your cut mija?”

“We were messing around, and I accidentally cut a bit of my skin but don’t worry! We weren’t doing anything dangerous!”

“I think I beg to differ.” A new voice interjects into the conversation. But to Emira, it sounded familiar. Coming from beneath the shadows was the one and only; Casey.

“W-What? I thought you were spending your vacation in Vegas?” Emira said, surprised to see them again.

“I was. However, some things came up that required my presence to be needed here. One of them being your run-in with officers in London and now in South Los Angeles.” Casey then pulled out photos from security cameras of their teleport incident.

“Emira Blight, I think you know I am willing to help you and your family, especially because our current legislation took your father’s company away from him. However, I advise you not to make me do something as time-consuming as bribing the police to look the other way. Understand?”

“Yes.” Emira gulped. “If there’s anything I can do to make it up to you, just let me know.” Emira tried to ease Casey’s anger by chuckling.

“There is a way, but lucky for you, I still need to iron some details out. So expect a call from me soon. Thank you, Ms.Noceda, for letting me in your presence. Nice to finally meet an actual responsible adult.” Casey glares at Emira as she says that, opening the door to leave but paused for a moment.

“Oh, I’ve been meaning to ask. Is Lilith your mom-” Emira closed the door as they asked. “I’ll take that as a maybe.” They said, walking away from their room.

“Ay Yi Yi, niñas. You guys got mixed up with a cult?!” Camila shook her head, rubbing her head from the stress

“We didn’t mean to mama!” Luz whined, hugging her mother. 

“Then what about the teleportation incident?!”

“That one was my fault, Camila. Don’t get angry at Luz.” Emira scratched the back of her head in embarrassment.

“I’m not mad guys. I’m just disappointed.” In a split second, both Luz’s and Emira’s hearts shattered

They are now sitting in the time-out corner, both hugging their legs

“You really think your mom is disappointed in us?” Emira’s eyes began to shed tears.

“N-Nooo?” Luz started to sniff. They were on the edge of tears before they began to brawl their eyes out, begging for Camila to forgive them.

“Woah, look at this dude!”

“‘Police arrive at a battle between rebels and frogs that were seemingly a part of a strange Christain cult’ holy shit. You don’t think….”

“That they were from Amphibia? But how?! The calamity box is gone now!”

“It looks like we gotta call to get some answers….”

Chapter Text

Emira awoke from her slumber. Raising from the shallow waters that, no matter what, never wet her clothing.

“Great, another dream….”

Since the beginning of their trip, these dreams have recurred every night. Every time her eyes begin to close as her body starts to ease itself to sleep, keeping her from ever having a goodnight’s rest.

“Let’s just get this over with.” Emira groans, walking into the endless abyss as the waters create little waves from her walks. Not even a minute into the walk, Emira falls into a deeper area. Panic ensues, trying to swim back to the surface despite never knowing how to swim let alone float. But she soon gives in, sinking effortlessly into the depths of the water.

“ Emira….”

Emira awakens again, this time laying on the floors of what seems to be the Blight Manor. The lighting in the manor flickered. The light was so dim that it could only shine a small radius on the floors. Emira walked the empty hallways without a current objective.

“I see you….” 

Emira stopped dead in her tracks, looking around in search of the mysterious voice that called out to her, circling her surroundings. Without realizing it, the environment behind her has changed into an open door leading to an endless staircase. 

An arm grabbed onto her legs, causing her to fall. She quickly grabbed onto the edges of the doorframe, trying to fight off the person dragging her down the staircase but was swallowed into the dark void, screaming along the way. 

Finally, Emira woke up in reality, getting up rapidly. She kicked her feet into the air, causing her to make her bed a complete mess. She held her chest firmly, trying to breathe at a normal pace. Emira got off her bed, quietly running to the bathroom to water her face with cold water. Her breathing normalized, closing her eyes to aid the pace. Looking at the clock on her scroll revealed that it was 5 AM.

[An hour's worth of sleep…that’s the most amount of sleep I’ve gotten since this trip.]

As Emira yawns, she stretches her muscles, making her way to the kitchen to get a glass of water. She leans onto the table and stares off the living room window, watching the Los Angeles morning traffic start to flood the highways and streets. The skylines dim their lights as the sun begins to rise on the city of angels.

[Might as well read a book or something to pass the time.]

Emira walked to the shelf to grab her book about Mount Everest. She was already a couple of pages in but hadn’t had the chance to continue reading it since the day at the beach. She left off on the chapter discussing whether or not George Mallory was the first person to reach the top of Mount Everest, leaving it open-ended for readers to come to their own conclusions. 

Emira wasn’t interested in answering the convoluted question, but rather more interested in Mallory’s determination to climb the mountain. There wasn’t some long complicated reason to be the first-ever person to reach the top. Not for clout, money, glory, fame, or recognition. In his supposed words: “Because it’s there.”

Something about those 3 words struck a core with the oldest Blight. How could something so simple motivate a person to risk life and limb to climb the tallest mountain in the human realm in the middle of nowhere? Then again, Luz practically took the same amount of risk when she stayed in the demon realm.

Luz lived in a realm far from home, where everyone and everything wanted to eat or kill her, coming close to death several times so she could connect and help everyone—taking down a dictatorship and facing a God to save the Boiling Isles. All without a reward, just the satisfaction of seeing everyone safe.

[Humans are truly an enigma sometimes…]

Emira’s eyes began to weaken, and her head slowly fell to her shoulder. Soon enough, she was asleep once again. Her dreams began to take shape, weirdly in the form of a camera perspective, pointing at Emira and a darkened corner. Red glowing eyes suddenly appeared, causing Emira to attempt to move her body but only be able to groan. 

Then the person runs into the Blight, tackling her off the chair. Emira woke up before she could’ve seen the person that attacked her in the dream. She jumped from her chair yet fell to the ground, looking at the same corner from the nightmare, but this time illuminated down by the afternoon sun.

Checking the time on her phone revealed that it was 12 PM, way past the time they had to wake up. Emira rushed to her siblings to wake them up, ignoring what happened in her dream; however, they were gone. The beds were made, with the coverings neatly wrapped around the bed. Confused, she searched around the house to find that there was a McDonald’s bag with a deluxe breakfast meal waiting for her. 

[I guess they already left without me. At least they got me food though.]

She suddenly remembered that she had received a couple of text messages from someone. That someone being Luz.

“ Hey, Emira! We went out to pick up my friend who was just arriving at the airport! We wanted you to come, but we saw that you were still sleeping. We know you don’t really get much sleep, so we decided just to leave you alone. Sorry about that Em, but I hope the breakfast we got you makes up for it! <3”

[Ugh…I’m making everyone worried about me. Should I do something about my sleep schedule?...No! The problem is that everyone is focusing on me and not on themselves! I’ll show them for worrying about my stupid little unexistent issues! You know what? I’m going to meet up with Luz’s friend right now all by myself!]

Emira marches her way out the door preparing to head to the airport…before realizing that she hadn’t showered yet.

[Nevermind! I’m going to practice basic hygiene and then go to the airport!]

“Oh my god! I’m so excited!” Luz shivered and shook, her body full of excitement at the thought of her new best friend finally meeting her family face to face. “I just know she’s gonna love every single one of you!”

“Sounds like I don’t need to build up the energy to gain her liking then.” Edric let out a huge sigh of relief since he wasn’t exactly sure what to expect from Luz’s friend. No one is beside the Nocedas.

“Based on how much you told me about her, I think it’ll be fun to have her around in our group.” Amity giggled as she watched her girlfriend barely maintain her extreme level of joy. 

“Well, she has her own group of friends she has known since pre-k! She said that she was going to introduce me to them later on!” Luz said. However, soon enough, her new best friend had just arrived without her knowledge.

“Ohhh, it’s sooner than you think!” Luz’s friend said, speaking behind her. They all look to see her. 

Her green skirt flowed with the AC air that surrounded her. She seemed to be about the same height as Willow although that may be due to her white boots giving her a couple of inches. Over her shoulder, she held a green shoulder bag with pins of Sakura from Naruto and Bakugou from My Hero Academia.

“Marcy!!!” Luz shouted, running towards her and tackling her in a hug. “You’re finally here!” 

“It’s good to be back in LA.” Marcy giggled. “Soooo, who are your friends?” Marcy turned to see everyone who gazed upon her.

“Oh, right! Well, first we have my beautiful awesome-”

“Amazing girlfriend named Amity Blight?” Marcy finished Luz’s description of her lover as she grinned. “Luz talks about you all the time.” Marcy reached her hand out for Amity to shake hands with her.

“And here we have my two best friends in the whole entire world, Gus and Willow!” Luz hugged the two witches as she talked about them.

“Oh, Gus! Is it true that you can make a Silent Hill-like labyrinth?!” Marcy asked the young illusionist.

“Yup! I even learned how to make some of the monsters.~” Gus rubbed his hands together with Marcy hopping from glee.

“I think you already know about my best siblings in the world, Vee and Hunter?” 

“Oh, of course! How can I forget these precious bad but sad boys!” Marcy pinched Hunter and Vee’s cheeks, with Hunter groaning while Vee giggled. 

“It’s nice to see you again, Marcy!” Vee and Hunter said. Vee then hugged Marcy as a greeting while Hunter rolled his eyes. However, Marcy's attention was soon diverted. She spotted the handsome Edric Blight. Even without his sister, he alone could cause any person to have a bisexual/pansexual panic.

“O-Oh, hi there.~” Marcy made finger guns towards the Blight as she made her way towards him before tripping to the ground. “I’m ok!” Marcy jumps quickly before anyone can rush towards her aid. “Wait, where's the other one?”

“You mean Em?” Edric asked.

“Yeah! I remember Luz mentioning you having a twin sister.”

“I’M RIGHT HERE!” Emira barges in, out of breath, with her messy hair moving all over the place as dark eye bags surround her eyes. “The one and only Emira motherfucking Blight.”

“...Is she good?”

“No. She’s supposed to be SLEEPING !” Luz pushed Emira away with ease as Emira’s strength was so low thanks to her lack of rest. “Come on, Em; you have your chance to get to know Marcy better when you sleep.”

“What do you mean? I got plenty of sleep-” Emira then passes out, falling onto Luz’s arms as Emira snores. 

“I can’t deal with this anymore, Alador!”

[Huh?...]

Emira’s eyes suddenly opened, greeted by the same hallways from before. Abominations roam the manor, passing by Emira as she stands there, processing the moment.

[Another dream…]

“Odalia, calm down. It was just a dream.”

“No, it wasn’t! Stop lying to me, Alador!”

[Odalia?... Dad?]

Emira made her way toward their voices, up the stairs to their bedroom. She avoided the abominations passing by, trying to sneak around them despite knowing she was not in her dream. Emira gasped at the sight of a younger Lilith overhearing her parents arguing. Emira instinctively tries to hide, but Lilith seemingly spots her.

“Emira? Why are you up this late at night?” Lilith whispers, walking towards Emira. Emira tried to talk her way out of this before hearing someone young speaking.

“I…” Emira’s eyes widened. She looked behind her to see a younger version of herself standing before her. Young Emira was picked up by Lilith, being taken to her and Edric’s bedroom. 

“Come on, let’s get you back to bed.”

“Are mom and dad fighting again?”

Lilith stops in her tracks, looking at young Emira’s eyes with concern about her parents. Lilith stutters for a bit as baby Emira tilts her head in confusion.

“Don’t worry about it.” That was all Lilith could manage to say, walking down the stairs trying to whisper a lullaby to get the young Emira to sleep.

-

Emira awakens in her bedroom, not out of fear but rather out of shock. She sat there on her bed, confused.

[I don’t remember that….]

Emira got up to drink another glass of water, resting on the table to think about that memory.

[Surely I would remember that, right? I mean, it's not like my brain would actively try to bury some bad memories deep inside my head to shine more on the bright ones. Haha….right?]

Her phone vibrates as a message is received. Emira looks to see a series of text messages from none other than Lilith. Her heart skips a beat, hesitating to even leave Lilith’s texts on read but eventually checks to see what she said.

“Hey. Are you awake yet? Just asking. Cause like. You know. If you had a nightmare again or something, I’m here to talk with you. Just knock at my door.”

Emira didn’t know if she should respond to Lilith. They had promised one another to try to start over things with each other. However, she doesn’t know if she’s ready to let out what’s really wrong with her, despite not knowing some of the reasons why,

[Fuck it. Not like I can make it to wherever everyone else is right now.]

Emira sat in complete silence, waiting for Lilith to come by with some tea for them. She looked around her neatly tightened room in the hotel, sparklingly clean from top to bottom. Lilith arrives with the tea, slowly walking to her seat.

“I um…I brought some tea! It helps ease the mind, you know.”

“Thanks? I guess.” Emira grabbed the cup of tea, sipped it, and placed it on the table. She stared at her small reflection in the teacup, avoiding looking at Lilith despite being there to talk to her. Lilith senses that from her, trying to start up a conversation to make her feel comfortable.

“It’s nice to see you again. Although I wish you were acting a bit like your old self.” Lilith smiles at Emira as she raises her eyes up to look at Lilith.

“What do you mean?”

“You know; the cool, care-free attitude with a playful bad-girl side. Breaking laws and rules 24/7!” Lilith said as Emira only gave a blank stare before remembering her past behavior.

“Oh yeah. I guess….” Emira took another sip of her tea, looking down at it trying to gather the courage to say something. “If I'm being honest with myself, I think I acted that way because I just wanted the attention.”

“O-Oh. I’m sorry.”

“No, no. It’s fine.”

The silence returns. With neither being able to look at one another.

“Is there a reason why you wanted attention?” Lilith asked.

“I…I don’t know.”

Lilith tilted her head in confusion while Emira’s body stiffened. She became afraid, lost in her thoughts, trying to process her memories to locate the reasons why she acted the way she did.

“Ahem, I’m sorry for getting off-topic. You wanted to ask me something?” Lilith said, seeing how Emira was beginning to feel uncomfortable.

“Oh right…. So just this recently, I had this strange dream. I was back in the old manor, feeling like I got teleported back in the past. I heard Odalia and dad arguing, so I went upstairs and saw you. At first, I thought you were looking at me until I saw a younger version of myself.” 

When Emira mentioned Lilith, she froze, looking down, away from Emira. Lilith was unprepared to answer Emira’s question.

“My younger self asked you if they were fighting again. That was the last thing I remember from that dream…. What were they fighting about Lilith?”

“I-I really don’t know, dear.” Lilith stuttered, leaving Emira dumbfounded. She felt in her gut that Lilith was lying to her face. Emira gritted her teeth and smashed the table, causing the tea to spill.

“Bullshit! You know something, don’t you?!”

“Emira, please. I’m being honest with you.”

“No, you’re not!”

“I don’t know, Emira!”

“STOP LYING!”

“ I’M NOT! ” Lilith smashed her fists onto the table, breaking it in half as she stood tall in front of the Blight. “I don’t know! Every time after Amity’s practice, I hear them argue about something. One day is something about Odalia, and the next is about you guys, but I never get to hear what they’re saying in full detail! I’m not hiding anything from you.”

They both stood there, looking at the broken table. Emira and Lilith were both breathing heavily after their short screaming match. Lilith looked at Emira with heartbroken eyes as she saw her shed a tear.

“I’m sorry, Emira-”

“Don’t be. It’s fine. It’s my fault anyway. I’m just mad that I never have the answers for anything wrong about me.” Emira gave a sad smile to Lilith, walking away and leaving the room. Lilith didn’t try to stop her, letting Emira return to her room.

When Emira closed the door, she dropped to the floor onto her knees. She wept silently as she could, to keep quiet and not worry Lilith any longer. Despite her effort though, Lilith knew that Emira was already shedding tears. Barely being able to hear Emira’s sniffs and whimpers.

[Why am I like this?...]

“ Emira. ”

[Not again. Please just let me rest.]

Disobeying orders, her eyes open. She rests upon clear waters, reflecting the night sky. Not a cloud in sight. Emira stands up to stare at the waves of the Milky Way Galaxy. Nothing made her scared or anxious. For once in her life, she felt calm. 

[I wish I had more dreams like this.]

“Emira. ”

A voice called for her again, seemingly from behind her. Emira quickly turned to see a figure wearing a long cloak with her face covered somehow by the shadows of their red hair. Emira’s curiosity took over, making her walk toward the figure. As Emira grew closer, the figure reached out to her with its hand. Emira instinctively did the same.

Emira got closer and closer, now seeing that figure look feminine, wearing a white tailcoat vest exposing her belly, a dark blue skirt matching the blue-colored thigh-high stockings, and white boots with a red tip and heel. She was about to grab their hand, about to ask them who they were and where she came from until-

-

Emira suddenly woke up from her dream, confused since she remembers falling asleep on the floor. She stretched her arms and let out a big yawn, feeling relieved for once in her life but still pondering about the dream.

[Who was that person…. It doesn’t matter. At least I got some good amount of sleep for once.]

Emira smelled something coming from the kitchen table. The smell of nice baked bread with cheese and red sauce with pepperoni on top. On the table was a nice large pizza with a bag of breadsticks and brownies next to it. A little sticky note on the pizza revealed that Lilith got her food as a way to say sorry to her.

A smile begins to form on Emira’s face. She figured that Lilith had to be involved with her being asleep on her bed. A memory comes back to her of when she fell asleep doing homework when she was 10. Being carried by Lilith afterward, softly placed on her bed, covering her with several blankets as it was cold that day.

[God, she has good blackmail on me now.]

Emira laughed to herself but soon died down, remembering why she stood up all night doing homework that day, why she worked herself to the bone despite the cold traveling throughout her body.

“Emira, your grades are falling in one of your classes again.”

“Is a B not good enough for you?!”

“Of course not. It’s an embarrassment really considering your younger sister could achieve more beyond a B. Yet you’re here are, older than her and have yet to gain an ounce of wisdom.”

“That’s because you overwork her to be perfect in every field imaginable! You know what?! I don’t care anymore! If you’re going to give me shit for not being 100% perfect and be biased towards Mittens, then why should I even report to a trashy hag such as yourself-”

Emira’s smile returned to a frown. Rubbing her cheeks as she remembered the slap she received from Odalia. Her hunger intensifies thanks to her memory. Growling and glaring from her stomach alerted her to eat. She began to munch down a slice of pizza while staring down at a reflection of herself.

[What a pig…]

“Oh my gosh! So this is where you guys are staying?!” Marcy was awed at the hotel's interior where the Nocedas + Blights were staying. “All my family got was a decent Airbnb nearby, but wow! How could you guys afford this?”

“Emira got it for us! We were initially going to get an Airbnb, but Emira insisted that we should get a hotel.” Luz explained.

“Wow! Emira sounds like a cool guy! It’s sad that I didn’t get a chance to get to know her better.”

“I think she’s awake by now. Why not pay a visit to her right now?”

“Really?! Let’s go!” Marcy grabbed onto Luz’s hand and pulled her as she ran up the stairs straight to Blight’s room. “You do the honors, my friend!” Marcy bowed down to Luz.

“How did you know what room she was staying in?”

“...Determination,” Marcy whispers under her breath.

“Ok? Well, without further ado! Reintroducing; Emira Blightttttttttt-” Luz was ready to see a breathless Marcy, having her heart stop to process the amount of bisexual/pansexual panic Emira could create. Only to see Marcy be very concerned.

“Are you sure Emira isn’t always this bad?”

“Huh? Oh my god!”

Emira was a complete mess , with her hair being full of grease. Some pizza sauce stained her left cheek and shirt, holding a piece of brownies in her hand. Her snores louden the room, sniffing as her cheeks were stained by her tears. As Luz shouts, Emira awakens but falls to see Marcy and Luz in disbelief.

“Oh! Why hello there!” Emira chuckles.

“What happened?!”

“I got hungry, and Lilith brought me food, so I just ate it all in one go. Not too hard to guess. I would care about my appearance before someone new, but I just can’t bother right now. So if you excuse me, I’m going to bed.” Emira waddles her way back to her bedroom

“Um…excuse me for a moment, Marcy.” Luz catches up to Emira. Despite feeling awkward, Marcy's eyes soon turned to the eaten brownies.

“Wait, what’s that in the brownies?” 

“Huh?” Both Emira and Luz said in unison. Marcy examines the brownie, smelling it and causing her to cough.

“THIS IS A BADLY MADE EDIBLE!” Marcy shouts at the point of her lungs. Luz’s eyes widened, rushing to the brownie and snapping it in half to see the badly stuffed weed. Both Marcy and Luz turned to look at the now blood-red eyes of the Blight.

“Oh.” Were Emira’s last words before dropping to the ground. Passing out on the floor.

“EMIRA!” Marcy and Luz both screamed. Shaking her head to wake her up.

“WHAT DO WE DO?!”

“I DON’T KNOW???? GET LILITH, EDA, ANYONE BUT MY MOM???”

“ISN’T EDA YOUR MOM TOO???”

“YEAH, BUT IF MAMA FINDS OUT ABOUT THIS, SHE’S GONNA KILL ALL OF US!”

Emira groans as she awakes, falling again to her chest.

“Oh, thank god! You’re alive! Quick, what’s 2+2?”

“Haha…69….” Emira giggles. She looks at Luz in awe and gasps, quickly hugging her. “Oh my Titan, an otter! I gotta show Luz this cute little otter I found.”

“But I’m Luz-”

“An otter named Luz? This must be fate!” Emira laughs maniacally.

“Oh, she's gone .” Marcy panics, running around before Luz shouts to her.

“Quick, get Eda!”

“WHERE THE FUCK DID YOU GET EDIBLES?!” Eda yelled at the top of her lungs, gripping tightly onto her sister’s shoulders.

“I was just given some brownies! I thought the man was just being a gentleman after being offered crack by like 8 different people!”

“Oh my god, Lily! This is fucking L.A.! If a random fucking person gives you food for free, there’s always fucking drugs in them! And now look at what you have done to Emira!” Eda points to Emira babbling nonsense as she held Luz like a stuffed animal, hissing at Marcy every time she tried to pull Luz away from Emira.

“W-Well- Why is Luz not trying to escape, huh?!”

“I don’t know. I feel like Emira thinks I’m her emotional support otter, so this is the least I can do after using her credit card again to buy my 20 Lego 501st Battlepacks.” Luz admitted while pulling out Emira’s credit card as proof.

“Don’t you dare the subject!” Eda pulled Lilith down by her ear.

“Ow ow! Ok, fine! I admit that I severally fucked up! But what do you want me to do about this?!”

“Just make sure Camila doesn’t know about this! If she finds out, no matter how we try to explain ourselves, she’s going to kill us!” Eda envisions the rage Camila would take on everyone, becoming one of the many demons from the Evil Dead.

“Oh. I’ll see what I can do!” Lilith walks out of the room to look for Camila, doubtful if she can convince them to avoid Emira’s room.

“So, now what?” Marcy asked.

“Now, we make sure Emira doesn’t do anything dangerous- AH!” Eda and Marcy duck down under the table as cups and plates are thrown around the room. They peaked to see Emira endlessly throwing anything near her.

“Luz?! What’s Emira doing?!”

In Emira’s imaginary world of being high as fuck, she is reenacting the end of the “Help Wanted” episode from Spongebob. Thinking that she’s throwing patties to the stove to be cooked. 

She jumps high in the air, lands on her feet, and grabs what Emira thinks is a spatula. Pressing the red button splits the spatula into 3 to cut the lettuce, onion, and tomatoes. Once she has finished, she runs around in a circle on what has now become the Krusty Krab's kitchen cubicles. As Emira reaches the condiments area, she steps onto the bottles, spitting out everything from ketchup, mustard, and mayonnaise. 

Suddenly, Emira slides to the left to a purple background but moonwalks back to where the camera would be. She dances similar to what Spongebob did at that moment and then attempts to count to 4 using her body. A montage of making Krabby Patties starts as she feeds a huge crowd of hungry anchovies. When in reality Emira was throwing everything to Eda, Marcy, and Luz who were running away from each item Emira threw.

Emira stands brightly (HA), proud of her achievement of being a fast food worker. The first person ever to actually enjoy doing a minimum wage food service job. Fortunately, or rather unfortunately, she was surrounded by pieces of glass since it was all in her head.

“God, management is going to hate all of us.” Eda proclaimed, shell-shocked by Emira’s actions. 

“I have a strong urge to just break down and cry because of how much this is fucking up my OCD,” Marcy says, trying not to panic.

A knock on the door gathers everyone’s attention, and they all zoom at the door with Eda opening the door as they all widely smile. Thankfully it wasn’t Camila. However, waiting behind the door were Amity and Edric.

“Oh, hey! What’s up Boots and Blight brother! Back already?”

“Yes…?” Amity said awkwardly, as Edric tilted his head in confusion.

“Welcome back then, batata! And you too Ed.” Luz said to divert Amity’s attention. But Edric couldn’t feel more isolated than he already was.

“Wow, thanks. I feel very included.” Ed said sarcastically.

“FUTURE!” Emira screamed. The jig was up. Edric and Amity pushed away the three and saw Emira on the floor stretching as she cried out ‘future’ repeatedly. 

“What’s wrong with Em?!” Amity shouted while Edric tried to slap some sense back to Emira.

“She may or may not have eaten several edibles.” 

“WHAT?!” Edric and Amity both said.

“Oh wow, Ed and Am? So you two are here in the Bikini Bottom too? Ahaha, meet my best bud Ms. Otterton the Otter. Isn’t she so cute?” Emira picks up Luz, holding her up to Ed and Am.

“Y-Yeah, I guess.” 

“What do you mean? I’m adorable!” Luz said as she slapped Edric across the face. But karma soon bites her in the ass as Emira drops her as she gets a revelation.

“Wait a minute. I’m in the Bikini Bottom…I CAN GO MEET SPONGEBOB!” Emira zooms out of the room with everyone chasing her down, trying to stop her. She runs down the hall, but in her mind, she’s running through the Bikini Bottom, finally arriving at the iconic pineapple house.

“Oh my god! I can’t believe it! I’m going to meet my idol! What would make this day even better if I met and married Saiki!” Emira gleed with joy, barely being able to contain her excitement. She knocks frantically on the door and waits. She waits for the bright yellow sponge to greet her.

“Uh, can I help you?” There he was, Spongebob Squarepants! In front of motherfucking Emira Blight! I’m fucking going mental right now.

“Oh my god! It’s you!!! It’s really you!! Spongebob! I’m your biggest fan!” Emira laughs uncontrollably as she hugs the sponge.

“Uh…ok?” He said, patting Emira’s head but stopped as he noticed the Blight begin to cry.

“I-I can’t believe it! It’s you…it’s really you! You’re my hero, Spongebob!!!” Emira brawls her eyes, hugging Spongebob ever so tightly as she continues to cry hysterically. In reality, it was just some random guy living a couple of rooms down the hall who Emira was hugging.

“Sorry, sir! My friend here had a little too much apple blood for today.” Luz chuckles before pulling Emira away from the man. Emira then abruptly falls asleep, collapsing her body onto Luz, causing her to fall. Thankfully though, Eda soon came to Luz’s aid.

“Oh wow, that apple blood sure is something!” Eda chuckles nervously while the man stands there confused.

“Don’t you mean apple juice?”

“Sure, whatever BYEEEEEEEEEE!” Eda quickly said before they run off with Emira snoring similar to how Spongebob snores from the show.

“Well, that was something…. Didn’t expect to meet a fan this early before the convention.” 

“OK! Finally! She’s asleep. Now we can’t stop worrying!” Eda whispered.

“I mean, there’s always a chance she could wake up and become hysterical again.” Marcy reminded Eda.

“Aw shit, you’re right. Usually, these things cause the person to have paranoia and anxiety, so we can’t leave her.” 

“How do you two know about this?” Luz said, suspicious at Eda’s and Marcy’s knowledge about edibles.

“Kid, look at me.” 

“...oh right. Wait, then what about you, Marcy?! Did you eat an edible?!”

“What?! God no! I didn’t! But someone else did back in my middle school.” Luz looked at Marcy with complete shock, jaw dropped and all. “Why are you surprised? It’s LA, man.”

“Hate to agree with you there. LA people are fucking freaks of nature.” 

Emira groans in her sleep, mumbling incoherent phrases, switching from one spot to another while her dreams begin to form.

-

“Wake up and smell the ashes….”

[That voice…]

Emira groans as she rises from the burned ground. Her eyes open, revealing a burnt world where the fire never ceases. The smell of ash consumes the air, yet the Blight still breathes.

“Hello?” Emira calls out to the mysterious voice, waiting desperately for a response. She looked everywhere for a living being while avoiding the flames around her. She reached a series of hills, exhausted yet determined to find the person that awakened her until something caught her eye.

A tall robotic person stood with their back facing Emira. They turned to look at her, staring directly into her eyes, or at least that’s what it felt like. Disturbed by how tall it stood, showing no emotion, Emira tried to walk away while still looking at the figure. However, she bumped into the robotic figure that was suddenly behind her. Before Emira could react, she was pushed into a flight of stairs. Her screams and grunts of pain echo throughout the staircase, falling flat onto the cement floor.

Emira somehow survives the fall, with blood trailing down to her face thanks to an open wound. But she felt horrible at all parts of her body. Looking down at her hands and legs, she discovered fresh bruises that seemed to be caused by physical abuse rather than trauma from falling.

She couldn’t ponder longer as a recorder player suddenly plays Pavarotti’s La Donna E Mobile . A robotic arm grabs Emira and drags her to a table, having her arms and legs locked in place. Then someone steps out of the darkness, pushing a small cart of tools. Their face completely blurred out, yet a smile could be seen as they turned to look at Emira.

“W-What are you doing?!” Emira could barely manage to say, panicking as she tried to escape. Her eyes widened seeing the person grabbing a scalpel, having the tip of the blade being dragged across her body, stopping at her heart. 

“N-No…NO, NO, NO, NO, PLEASE!” Emira begged as the person raised the scalpel in the air before lunging through her skin. Emira screams echoed throughout the chamber. She falls to the ground suddenly, quickly looking at her chest to see nothing.

-

Emira rises , seeing small orbs surround her, playing back her cherished memories. From her early days of spending time with Amity and Edric to meeting Luz for the first time. She couldn’t help but smile at those moments of her life, quickly forgetting what had happened before. 

But one small orb stood out. It showed a young Emira and Edric sitting alone, away from the others.

“Em, can’t we just sit with someone else?”

“Why should we? Not like anyone wants us around other than to ask about Amity.”

The orb landed on Emira’s hands as it played that memory over and over again. Emira had always separated her and her brother away from the others in fear of being hurt again by their supposed peers. 

Soon enough, more orbs begin to appear. Showing memories that Emira would rather forget about. From seeing her trying to break out of the habit of pacing back and forward and stimming randomly to Odalia’s abuse towards her. Mostly mental but sometimes physical abuse.

One lone dark orb came from the shadows, showing a blurred playback of a memory that Emira couldn’t remember. All she could see was a picture of a young Emira, only Emira. She was standing next to someone similar in age, in between two older figures whose faces had been blurred out.

[Who are these people….]

More dark orbs suddenly come out of the abyss and surround her. All completely blurred and faded memories that Emira doesn’t remember. She falls onto her knees as her headaches. Emira closed her eyes, but even in the darkness, she could still see those memories trying to take shape.

“MAKE IT STOP!” Emira yelled out, curling up to a ball trying to stop the bad and faded memories from flashing in her head. But the static that once played in her ears stopped. She opened her eyes to be greeted with darkness again. She looked around for a light source of some kind around her.

A single light source shines in the sea of the great abyss. It was a lonely orb that floats effortlessly in the air. As Emira walks toward it, the image that the orb projects becomes clearer. It was another memory that Emira didn’t remember but felt familiar. It was a POV of her walking with someone in some jungle, talking to a blurred figure.

Emira held the orb closer, trying to make out the person’s features at all costs. However, the orb’s light soon disappears, crumbling into dust on her hands. She pondered on why the memory felt familiar despite knowing that moment had never happened in her life. But as soon as Emira was close to the answer, she forgets about the memory.

There she stood, an empty shell, wondering what was wrong with her. Emira’s ears perked at the sounds of footsteps coming in her direction. She turned to see the same robotic figure from her nightmare running towards her with a knife in hand. Emira tried to run but it was too late-

-

Emira jumped from her bed, yelling before falling from her bed. Everyone ran to her aid, trying to calm her down as Emira gasped for air. Her anxiety worsens as they all surround her, but they were all pushed away by Marcy.

“Guys, guys, GUYS! Give her some space!” 

Emira’s breathing slows as her personal space is opened and spacious. She stared at the ground, embarrassed that she made everyone worried about what she thought was just a little nightmare while making Marcy’s visit more awkward.

“Kid, are you alright?”

“I-I’m fine…. I just need some space to breathe….” Emira said in between her breaths. She still breathed to calm her nerves, hugging her knees close together. They all left her alone but Marcy. She squatted to Emira’s level and tried to comfort her.

“Hey, um… I know we don’t really exactly know each other, but…are you sure you’re okay?”

“...Sure. Just…try to enjoy yourself, please.”

“Well, I can’t exactly enjoy myself when someone is in distress.”

“Oh right, sorry. I didn’t mean to ruin your trip.”

“Oh no, no, no. You’re not ruining anything. You don’t need to be sorry. Honestly, I wanna help, but I’m not really good at these things.” Marcy chuckles as she rubs the back of her neck.

“It’s alright. I doubt you could help me anyway. I’m helpless.”

“Well…I do know someone that could help a bit.”

“...huh?”

“So Blight, how are you feeling today?” said a familiar white chick with blonde hair.

“...am I seriously doing this?” Emira said, lying down on a couch with a seat next to her where the blonde girl sat.

“Yes, I’m afraid so. First of all, tell me your pronouns.”

“She/her, and I’m not about to get therapy from a 15-year-old.”

“Ahh, there’s your first problem. ‘Can’t let go of her pride.’” The girl said, writing down that note in her notebook.

“You’re not even a real therapist!”

“I will be but for now I’m working on it! So, do you want therapy or not?”

“Fine,” Emira said while rolling her eyes.

“Alright, so now that we can get started, let’s talk about why you’re here. According to Mar Mar, you have trouble sleeping because of your nightmares. Is that correct?”

“Yes, sometimes I get scared to even sleep because of how bad the nightmares can be.”

“Can you tell me about at least one of those nightmares?”

“Well, it’s hard to recall all the fine details of the nightmares right now, but there is one recent one I had which I think I can remember some parts here and there. I was in this brightly lit area surrounded by these round thingies. Each of them playing memories of my past until this one dark came and….” 

Emira stopped and struggled to breathe. That memory slowly came back to her bit by bit, almost making her cry. 

“You can stop if you feel uncomfortable.”

“O-Oh… sorry…?” Emira awaited a name from her young temporary therapist.

“Oh, names Sasha Waybright, pronouns she/her if you’re wondering. Also no need to apologize to me. I’m here to give you therapy free of charge.”

“Temporary therapy until I can get a real therapist back when I return home.” Emira corrected Sasha.

“Oof, the toxicity of your pride is showing.” Sasha tsked at Emira.

“It isn’t pride, Sasha-”

“That’s Dr.Waybright to you right now, Ms.Blight.”

“...Dr.Waybright.”

“Better, continue,” Sasha said, causing Emira to roll her eyes again.

“The reason why I’m seemingly against this is that you’re still young. You don’t understand the things that a soon-to-be adult like me that I’m going through right now.”

“Such as what?” Sasha asked, leaving Emira dumbfounded. Trying to figure out one adult trouble that she’s going through.

“W-Well… to be honest, I still don’t know. I know something is bothering me, but I can’t necessarily process it right now.”

“Because the trauma you experienced is starting to come back to you at an age where you begin to reflect upon your 18 years of living.”

“Huh? How did you come to that conclusion?”

“By analyzing your dream. Sometimes dreams have particular meanings that illustrate what we are going through in life. For example, the nightmare you had represents how the trauma your mind had previously pushed away is now coming back with full force so you can finally mature and develop as a human being.” Sasha looked down at her notebook as she spoke, looking back at her past.

“...Huh, looks like you’re no stranger to this.” Emira pointed out.

“Unfortunately, I’m very familiar with this kind of behavior. I matured much more quickly than other people because you know, daddy and mommy issues.” Sasha chuckled. 

“They’re dead or something?”

“Oh no, they're still very much alive. They’re just not together because of some stuff I rather not get into right now. Doesn’t help that I’m not really close with either of them, so I had to raise myself half of the time.” As Sasha spoke, Emira’s ears perked up as she started to relate somewhat to her struggles.

“I was alone for most of my early childhood until I met Marcy and Anne. When hearing about how Marcy’s parents weren’t exactly the best and Anne’s insecurity about not living up to her parent's expectations, I pushed my issues aside to ensure that they lived life to the fullest.”

“...we’re the same in that regard.” Emira and Sasha stood silently. “I think you need therapy more than me.”

“Eh, I already get therapy somewhere. Meanwhile, you’re actively avoiding talking about your problems.”

“Who said I was?”

“Luz and Lilith. Cool people, by the way.”

“I’m not avoiding talking about my problems. I’m just trying not to be a downer at a time when we’re trying to relieve ourselves from the stresses of school and our current legislation in both our realms.”

“...Exactly, you’re avoiding talking to people that are supposed to be your friends. I know it’s best to take your problems to a professional therapist, but sometimes it doesn’t hurt to talk to a friend about them. Hell, they don’t even need to have a solution to your problem. Just knowing that they’re taking some time to listen to you helps.”

“But why would someone waste their time on me when they should be focusing on themselves.”

“Because you’re their friend. Some people just want to help others just for the sake of it. Not everything we do has to have some kind of deeply complicated reason.” Sasha said, leaving the Blight confused until she remembered that quote

[“Because it’s there.”]

Emira smiled, feeling comfort at last. Remember that there are people who truly care for her, willing to listen to her problems. 

“You know, you’re not half bad for someone who isn’t a real therapist.”

“Well, you aren’t my first patient. If you want to schedule another appointment with me, feel free to ask anytime.” Sasha stood up with her fist out, waiting to fist bump Emira.

“Nah, I think I bothered you enough. Thanks, though.” Emira chuckled as they both gave each other a fist bump. However, as she tries to step out of the room, she falls right to sleep, scaring Sasha for a moment.

“Oh, thank god she’s sleeping.” Sasha sighs in relief, reaching for her phone to call Lilith. “Hey Auntie Lilith, can you get your kid? She fell asleep.”

After a long drive, Lilith carries the tired Blight to her bed as she snores softly. She tucks Emira in, slowly placing a blank over her. Her heart flutters as it reminds her, once again, of doing the same when Emira was a child.

“Reminiscing again, Lily?” Eda teases her sister.

“Pfff, shut up. You’ll wake Em up.”

“I’m not being that loud,” Eda said. They both look at Emira sleeping, glad to see that she’s finally got some good sleep. “Some things never change, huh?”

“I guess not,” Lilith said.

“Hey, so, does Camila know about what happened?” Eda asked because of how Camila looked at her as she drove them back to the hotel.

“Um…I tried! But it looks like she’s gonna talk with us later since she wanted Em to not wake up to the sounds of us screaming in pain.” Lilith answered, both of them gulping.

“W-well, at least one of us has a happy ending.” Eda nervously chuckles as both she and Lilith start to leave the room. Before leaving though, Lilith took one last look at Emira, seeing that she was smiling in her sleep.

“ I wonder what she’s dreaming about…. ”

-

Emira sat in a room full of CD cases, representing each moment of her life that she looks fondly of. She laughs and smiles at her memories of Luz’s Quinceañera, reliving the moment again. Her eyes began to well with tears as she watched Luz and Amity dance to Banda Machos' Quinceañera . She realizes that at that moment, she's watching Luz and Amity grow up.

“Are you crying, Em?”

“N-No?!”

“Oh my god, you are!”

“I’m not!!!”

“You’re crying more than Camila and Eda.”

Emira laughs at that part of the memory, still trying to wipe the tears away. Meanwhile back in reality, she cried in her sleep of joy. Enjoying her well-deserved rest for once in her life, never waking up once from a nightmare.

However, there they watch-

Chapter Text

“¡Hijos! Breakfast is ready!” Camila knocked on the door to wake up the Blights. Emira was the first to wake up, yawning as she stretched her arms out. She smiled ear to ear, happy that she got a good nice sleep with no nightmares at all. As Emira passes by to wake up Amity and Edric, she could hear the neighbors nearby scream in Spanish.

“Looks like we don’t need an alarm clock…” Amity groans, waking up from the yelling next door. Edric followed suit, yawning and getting up after sniffing the food prepared by Camila.

They all walked to the Nocedas room, seeing that Camila and Luz were watching a soccer football match between Mexico and Germany. Although the commentator seemed very passionate about what was happening, Camila and Luz didn’t share the same vibe. 

“You guys seemed bored about this match,” Emira commented.

“No, no, I’m interested in the match. It’s just that it’s kinda hard to root for a team that isn’t really yours.” Luz explained.

“Easy for you to say! I’m pumped up even though I have no idea what they’re saying!” Gus says, full of excitement alongside Vee as they continue to cheer for Mexico. Meanwhile, Willow and Hunter sat beside them and calmly watched the match while eating.

“How about you two?” Emira asked both Eda and Raine as she grabbed a stack of pancakes.

“Eh, we couldn’t care less about football. Doesn’t have the same amount of adrenaline you would get watching one of our sports.”

“I prefer how safe human sports are since it doesn’t involve a lot of blood most of the time.” Raine chuckles before sipping her coffee. 

“It’s called soccer.” Hunter tried to correct Eda.

“Soccer, football, whatever. Why do English-speaking countries even call football anything but football?”

“I blame British people,” Emira says, however soon everyone is distracted by the commentator's extreme excitement as one of the players reaches one of the goals with the ball.

The kids' excitement increased alongside the commentator before screaming alongside the neighbors as one of the Mexican players scored the goal at the last minute. The commentators announced that Mexico will move on to the next round of the World Cup. Mere minutes after the announcements, fireworks are set off across LA county, with the family getting a perfect view of it. 

“Looks like we should wait for the traffic to die down if we want to do anything today,” Eda noted.

“Why?” Emira asked.

“Anytime Mexico wins at a game they celebrate it by stopping traffic and doing donuts in their cars.”

“Ooh, can we see?” Emira asked, curious alongside the others who rushed in to ask Eda, considering Camila and Raine wouldn’t say yes to it.

“Um…” Eda looked at Camila and Raine for approval, and hesitantly, they nodded in slight approval.

“Just…be careful.”

Cut straight into the donuts! A huge crowd forms a circle to stop all traffic as the craze and delirious drive their cars in the middle of the public to perform. They each take turns burning their tires and spinning around as the Mexican flag flows magically in the wind. Some of them even take the risk of getting close to the crowd.

Cheers from the crowd accompany plastic horns, noisemakers, and Mexican flags of every shape and size. Not only celebrating Mexico’s victory but also praising the daredevils from South Central. Among them are the Nocedas and Blights, who all celebrate with the crowd.

Then was the next driver to start doing donuts across the crowd, but another followed, and the two spun across simultaneously. Unexpectedly though, a third car comes out and joins in the fun. As the three spins, three amigos find a window of opportunity and run to the middle of the circle. They waved the Mexican flag and recorded the event, cheering and screaming out one phrase:

“¡Viva México!”

The three cars halted, nearly hitting one another and circling the three people who recorded it. The Owl House gang was completely shocked and laughed at the insanity and balls that the Mexican people have. 

“Holy fucking shit! Eda, how come you have never taken us to see something like this?!” Emira asked, her heart pumping in the excitement of the thrills of street racer's takeovers.

“These kinds of takeovers are LA exclusive! Nothing ever compares to what LA people are doing!”

“You seem to be knowledgeable in this subject, Eda.~” Luz teased, hoping to hear some of Eda’s backstory.

“Well, I- Let’s say-”

“Eda?!” One of the speculators shouted, running towards her alongside a friend. “¡Órale! It’s the Owl Lady!” 

“Holy shit! Alejandro! José!” Eda runs to her old friend, fist-bumping the two of them before hugging the two. “Oh my god, it’s been years since I have seen you guys! I miss you fuckers!”

“Same here, fool! Where the fuck were you, bro?!” José asked after him and Alejandro greeted Eda.

“Told y’all that I was going to head back to my world!”

“Shittt, you right! Also, shit, your kids are the ones that saved both realms?” Alejandro remembered until he noticed the Blight and Noceda kids as being intrigued by Eda’s backstory.

“Yeah, they are! Guys, I'd like you to meet Alejandro and José! I used to do street takeovers with these motherfuckers every time before going to Vegas!” Eda introduces the two old buddies. Instead of waving, they greeted the family with the infamous sign that indicates they’re from one of the many Slideshow Takeover groups.

“No way! You were a part of a gang?!” Everyone eagerly anticipated hearing more about Eda.

“It’s not a gang. It’s a club, fool! Every Sunday, we do this kind of shit! Wanna come watch us practice?” Alejandro asks.

“Yes!” Emira and Luz answered before Eda interjected into the conversation.

“Wait for just a second-”

“Come on, Eda! The gang misses you! Besides, I can sense your kids carved for more action!” José tried to encourage Eda to consider, with her legitimately thinking about it.

“Uh…”

–

“NO”

“Oh, come on! Let at least Em, Ed, and Hunter live a little! They’re almost 18 for crying out loud! Let them fully enjoy their rebellious side!” Eda tried to compromise with a stern Camila and Raine.

“Hunter still likes following the laws so…” Lilith steps into the conversation, reminding Eda of what she coined ‘Hunter’s wuss era.’

“Then I guess it’s time to break him out of his wuss era and have him watch more slideshows! I mean, it looked like he was enjoying the show!”

“Edalyn, you know that’s not our issue. We know that our kids might want to drive these cars and eventually get themselves in trouble. Imagine the gossip that will surround Emira and Edric if they see news coverage of them doing donuts?!” Camila said, worrying about the reputation of the Blights.

“They aren’t that famous. Nobody during this entire trip recognized us until now.”

“What about Emira’s NATO friend? She’s already in enough trouble with them for the teleportation and cult incident! What if this time they decided to give Emira more than just a warning?” Raine then worried about Casey's reaction to the news of Emira breaking yet another law.

“Over a little ticket and engaging with LA street culture?”

“But- Ugh! Lilith, back me up here!”

“Why should I? I’m not opposed to it.”

“Wait?! Why?!” Raine and Camila shouted as Lilith sipped her tea.

“Because no matter what we say, the kids will definitely do it anyway. I bet you right now Emira and Edric are hunched up behind that door, hearing us argue and going back to formulate a plan to sneak out.” Lilith says as the twins walk away from the door, totally not doing what Lilith said they were doing.

“Sure, it’s a bit excessive to bring everyone . However, Em and Ed? They never really got the chance to experience their youth, so let them have fun. Hell, have them drive a car! Do some donuts, burn some tires, and outrun the police! If Casey is really that petty to go after Emira for this, then I say we just stand up against them!”

–

SLAM

Camila slammed the door in front of Lilith and Eda, kicking the two out.

“So much for that. Welp, I call bets on your bed, Lily!” Eda quickly runs to Lilith’s room to sleep on her bed.

“Ah! No, you won’t!”

[The sun is almost setting. Wonder if that means the club will be inactivated…]

Emira pondered as she lay on her bed, wishing to see more of the slideshow event that Alejandro and José were discussing. Although she and Ed were planning to sneak out, the two decided not to bother considering it well…

-

(Earlier)

RING RING RING

“Hello, Emira speaking-”

“Step a single foot off that window to ride Amity’s palisman, and I’ll personally break your fucking legs.”

“Ah, nice to know you care for me, Casey.”

CLICK

-

Emira would still like to have the privilege to walk with her legs and spare everyone the trauma of her screaming for her life. Instead, she just watched videos about street takeovers and street racing. Chills travel through her body as she hears the engine scream as the driver speeds across the street to reach maximum speed.

[I still wish I was there in person to hear it. God, it’ll be so cool]

While Emira continued to watch more videos, she could hear a window opening next door. She got up to see Luz using Amity’s palisman to flow in the air, trying to get Amity to join her. Emira knocked on the window, alerting Luz of her presence before opening her window.

“I thought we weren’t going.”

“Yeah, but I changed my mind! I’m going to live out my Fast and Furious fantasy one way or another!”

“Isn’t Fast and Furious just complete madness since Tokyo Drift, though?”

“And? I still wanna go! Come on, Emira! Forget about Casey! Let’s get out there and have fun while we still can!”

“Do you even know where they even practice?”

“Uh…”

“I do.” Eda appears behind Emira, scaring Luz and her.

“Eda! We can explain-” Both Luz and Emira rush to find an explanation before Eda stopped the two from making up dumb reasons as to why they would be by the windows.

“No need to come up with some shit excuse. If you wanna go, I’ll take you there.”

“...really?”

“Uh, yeah? Already told Gus to make illusions of us sleeping, so let’s get out of here before either Raine or Camila checks up on us.” Eda winked at the two witches, who happily continued with their plan, excited to get the chance to see some drifting from Eda while getting more tales of her younger years.

Eda summoned her staff to give Emira and Edric a ride down to the hotel’s grounds while Amity joined Luz on her staff. As the witches descend to the grounds without alerting anyone, they find that Casey is already waiting for them. Emira yelps, running behind Eda.

“Really?” Casey sighs. “It hasn’t been a while since the last incident!”

“What did you guys do last time recently?” Edric asks with Amity being equally as confused.

“First, we’re not allowed to talk about it. Second, come on, Casey! Just let this slide one last time!” Emira begged while still hiding behind Eda. Casey sighs as they walk toward Emira, signaling Eda to move away from her.

“Fine.” As soon as Casey approved the venture, the amigos tried to start their trip before Casey stopped them. “As long as you promise to do double the amount of work for my favor.”

“Which is what?”

“Details are still being ironed out, but after you put me out of my moral comfort zone of bribing police officers twice, I think you still have a lot to make up to me.”

“...Ok, whatever you say.”

In order to not raise any suspension about their disappearance, Eda didn’t take the rental car. They instead took a train ride plus joined a couple of bus rides. Expectedly, the public transport was crowded and at times dirty the more they headed down south, exposing LA’s lack of budget for a better transportation system.

Emira looked at the windows, seeing the skyline of Los Angeles now far from how she previously saw them at her hotel, signaling that they are now officially in a ‘different’ world. A world supposedly full of gangs, crime, drugs, prostitution, and overly abundant police cars driven by officers with huge power trips and a taste for hating people of color and women.

“Ahh, this takes me back! God, I miss South LA!” Eda says, breathing in the smell of shit, weed, egos, and smog that poisoned the air of South LA.

“I’m surprised you haven’t told us anything about your journey in Los Angeles,” Luz said.

“I was waiting to tell you naturally as we went on about this trip because I have tons of stories to tell! Like that one time, I beat the living shit out of a potential shooter! Still remember how badly he ragdolled after I socked the living shit out of his white trash face.” Eda sighs heavenly, remembering how funny his body reacted to her punch.

“How about you tell us about how you found this club?” Luz asked, eager to hear more about Eda’s backstory, who happily began telling her story.

“After I got used to the human realm, I wanted to go somewhere that isn’t on the east coast. That’s when I found out about a little film called Boyz N The Hood. God, I was obsessed with that movie, so much so that it made me wanna go to LA! It’s funny since a lot of people want to visit LA because of how Hollywood likes to portray it as this nice, clean, fancy place. However, I go because of this! These are my kind of people!” 

Eda then points to a group of gang members meeting face to face with one another. However, these gang members aren’t the ones seen in films trafficking drugs, causing street brawls, shootouts, or any other crime that seems cool to break as a group. These gang members just talk a lot of shit about on-par of middle school insults.

The two leaders escalated their argument into a ‘fight’ where they just circle each other, saying “do something!” to each other to see who would be the first one to throw a weak-ass punch.

“Ahh, I missed this!” Eda wiped a tear away, confusing everyone at how tamed the insults were and embarrassing the fight was. But she soon returns to tell her story.

“After earning enough money to afford a month's worth of food and water with me and planning out some of my pit stops, I began my long road trip across the country. The second I stepped foot into LA city, I came face to face with a bunch of Mexicans celebrating Mexico’s victory in the World Cup of 94’, and it was crazy. A lot of crazy motherfuckers set cars aflame and flooded the streets, so much so that the cops had to pull out their riot shields!”

“Although I enjoyed the chaos, one thing caught my eye; a series of cars lined up to do a slideshow takeover. I’ll never forget all those nice ass cars like the Camaro, the Viper, holy shit, the Dodge Challenger. That car was my favorite! Anyway, I heard from someone that the police were about to show up and move to some street that I wasn’t familiar with. Despite my slight anxiety over talking with humans, I decided to ask them to take me there. That person was José and Alejandro. And the rest is history!”

As Eda finishes her story, she pulls out her scroll to show the teens an old recording of a young Eda getting into a car and burning tires as the engine roars flooding the 90s camcorder audio.

–

Cut to a real car burning its tires before spinning across an end to a street. The gang had made it to the area regarded as the Taking Over club’s practice spot. Where newcomers come to practice their drifting skills and donuts as many spectators watch and encourage. As the crew walked towards the crowd, José and Alejandro walked up to them and greeted them.

“¡Ay chingada! I got worried that you weren’t gonna make it, man!” Alejandro fist-bumped and hugged Eda while José greeted the teens.

“Glad you guys are here too! Pretty cool to be around fools that saved our world!” 

“Come on, no need to parade us like we’re celebrities!” Luz nervously chuckled, embarrassed to be recognized for her achievements.

“Makes me feel like I have some skeletons in my closet.” Emira sarcastically said.

“What kind of celebrities would hide such acts?! I know the celebrities that I revered as gods never did anything wrong!” Edric adds to Emira’s quips.

“Well. Well. Well, if it isn’t the DQ herself!” a man said while approaching the group, surprising Eda.

“Joey! My main man!” Eda ran to Joey, giving him a big bear hug. Excited to reunite with one of her best homies in the world.

“Miss you too, homie! God, it’s been like what, almost two decades since I last saw your ass?” 

“Oh my god, don’t remind me how long ago that was!” Eda chuckles as she punches Joey at his shoulder.

“DQ? Like as in Dragon Quest?” Emira asked.

“DQ as in the Drift Queen! Eda was a monster behind the wheel!” Joey corrected, laughing at how much of a nerd Emira is. “Hey, hey, no hard feelings, man! Just fucking around!” Joey then fist-bumped the twins who were chuckling at the event taking place.

“Ahh, to be a drift queen. I wish I could take Eda’s title.” Luz hopes.

“So you could break the law?”

“Amity, what are you holding?” Luz pointed to Ghost still in its staff form.

“...I stand corrected.”

“If you wanna be a drift queen, you gotta learn how to handle the wheel which controls the beast!” Alejandro says, walking up to his car and patting the hood of it as if it were an animal.

“Oooo!!! Eda, can I get in the car with you to see your drifting skills?!”

“Uhm…”

“Come on, Eda! Lighten up a little. It wouldn’t hurt to show your kid your talents!” Joey eases Eda’s concerns.

“Well, if you insist. But hold tight, kid, cuz things are about to be crazy!”

–

The crowd roars for the return of the Drift Queen, drifting across the round end of the road. Luz cheers along with everyone, holding onto the car door handle. Although scared of Eda somehow losing control, she felt excited and alive. The sudden adrenaline compels Luz to do something crazy. As Eda stopped the car, Luz took the window of opportunity to climb onto the car door and hold on for dear life as Eda spun the car around. 

A photographer runs up to take photos of the stunt. As they were ready to take a picture, Luz posed by sticking her tongue out while doing the infamous hand sign for the Taking Over club. Eda stops the car in shock at Luz’s action, overwhelmingly excited to see Luz’s daredevil persona growing.

“Ahhh, you crazy bastard!” Eda says, messing with Luz's hair as she sits back down on her seat. “Next time, tell me you’re gonna do crazy shit like that!”

“But that’s a part of the fun!” Luz says. “Holy shit though, you’re amazing behind the wheel!”

“Probably not as good as me, though!” Emira pops up from Luz’s window.

“You? Better than me?! Ha! Don’t make me laugh, kid!” Eda chuckles, snapping her knee.

“May I remind you of the trouble I caused back in Connecticut?” Emira remarks which starts a-

(oooooooooooooooo flashback)

-

Emira was allowed to drive Camila’s car with Eda’s ‘permission.’ Edric and Amity were there to control her rebellion against the law. And by control, I mean be given front-row seats to a Fast and Furious 4D ride, but if it was actually great and too realistic for their liking. 

Emira cheers and yells all kinds of profanity as N.W.A.’s Fuck the Police play from the speaker, covering Edric and Amity’s frantic screaming. If she were to play Queen’s Don’t Stop Me Now, they would’ve been done for. But alas, Emira was only given a few seconds to react to crashing into a stop sign. 

Once the moment sank into their minds, Amity fainted while Edric was busy dealing with his life flashing before his eyes. Emira laughed at her siblings’ reactions until they all heard a police siren coming toward them.

“SHIT, THE FUCKING COPS ARE HERE, EMIRA!!!” Amity whispered once she regained consciousness from the siren. 

“YOU REALLY DONE IT NOW, EM! I GOTTA GET OUT HERE! I’M TOO YOUNG TO GO BACK TO JAIL!” Edric, in a panic, tried to open the door until Emira locked the doors. 

“NO, YOU FUCKING MORON! THAT’S HOW YOU GET SHOT!” Emira whispered. She then closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “Listen, I got this, ok?! Just shut up and let me do all the talking.”

Soon enough, the police car arrived and parked right behind the Blights. In the mirror, Emira could see a cop walking toward her window. Again she gathered what was left of her composure, lowered the music, and opened the window.

“Excuse me, ma’am, do you happen to be the person driving around the neighborhood beyond the speed limit, burning tires, and poorly attempting to do donuts on the streets?” The cop asked in a monotone, robotic manner. 

“Why yes, yes I was,” Emira asked, giving the cop a small smile. 

“Uh-huh, may I see your license and resignation, please?” The cop asked. Emira, still keeping eye contact with the officer, started closing her window.

-

(oooooooooooooooo flashforward)

“Are you seriously bragging about that one time when you stole my mom’s car?!” Luz glares at Emira, who in turn tries to reassure Luz.

“I didn’t steal it! I just borrowed it! Besides, Eda said I was allowed inside Camila’s car!” 

“I didn’t say you could drive it.” Eda reminded 

“Ah, potato, potato. Just let me drive! I bet I can do better than you!” Emira tries to switch back to the topic of asking Eda to let her drive. Eda ponders for a moment if she should, sighing as she fails to find a good enough reason not to let her drive the car.

“Fine. But be careful with my baby! She’s a sensitive girl!” Eda says as she gets out of her car, patting it.

“Didn’t you steal it from someone in Vegas?” Luz asked.

“W-Well, yeah… But I’m a better owner than that cheapskate!”

“Sure, sure, whatever. Just let me show you my moves!” Emira rushed to Eda’s car, getting in as Eda went to sit in the back. Emira adjusted herself in the driver's seat, fixing the car mirror and moving the wheel’s position.

“Alright, Emira, what you gotta know before doing this is that you- AH!” Eda tried to give Emira some tips before driving before Emira hit the gas and began spinning. 

Emira laughed and cheered as she continued to spin using only one hand to grip the wheel. She stopped the car, perfectly aligning it to the next stretch of road. Emira once again stepped on the pedal fully, the speedometer showing an increased speed from 0 to 180. She took the car to 2 streets over, drifting instead of turning to drive back to the practice spot.

When she arrived, the crowd was utterly shocked at the display of raw skill Emira has. They all rushed to the car to give her a series of compliments and praises with Joey following suit as he emerged from the crowd.

“Girl, you are one crazy motherfucker!” Joey screamed laughing as he walked to Emira exiting out of the car.

“Think I’m good enough to be Eda’s successor?” Emira asked Joey, laughing some more.

“If you can outrun the cops without any magic wumbo jumbo bullshit, sure thing.” Joey chuckles as he looks down at Eda, hinting at her past.

“Alright, bet!”

“Woah, Woah, Woah! You’re not about to get tailed by the LAPD!”

“Well, about that….” Joey pulled out an old map of Los Angeles with a red sharpie-drawn line that starts at 6th Street Viaduct to South Main Street.

“No, no, no! We’re not about to do that crazy race!”

“Why not homegirl? You still have the skills and some young blood to teach!” 

“Look, Joey. I’m not as free as I was back then. I have a family to be concerned about, a wife and a partner to come home to, and I have to look out for my kids and myself. I was already pushing it by having them come here considering how big the Blight name is, but having one of them do a race with me? I just can’t risk it.”

“Eda, I wouldn’t be asking you about this race if there wasn’t a better chance to complete it.”

“What’s so different this time Joey?”

“Well, it’s 2 AM so LA traffic is as dead as it can be. It’s a cloudy day with the moon barely shining. Finally, the LAPD is extremely busy with some trouble with some rebels near Dowey. So even if the LAPD bothers to send in cops to stop us, it wouldn’t even be their A or B team. Hell, maybe not even their C team. So I say, now is the best chance to make our dreams a reality.”

Eda stood there, processing each bit of evidence that Joey had placed on the table, each increasing the chance of doing the races of both of their dreams. She looked down at the ground, with a finger on her chin to aid her thinking. 

“...still not sure about letting Emira drive, though….”

“Is Emira as good as you with magic?”

“Yeah, but-”

“But nothing! Trust your kids, man. If she has the precision of drifting and then speeding off, she can perform a spell to help her escape the cops.” Joey had his fist out, ready for a fist bump from Eda as a form of acceptance of the challenge. However, as Eda thought about it more, Emira went off to the others to talk about her skills.

“Jesus Christ Emira! Did you learn to do that with my mom’s car?!” Luz asked, worried about the amount of damage that Emira caused that she wasn’t aware of.

“Perhaps! But don’t worry, I was trying to learn them on empty roads!” 

“Still didn’t help that I will never get in a car with you as the driver ever again,” Amity exclaimed, remembering how terrified she was with Emira behind the wheel.

“Well, then good luck getting anywhere in the human realm in this car-dependent world!” 

“Isn’t Luz trying to get a permit?” Edric asked.

“W-Well yeah. But who’s going to take you to your destination quicker? Me or Luz?”

“Me because I won’t be spending about an additional 20 minutes talking to a power-tripping police officer.” Luz devilishly smirks as Amity and Edric chuckle under their breath.

“Oh wow, haha….” Emira sarcastically laughed, turning away to check her scroll, sensing a vibration from a message she received from Penstagram.

{animal_lover69}: YOOOO IS THIS YOU???

To Emira’s surprise, it was Viney. Attached to her message was a 15-second clip of her driving from earlier, seemingly recorded by Luz’s POV.

{Blight_Cat#2.9}: yeah, of course. I’m a natural speed demon! c:<

{animal_lover69}: sure sure lmao

As Emira tried to respond to Viney’s messages, Eda called for Emira to come to talk with her and Joey about the race.

“So Eda’s kid, you really wanna prove yourself as a worthy successor to the DQ?”

“More than anything!”

“Sweet! Because we are going to accomplish the craziest street race ever in LA history!” Joey said, pulling out a new revised layout of the race. 

“So, we’ll start here in an interaction at Whittier Blvd and race straight through the 6th Street Viaduct. Then we will do a right turn at South Alameda Street and drive straight forward until we reach East Temple Street. By that time, the cops should be alerted and come behind our tails. So to be as unpredictable as possible, we’re going to do random turns, it doesn’t matter how many turns we have to make. We just need to make it to North Figueroa Street. By that point, it’s a total free-for-all when it comes to what street we go, so we can start losing some cops. We just need to reach the next checkpoint, which is Pershing Square. And then finally, the finish line will be back at the 6th Street Viaduct. If you finish first, you’ll be the next DQ. Got it memorized?”

“With enough time studying this map, I think I will! However, I have a few concerns. Like…what’s the backup plan if we’re caught?”

“At that point, you’re allowed to use magic to get yourself out of that situation. No one is gonna judge you for ‘cheating’ when you’re about to face jail time.”

“Ok good uhhh, do we need to conceal our identity or-”

“Nah, no one can see us through our car windows. So as long as you don’t open them, you’re practically invisible from the inside.”

“Next question, who am I racing against?”

“Why me, of course! One of the reasons why Edalyn here is considered a DQ is because she beat me in a race. I miss being called DK, but Eda deserves it! Any last questions, kid?”

“Just one more, what happens if we crash or something?” As Emira asks this question, Joey laughs it off.

“Kid, if I can borrow some wisdom from the DQ herself; ‘A Clawthorne never crashes.’”

-

Cut to everyone making their way to Whittier Blvd with the Owl House gang traveling in Eda’s car. Emira studies the map carefully, trying to plan out a route for the 2nd half of the race. Although nervous about her raw skill soon being put to the test, she felt her heart beat fast with excitement, ready to feel the thrill of illegally racing throughout the streets of downtown LA. 

However, she soon receives a text message on her scroll. Quickly remembering that she never got back to Viney. Emira summons her scroll again ready to respond.

{animal_lover69}: damn, you’re just gonna leave me on seen like that? Smh

{Blight_Cat#2.9}: Sorry! I was just busy getting prepared to race

{animal_lover69}: wait seriously? you? racing? sureeeee

{Blight_Cat#2.9}: whatttt i am hoe

{animal_lover69}: then where hoe???

{Blight_Cat#2.9}: by whitter blvd

      you’ll know where it is with all the people coming to see it lmao

{animal_lover69}: yeah sure, i’ll be the judge of that lol

“Hey, kid, you’re still studying the map and not talking to your partner, right?” Eda asks, embarrassing Emira.

“Oh, shut up! Viney is not my girlfriend.”

“I didn’t say who it was,” Eda smirks, causing Emira to growl in anger as everyone in the car laughs. “Seriously though, did you study the map enough?”

“Yeah, I did, Eda. No need to worry, I’ll be fine!” 

“I know, it’s just I’m worried, you know? It’s just my motherly instincts kicking in.”

“Well, remember, you’re still going to be in the car with me. So if anything goes wrong, you can take control!” Emira puts Eda’s worries to rest, but the waterworks soon come out as Emira says the line from earlier. “Besides, a Clawthorne never crashes!”

“ Don’t cry, don’t cry. You still need to drive! ” Eda whispers to herself.

“Hey! Since when were you considered a Clawthorne?!” Amity asks, judging Emira’s actions.

“Wait! Can I be a Clawthorne too?!” Edric jumps to the front to ask Eda herself.

“Not you too!”

“Hey! You can’t judge us, Mrs. Amity Noceda!”

“But-”

“Shut up, guys! You’re making Eda cry!”

“I’m not crying, Luz! I just have somETHING IN MY EYE!” Eda yells, trying too hard not to weep then and there.

—--------

“You are now about to witness the strength of street knowledge.''  

The car radio begins to play NWA’s Straight Outta Compton as everyone gathers together on Whitter Blvd. They all waited on the sidewalks for more people so they could all collectively stop traffic so Emira and Joey could start the race. 

Emira rested her back on Eda’s convertible, seeing the crowd grow bigger and bigger as friends and families ranging from all kinds of backgrounds came to witness the biggest street race ever.

“Getting nervous, Blight?” A familiar voice appeared from next to her. Emira turns to see Viney walking up next to her. She wore a torn crop top with the word ‘Beast’ on it, a leather jacket, and a spiked collar on her neck. Emira suppressed the light blush on her cheeks as she saw her fit.

“Don’t you think you’re exposing your skin a little too much?” Emira asks district Viney from seeing her light blushed cheeks.

“Eh, I’m just exposing my stomach. Besides, women have been harassed since the dawn of civilization, not like clothes influence the matter. The only thing my clothes are saying is that I’m proud of how I look despite being ‘overweight’”

“Huh, never really thought about that….” Emira said, still not making eye contact with Viney because her blush was still semi-visible.

“That’s because you still have no sense of fashion. Also, my eyes are here! It’s not like I’m naked or anything.”

“Yeah, you’re right! I’m gonna turn my head right now, and now…and now…and-”

“Blight, just talk.”

“Yeah, I should.” Emira chuckled, turning to look at the crowd now beginning to try to halt traffic as the race was about to begin.

“Still though, are you nervous with all these people coming to see the race?” Viney asked, noticing Emira witnessing the group preparing for the race.

“Nah, not really. If anything, I’m excited.”

“Pfff, why?”

“I…really don’t know. I guess it is because I feel like I’m about to accomplish something?”

“Don’t you and Edric have the highest score for an entrance exam? Isn’t that an accomplishment?”

“I mean, sure, it kinda is, but it isn’t something me nor Ed really brag about. Didn’t help that when we did achieve it, no one was really cheering for us. If anything, they hated me a lot… But with this, even if I lose the race, people will still cheer that we even pulled it off.” 

Emira looked down at the ground, embarrassed to even speak about her personal feelings. Viney’s eyes soften at the Blight whom she used to hate with a passion. Never in a million years had she expected to feel sympathetic for Emira.

“Hey, knowing how crazy you were from that cult incident, you’ll win for sure.” Viney smiled at Emira, who finally dared to look at her. Emira smiled back at Viney. Their exchange of smiles is soon cut off as the crowd soon surrounds Emira and Joey as the race is about to begin.

“Good luck,” Viney said, winking as she left Emira to prepare to race. Thanks to Viney’s words, Emira feels more determined than ever to win the race. Eda walks up to her with Joey not far behind.

“I guess this is it, kid. Ready to make some pigs annoyed?” Joey asks.

“Eh, more so ready to kick your fucking ass,” Emira smirks leaving Joey a laughing mess before wishing her luck as he gets inside his car.

“Hey, Big Boots, remember; if you feel like you’re about to get caught, don’t feel ashamed to use magic,” Eda says, making her way to the passenger side of the car.

“Implying that I would,” Emira rolled her eyes.

“Pfff, that’s my girl,” Eda thought to herself.

Emira and Joey drive side by side to the starting line. The crowd hype up the two racers, causing their hearts to pump faster and faster. Their heartbeat follows the rhythm of the cheers.

Soon enough, someone walks in between the two cars, who the two identify as the person who would start the race. They face forward to the two racers with a phone in their hand, waiting to be given the final ok to start the race. As the two racers waited, they showed off how loud their engines are, with Joey’s causing the exhaust to sound like gunshots.

Emira and Joey stare down at the person again as they notice their stance changing. They waited for what felt like hours but then….

The bright light from their phone shines down on Joey and Emira’s faces!

The race has begun with the two speeding their way to the 6th Street Viaduct. Leaving the crowd, Viney, Edric, Amity, and Luz included, breathless to watch the two cars go as fast as they could.

After driving past the rainbow-lit bridge, they drift across the interaction to South Alameda Street, with the next crowd that blocked that interaction only being able to see the trace of their car’s highlights.

As the two racers arrived at East Temple Street in Little Tokyo, the LAPD were soon alerted about the race and called in whoever is left to chase them down, with only one helicopter aiding the few cop cruisers.

When Emira and Joey see the cops in their car mirrors, they split into different streets. Turning and drifting all over Little Tokyo, perfectly missing every possible collision with a car. 

When they finally reached North Figueroa Street, it was time to go their separate ways to find the quickest way to head to Pershing Square. Emira turns at every interaction as the cops are right on her tail with the helicopter not too far behind. 

To lose the copter, Emira drives by the many skyscrapers that make up LA's skyline. Passing by Bank of America Financial Center, Two California Plaza, and then to the US Bank Tower. As Emira loses the helicopter, another finds her, which belongs to one of the many news networks.

Emira had to switch focus from trying to lose the helicopter to winning the race. So Emira makes her way from one street to another in the heart of Downtown LA, finally arriving at Pershing Square, seeing that Joey had just barely passed it. She curses at herself while still driving through 6th Street, trying to catch up to Joey who was on the same street.

They noticed that a few cops had blocked the intersection between 6th Street and San Pedro Street with one of them barely throwing a spike strip on the floor. The two split again, with Joey going more South and Emira going more North to avoid the small blockade.

Emira found herself in East 4th Street while Joey was in East 8th Street. The two narrowly dodge the cop cars from the blockade attempting to crash into them. Joey was back at 6th Street while Emira was still trying to make her way back. In a matter of seconds, she realized the small narrow street of 407 Molino could lead her back to 6th Street.

Emira turns, confusing the few cop cars chasing her down, avoiding all cars in her way, turning left to Palmetto Street to reach Mateo Street. Finally, she is side by side with Joey who’s in first place by an inch. Emira speeds up more to one-up Joey with him trying to do the same.

As they make it back to the Viaduct, the crowd from before cheering for the racers to finish before the cops reach them. The audience yelled as the two racers had crossed the finish line, with the Nocedas and Viney yelling the loudest. But once the cops came, everyone began to bail as the cop cruisers stopped in an attempt to chase after the audience.

The helicopter stopped to aid the officers. However, they screamed at the pilot to chase after the two racers, but they were nowhere to be seen. It seems like they disappeared into nothingness.

“Oh god, they’re not gonna like this…” The pilot thought, returning to their base. But what the crew in the helicopter didn’t notice was that they were hiding in plain sight using Emira’s invisibility spell. 

“Let’s wait for a little while, ok?” Joey lowers his window to say, closing it while they sit there waiting. Emira takes a series of deep breaths, trying to process the fact that she raced across the city, going over 200 on the car’s speedometer.

“Did you think I won, Eda?” Emira asks, curious about the results of the race.

“I would be surprised if you didn’t. No matter what though, I’m proud of ya, kid!”

“Why? Even if it turns out I didn’t win?”

“Because you didn’t even ask for my help! You race across Downtown LA without a single scratch on my car! And you didn’t even need me to tell you when to use the invisibility spell! You did that all on your own, kid. Even if it turns out you lose, I know in my heart that you forever will be an honorary Clawthorne, worthy to be the next DQ!”

Eda spilled her heart out to the eldest Blight, who was starting to tear up as Eda continued to speak. She tried to wipe the tears away as Eda wasn’t looking, but Eda took notice immediately.

“Are you crying, kid?”

“No!! I just got something in my eye!!!”

—

After the coast was clear, Joey and Emira drove back to the finish line to see who was in first place in the race. When they arrived, a much smaller crowd surrounded both José and Alejandro as the two played back the recording of the race that their drone captured.

“We had a drone record this the entire time?” Emira asked.

“We sure did homie. José and Alejandro made some modifications with it so they can catch up to anyone racing,” Joey explained but their attention shifted as the crowd yelled in excitement, with Luz running towards Emira.

“EMIRA! YOU WON!”

“W-What?” Emira backed away from the shock of the announcement, not believing it to be true. However, when José and Alejandro ran up to her, she saw it for herself.

“It’s true, guey! ¡Mirar!” José played the footage over again to when Joey and Emira were about to pass the finish line in slow motion. Bit by bit, it showed that Emira had reached it first by about 5 inches.

Emira’s jaw dropped. She couldn’t believe it. She actually won the race! Luz hugged her, carrying her in the air a bit. However, Edric and Amity tackled the two to the ground as they were so excited to hug her that they jumped her. Viney laughed at the situation, walking up to Emira and waiting for her to get up to congratulate her.

Eda picks the gang up, with Emira getting up to see the audience collectively say her name alongside saying their praises. Emira blushed at the number of people overnight becoming fans of her driving skills, hiding her face with her hair. 

“Come on DQ, dab me up!” Joey asked, ready for Emira to return the gesture. She did so with all of her strength, making Joey laugh. “You still gotta work on your muscle kid!”

“Fuck off!” Emira laughed off Joey’s remarks against her strength, enjoying the moment of celebration of something she did.

The last group of people that witnessed the race waved their goodbyes to one another, giving their last praises to Joey and Emira as they left, leaving the two racers with José, Alejandro, Eda, Edric, Amity, Viney, and Luz to their own devices. However, Joey asks the crew something.

“Hey guys, it seems like you guys are tuckered out, want something to eat?”

“Depends, is the Ave 26 Night Market still a thing?” Eda asks.

“Why else would I be asking, fool?” Joey says, smiling at the fond memories the two share at that night market.

“Come on guys, I know you’re gonna love that place!” Eda gathers the teens to get inside her car, with them gladly following suit.

“Oooo! I always wanted to go to a night market!” Luz remarks 

“You wanna come with?” Eda asks Viney, who stands there thinking before taking up the offer.

“Sure, I’m curious what they have there,” Viney says as we switch from Whitter Blvd straight to Ave 26 Night Market .

The gang looks in awe at the number of amazing Latino dishes and drinks being made at every stand. Elotes being covered in mayo and then the queso seco and red chili powder. Aquas Frescas ranging from all flavors from Aqua de Pepino to Horchata in big Vitrolero containers full of fresh cold ice. Pupusas were sizzling as they were cooked full of cheese alongside anything from pork to beans. Churros are being grilled and pulled out to be covered in a mountain of cinnamon sugar. So many iconic and delicious foods that make the gang’s mouth drool.

“What have we been missing this whole time…” The Blights, Viney, and Luz all said, awing the scenery and the smell coming from the food around them.

“So what do you guys want?”

“Oh god, we can’t choose!” The teens say, realizing that they can’t eat everything.

“Hey Eda, we’re gonna order what we want and then head back to our spot, alright?” Joey says as José and Alejandro head to their desired foods, Eda nodding in response before looking back at her kids.

“How about this, guys; get what you really want to eat now, and if you feel like you want to try something else but can’t because you’re full, I’ll take you guys here again!” 

“Really?!” The teens quickly react to Eda’s words.

“Sure thing! Just make sure that you have room for the foods and drinks you’re gonna order!” Right when Eda said this, the teens split into different directions.

Amity grabbed Luz by her arms to help her with her Spanish to order tacos and Edric and Emira with Viney not too far behind the twins as they make their way to the churros.

“Can I be honest? I half-expected you three to fight over Luz with helping ordering stuff.” Viney admits as she reaches them, walking side by side with the twins.

“Funny that you would think that we would do such a thing. For we know how to speak proper Latin Spanish!”

“You don’t, Ed, I do, and even then, it’s iffy at best.”

“You didn’t need to embarrass me in public!”

“You didn’t need to make it easy to be outed for the sake of clout.” Emira had the last word, making Viney chuckle as they arrived at the stand selling churros.

“I bet I can speak better Spanish than you,” Viney says to Emira.

“Sure, go again, senorita,” Emira lets Viney be the first one to order churros.

“¡Oiga!, ¿me puedo ganar un orden de churros por favor?” Viney asks in Spanish to near perfection. However, her accent could use some work.

“¿Cuánto quieres?” The woman asks as she gets out a plastic container, ready to put the churros in.

“Ummm, seis por favor,”  Viney says, with the woman grabbing the sugar-covered churros and putting them on the plate. As Viney is about to get her order done, another worker called Emira and Edric if they wanted anything.

“¡Oiga!, ¿quieres churros jefes?”

“Oh, sí nosotros quiere churros please.” Emira butchered the grammar however her accent was great. The two workers were confused at the sight of what looked like 2 non-Latinas attempting to speak Spanish, however, they laughed it off as they continued working.

“Hey, ¿quién habla mejor español?” Emira asks the two workers.

“Bueno, tu acento cuando tu hablas español es muy bueno, ¡pero tu gramática es muy mala!” The woman laughs as she explains while giving Viney her churros. “Prefiero hablar con tu amiga porque la entendería mejor a pesar de su mal acento.”

“See, I’m better at speaking Spanish than you.” Viney devilishly smirks as she claims this as a victory for her.

“But the way I say the words is better, so, ha!” Emira says, desperate to find a win in this losing battle.

“¿Dónde aprendiste a hablar español?” The other worker asks the two teens.

“Yo aprendo con los vídeos de YouTube, pero no sé dónde aprendió esta estúpida,” Viney giggles as she in Emira.

“No hagas caso a esta pendeja, aprendí español con mi amiga.” Emira explained herself.

“¿Oh? ¿De qué país es ella?”

“La República Dominicana.”

“Ah, ok! Pero ten cuidado, ¡el español que hablan los dominicanos es diferente al que hablamos nosotros!” The worker said while the teens nodded their heads. They grabbed their plate of churros as they made their way to their other destination.

Meanwhile, with Amity and Luz, Amity struggled with what kind of taco she wanted to get and which stand to get it from. Although Luz has already decided on her order, she waits for her girlfriend to choose which food she desperately wants to try.

“What to choose…what to choose! Ugh! Why do these tacos gotta look so god damn appetizing!”

“Remember amor, we can come back anytime to try out something different. Just pick something you wanna try right now and then think about what you will try next time!”

“Right! So uh…” As Amity looked to see which taco stand she wanted to order from, a customer walked away from one taco stand, eating a delicious taco de papa. “How about that taco stand?”

“Ooooo taco de papa, from Taco Quiroz?”

“Yeah, that place!” As Amity confirmed that place, Luz rushed towards the stand as there wasn’t anyone in line yet.

“¡Hey! ¿Puedo tener lo mismo que compró la última persona?”

“¿Taco de papa?”

“Sí, por favor.” 

“Ok, jefe. Give me cuando minutos!” The worker said, showcasing his Spanglish!

“Wait, you speak English?” Amity asked, realizing that she probably ordered in English instead of having Luz order for her.

“Sólo un poquito. Funny story, Spanish isn’t my first language. Pero, I been losting my English cuz I been working a lot with Latinos for many, many years! I trying to relearn English so I can better talk to people that don’t speak Spanish.”

“You don’t get embarrassed at all for speaking badly in English?” Amity asked.

“Eh, at first, yeah, pero I stopped giving a shit!” The worker chuckled. “It’s better to make mistakes so you could learn from it.” This hit close to home for Amity, as she didn’t speak Spanish out of fear of embarrassing her and Luz. So when the worker asked if she wanted anything else, Amity spoke in Spanish despite it being grammatically broken and weird.

“N-No gracias señor… pero gracias de…anyway!” 

“Ay! ¡La gringa sabe hablar español, ¿verdad?!” The worker chuckled, giving Amity’s tacos to her. “Good try! Got lot of learning to do!”

“¡Gracias!” Amity said, waving the worker goodbye as she and Luz moved on to order something else.

“Wait Luz, what’s a gringa?”

—

Selena’s Bidi Bidi Bom Bom plays on Joey’s car radio as he eats his esquite with dry cheese and chili. Alongside him are José and Alejandro, who both shared pizza, clanking their glass bottles of Mandarin-flavored Jarritos before eating a slice.

“So you would rather eat that piece of shit than Pizza Loca?” Joey shit talks about their pepperoni pizza.

“Cállate, cabrón. This pizza is better than modern-day Pizza Loca!”

“Yeah! Pizza Loca is not the same anymore!”

“Sure, sure, whatever you say,” Joey says, not wanting to bother to continue the argument about their blind nostalgia over the old Pizza Loca. He smiles as he sees the gang come to their parking spot to eat. 

“Oh my god!!! This is so good!” Amity yells out after eating one taco, tasting the delicious combination of corn taco, papa, potato, cheese, lettuce, and onion. She licks her fingers afterward, wanting to relive the experience of tasting for the first time, despite still having another 3 tacos left.

“You couldn’t wait until we were at the car to eat it, huh?” Edric teased, with Amity quickly firing back.

“Says the one who ordered a hot dog! Of all the amazing Latino cuisine here, you chose a famous American food!”

“What?! I can’t deny myself a good-looking hot dog!” Edric protested.

“Nah fool, we make foods better. Trust me, that hot dog is gonna be the bomb!” Alejandro aided Edric's protests. Meanwhile, Luz was concerned for her mother, Eda, who only ordered one thing.

“Eda, are you sure you’re just fine with just a raspado?” Luz asked.

“Yeah, I already tried most of the stuff here, so I just wanted to get a raspado since I missed these a lot!” Eda says before taking a sip of her lime-flavored raspado.

“Wait, you've been there before?”

“Several times actually,” Joey answered Luz’s question. “Every time after we do street takeovers, we go out and eat here. It was funny to see Eda poorly attempt to act as if she wasn’t a witch.”

“So you guys knew she was a witch?” Emira asked, eating her churros after putting her plate on the hood of Eda’s car.

“Yeah! She didn’t fool anyone! The second I saw her white ass skin, I knew this hoe was a fucking witch. Ain’t no way someone with elf ears with that pale ass skin would visit a place like this.” Joey said before taking another scope of his esquite.

“What do you mean by that?” Luz asked, confused at Joey’s statement.

“You see, when a white chick says they wanna visit and live in LA, they never talk about anywhere South of Los Angeles. They talk about how rich our culture is here but never come down here to legitimately experience it authentically. They rather experience the white-washed version targeted at the privileged and the elite.”

“Ahh, that’s where they get you! Always wanting our country and our color, but never the condition. They just want to take a piece of our history while turning a blind eye to our struggles.” Luz shakes her head in disapproval as she begins to eat.

“Reminds me of a video I saw on TikTok about how a lot of white people are moving to Mexico due to cheaper living costs.” Emira recollects as she eats one of her churros.

“Oh god don’t remind me. Pinche gringos coming to poorer areas of Mexico just to take advantage of us!” José cringes as he remembers the day it became a big news headline.

“They really took a whole new level of eating delicious Latino foods and then deciding to just move there,” Edric says.

“Nah, what they do is eat something like an elote, call it something else so they can claim it as a white dish, and then move to Mexico.” Emira corrected her brother. “How long has it been going on, though?”

“For so long, Em. You guys have no idea,” Luz says, taking a bite of her torta. “And it isn’t just for Mexico, it’s across the Caribbean too, and it pisses me off. They’re basically Christoper Columbing my island and then dipping when there’s a natural disaster. Gets my blood boiling when say they’re there because they “love” the culture so much and the people, but we all fucking know it’s because it’s just cheaper to live there. I bet they call each and every one of us a slur under their breaths.”

Luz took another bite, quickly feeling embarrassed that she probably had made everyone uncomfortable with how political she had made the conversation.

“Guys, I-I’m sorry. Didn’t mean to get so worked up and political.”

“Don’t be Luz, it’s important to talk about these issues,” Amity reassured her girlfriend, holding her hand tightly.

“Besides, I was the one that brought it up,” Emira says, taking the blame inside of having Luz blame herself.

“Happens to the best of us. We can’t help but be emotional over issues we hold so close to our hearts.” Edric says.

“Hey, speaking of emotion, isn’t this your song Joey?” Alejandro asks, pointing at the car radio that now plays 2Pac’s Dear Mama .

“Aw shit, fuck me up every time.”

“Wait…didn’t this play at your quinceañera, Luz?” Emira asks.

“Oh yeah, it played when I danced with my mom.”

“Why did you choose that song, though?”

“Just listen to the lyrics, kid.” As Joey says this, Emira quickly becomes silent to hear the lyrics, hearing 2Pac sing about his struggles and childhood with his mom.

“Oh… is this like…about his mom?”

“Yeah, but I do relate to this song somewhat. My mama was kicked out of the family for giving birth to a Latino-Black mixed baby when she was 20.” 

“That Latino-Black mixed baby was him. Pisses me off hearing about that still.” Eda shares.

“Yeah, it makes me mad too. Anyway, after being kicked out, my papa and mama work their asses off to get themselves a house since we have just been living at my granddad’s home. But soon enough, my dad passed away so…my mama had to raise me on her own. It was tough, especially with the shit I put my mama into in my teen years, but when that song came out, I became a mess. Made me realize how much my mama matters and broke me out of my shitty behavior.”

Although Joey told his emotional tale about his childhood, not a single tear spilled, showcasing how much at peace he was about his past.

“Wow…I’m sorry to hear.” Luz said, cleaning her watery eyes.

“You crying, homie?”

“Y-Yeah, I share a similar story…. When my papa passed away when I was a kid, I felt so…angry. I was angry at everything in life, throwing temper tantrums at school and at home. But what made me feel better was this song. It made me realize that although I may have lost my dad, I still have the best mama in the world who went through thick and thin to make sure I was well. We may not see eye to eye at times, but she means the world to me.”

“More than me?” Amity asks jokingly, trying to lighten the mood a bit.

“Oh, shut up!” Luz laughs at Amity’s joke, quickly making her mood much better.

As the group continued to eat their food and talk with one another, Emira just watched all of it unfold as she rested her back on the car, finished eating her churros, and listened to 2Pac’s song.

“The song is hitting you too, huh?” Viney asked sarcastically.

“Fuck off,” Emira chuckles with Viney laughing.

“I joke, but you seem very hypnotized by the track.”

“Well, it did captivate me, especially since I don’t really have good relatives to look up to. Odalia was shitty, and my dad…well…I don’t quite understand how I feel towards him.”

“It’s complicated?” Viney’s tone softens, hearing Emira out about her relationship with her father.

“Yeah, it’s very complicated. I love him a lot for being there for us at times during our childhood years, but…I hate him for…for…ignoring Ed and I for so long. When he was starting to miss those days when he would give us attention, Amity was all he talked about. Never me or Ed…. This feeling is only made worse when I’m the only one going through this, Amity loves him unconditionally, and so does Ed because they only have this perspective of him being so great when…at times he wasn't…”

“And you’re not gonna mention it to them?”

“I would rather not. I don’t want to burst their bubble with my pessimism.”

“But they seem to like you a lot so…aren’t you good enough for them?” Viney's words struck a core with the Blight. 

She never really saw herself as a positive role model for her siblings since she didn’t seem to have a major impact on them at first. However, feeling Amity hugged her after months of missing each other, crying and weeping in her arms, felt… different. It didn’t feel like 2 sisters finally seeing each other after several months of not seeing each other, it felt like a mother comforting her daughter after disappearing.

“Huh…I guess you taught me another new thing today,” Emira smiled at Viney, who smiled back.

“That’s because I’m all brain while you have no thoughts running through your head.”

“Shut up.” Emira chuckles, returning to listen to the conversation happening in front of her.

After what felt like hours of talking, everyone waved their goodbyes as they went their separate ways. The teens followed Eda taking a bus to try to make their way back to their hotel. Luz sat next to Eda since she was getting jealous of Emira getting the spotlight, but Eda reminded her that no matter what, Luz will always be her favorite kid…with Emira being a close second.

Edric and Amity sat with Emira on the bus, sleeping as they got tired the second they reached their seats. She gazed at the Los Angeles skyline at night but was distracted by a head that fell on her shoulder. She turned to see Edric resting his head on her shoulder, with Amity resting on Edric’s. She noticed that her hand was held tightly by Amity and Edric as they slept, making her heart warm.

Emira turned back to the window, smiling at how close her kids are to her, never wanting to let her go for a moment.

Camila and Raine watched the news report of the car race that Joey and Emira did, knowing full well that one of the racers was Emira.

“HIJA DE PUT-”

Chapter Text

“I fucking hate LA,” Casey says, trying to fan themselves as they organize the files in the office.

“Come on now, the more you talk, the less work you’ll get done.” Their father said, helping them organize the files. 

Casey’s father, Conor Williams, is the business executive of the renewal form Blight Industries, hired by members of NATO to keep their technology regulated in their hands. He oversees the finances of the company and finalizes business deals over the technology that Blight Industries makes. Technology that none of the public knows. However, he’s with Casey to help them solve a recent issue involving the company from California.

“It’s the least we can do for these folks using these offices on such short notice.” Conor continues.

“I’m talking more so about the heat. The least this god-forsaking state can do is make AC a requirement for all homes like Nevada.” 

“That would mean landlords would have to care for their people, so I find that very unlikely, Casey,” Conor remarked, causing Casey to chuckle. As they finish organizing the files, they sit down and turn on their fans to the max. They begin to talk about Casey’s involvement with the Blights.

“So, how’s Emira been doing?”

“Doing better now, especially when none of the cops manage to catch her.”

“I’m surprised you even let her do something that crazy.”

“Ehh, I figured that even if she did get caught, it wouldn’t amount to anything. How about you, though? Do you have anything new regarding that case from Blight Industries?”

“Unfortunately, no, but we’re getting close. One of my men is listening in to a conversation between 2 of the Board of Directors at the moment.” Conor reports as he starts to make a cup of coffee.

“You’re really gonna make coffee in this heat?”

“Coffee is what keeps me going. You’ll understand when you get to my age.” Conor jokes before taking a sip of his coffee, causing Casey to cringe. Suddenly, a knock disrupts the conversation, followed by the door opening.

“Are you two done here yet?” An older gentleman asks, which both Conor and Casey recognize.

“Yes, dad. All files are accounted for!” Conor responds to his father.

Conor’s father is truly a mystery for Emira, as neither he nor Casey really talks about him as much. The only thing Emira knows about him is that he works within some sort of secret service or FBI or CIA or…actually scratch that, Emira doesn’t even know what he does. Conor’s father is truly an enigma.

“Good to hear. There have been rumors of people leaking these files to the public, and the last thing I want to happen is having our investigation leaked.”

“Looks like you jinxed it,” Casey thought to herself out loud.

“Casey.”

“What? Just saying.”

“Well, let’s pray it doesn’t happen. Come on now. We still have some work to do.” Conor’s father says, leaving the room with Conor and Casey following suit.

As they made their way out of the office, Casey noticed someone in the corner of their eye. They wore an all-black suit with a top hat that tipped over their face, covering their identity somewhat. Without telling their father or grandfather, Casey followed the person who seemingly was making their way to where the files were kept.

Soon enough, they entered inside, raising Casey’s suspicions. No one was allowed in that room without strict permission and a guide to take them there, as the room contains files relating to Blight Industries and the entirety of LA county. Casey pulled out their Glock-22 and tried to bust into the room to take the person out. But it seems like the person knew about the ambush.

The man busts out of the room, gun blasting, having Casey duck for cover. The shoot-out ends as the man leaves quickly as soon as Conor and his father arrive at the scene, shooting back at the man.

“What the fuck is going on?!”

“That guy stole some of our shit!” Casey yelled, chasing after the man with their gun aimed forward, just in case of an encounter. 

However, the man was already gone with a car rushing through LA traffic. Casey, then Conor, and his father try to shoot the car, but none of the bullets hit their intended target. The three didn’t have time to catch them as they were long gone before they could get the authorities to go after them. They rush back into the room and see that about half of the files involving the Blight Industries investigation are now gone.

“Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! FUCK!!!!” Conor kicked the table, sitting down to think of their next action as his father pats him on the back. Casey continues to look around and sees a little medal on the floor, and recognizes it.

“Shit. It looks like we’ve been messing around too much with the elite.”

“What makes you say that, Casey.”

“This medal, it’s from a human trafficking syndicate, Persephone.”

“Aw shit…” Conor’s dad sighs, rubbing his in response to the stress.

“We have a meeting soon with our men too…fuck!” Conor says, cursing himself while his father comforts him. The 2 try to figure out what to do until Casey steps in.

“I’ll get it back.”

“Casey, no! You’re not about to go after a group of degenerates!” 

“Dad, don’t worry! I’m not going to do it on my own.” 

“No….No, no, no! Don’t get Emira involved in this!”

“Conor, we don’t have much of a choice,” His father says, trying to reason with Conor.

“...Fine. Please be careful.”

“I will, dad. Despite how much of a knucklehead Emira is, she’ll help big time getting those files back.” Casey hugs their father, promising him their safe return.

Emira cries on her brother’s shoulder, eating ice cream straight out of the bucket. She weeps and yelps endlessly, as Edric could do nothing but sit there, letting his sister let out her emotions.

“See what happens when you break Camila’s rules, Emira?” Hunter reminds Emira of her actions last night. “Not only did you break several LA laws, but you got chased by the cops.” Emira, in response to Hunter still talking, gets ice cream thrown at him.

“Shut up! How about you go eat a bag of dicks!” Emira says, before going back to weeping.

“I don’t know why you’re so upset over this. You’re only grounded for a day.” 

“Well, that’s because Camila never tells you she’s disappointed with you,” Edric explains. “You’re nothing but goody-two-shoes.”

“I’m not!”

“You are,” Willow says, coming from around the corner.

“W-What…I mean…Willow! You’re my girlfriend!”

“So?”

“That means you’re supposed to defend me!”

“True, but as a friend of Edric’s, I have every right to defend him as well.”

“B-But-”

“No buts, mister.”

“Ugh! Yes, ma’am,” Hunter blushes out of embarrassment as Willow walks away from the conversation.

“Goody-two-shoes~” Edric teases, with Hunter failing to say anything.

“Ed, please shut up.” Willow comes back to shush Edric, her eyes glowing green.

“Yes! Ma’am!” Edric stiffens at the sight of Willow, causing Emira to pathetically fall to the ground, still eating.

“Wait, Hunter, Emira, weren’t you two supposed to help Camila with grocery shopping?” Willow asked, causing Emira to perk up and run for the exit, with Hunter slowly making his way.

“I’m coming Camilaaaaaa!!!!! Oof!” Emira runs into Camila, who was just barely getting inside the rental car.

“Oh, there you are. I was about to leave,” Camila was surprised to see Emira already in the car in a matter of seconds of her just leaving.

“Good thing I came just in time!” Emira stepped inside the car and waited for their departure, forgetting about Hunter who entered before her. As Camila starts the car, she starts to make small talk with Emira.

“Emira, what’s with this behavior? Is it because you think I’m mad?” Camila chuckled.

“Whatttttt? No!”

“Weren’t you crying earlier?-”

“Shut up, Hunter!”

“Hey, hey, calm down, Emira. No need to scream at my son.”

“B-But Mom!”

“But Mom’ nothin- Wait, what?”

“What?” Emira blushed, realizing what she had just called Camila. “I didn’t say anything.”

“Hija, está bien! You can call me mom if you'd like to!” Camila says, patting Emira’s head and messing up her hair.

“R-Really?” Emira is shocked to hear this, but soon the waterworks come back again, ready to burst. “I LOVE YOU, MAMA! I’M SO SORRY ABOUT YESTERDAY!” Emira cries out, hugging Camila's arm.

“Geez, what a crybaby.”

“Shut up, Hunter! You’re just jealous that Camila loves me a lot!” 

“Actually, I’m not since I’m Camila’s favorite kid!” 

“Is that true, mom?!” Emira gasped.

“Uh…no? I love all my kids equally. But you two hold a special place in my heart for being so cute!”

“.....Really?” Hunter and Emira's eyes sparkled like that of puppies when you baby-talk them.

“Of course, my little grinitos!”

Although Camila ‘ perfectly’ made it clear that she doesn’t pretty prefer one kid over the other, Hunter and Emira essentially made getting groceries a competition, where whoever helped the most won. Thanks to Emira’s knowledge of the layout of a typical grocery store, she was in the lead, but Hunter wasn’t too far behind as his speed was nothing compared to hers.

As the two race around the non-existent clock, a figure walks into the store without Emira’s knowledge. They walk up to the Blight, as she examines the aisle she’s in, trying to look for what Camila wanted.

“Hello,” That person was Casey, who scared the living shit out of Emira. She yelped to contain her scream and not alert anyone.

“Jesus Christ, Casey! Can you not sneak up on me next time?!”

“I wasn’t, but next time I’ll make my presence more known so as to not scare you.”

“Thank you. So what are you doing here anyway? I thought you were back in your temporary office.”

“I was, but something happened and…I need your help for once.” Casey took a deep sigh before asking for Emira’s assistance, as they never expected there’ll be one day when they’ll ask Emira for help. 

Emira looked around her surroundings to see if Camila or Hunter were nearby. Seeing that the coast was clear, she leaned in and whispered.

“Did your office get attacked?”

“Yes. Luckily my father and I weren’t hurt in any way but…some important files were stolen.”

“What files?” As Emira asked, Casey debated if they should reveal the details about the files but figured that she eventually had to know what was going on.

“...Files about Blight Industries.”

“...What? Why do you have files about Blight Industries?”

“Look, I’ll explain later. Right now, I need confirmation if you can help or not.”

“Can’t your dad help?”

“He can’t. He and my grandpa are busy with something right now that’s extremely important. You’re the only one that can help.”

“I want to help, but I can’t.”

“Why?”

“I’m…grounded.” Emira looked away, her cheeks turning light red, embarrassed to say this since…well…

“You’re…grounded?... Aren’t you like an adult already?”

“Almost, but like you know. I don’t wanna disrespect my mom like that-”

“Wait, I thought Lilith was your mom-”

“OK! UH! I’m going to help you get it back! When are we leaving?”

“We depart when the sun sets. Meet me in this warehouse in Downtown LA.” As Casey says this, they pull out their phone, showing the exchange location of the warehouse. “I’ll explain everything there.”

“Should I bring anything or anyone?”

“Hmm…do you know any other healers?”

“Excuse me?”

“I want to be extra prepared for what's to come, and I can’t have you trying to heal me while someone’s attacking,” Casey says, causing Emira to sigh.

“I know someone.”

“Name?”

“...Viney-”

“Oh, her. Also, bring your brother with you.” Emira was confused at how Casey seemingly knew about Viney’s existence but figured it was because of their FBI-level research, so she just questioned what Casey said next.

“Uhhhhh, why?”

“I need someone to laugh with to forget the atrocities I’m about to commit.”

“O-Oh…how wonderful.” Emira laughs awkwardly, suddenly remembering how skillful Casey is with CQC.

The LA skyline lights up as soon as the sun sets, with the moon illuminating the sky. Emira stood by, listening in to Camila’s movement, trying to perfectly time her way out. She could hear the conversation between her and Raine as Eda mops about having to sleep on the couch tonight. The second Camila began to turn on the TV, it was time to sneak out.

“Edric,” Emira whispers, catching his attention. “I need you for something.”

“What is it? Also, why are we whispering,” Edric whispered back, confused at the whole conversation.

“It’s about Casey. They need us for something.”

“Oh? Oh. OH!”

“SHHHHHH!”

“Sorry, my bad. When are we leaving?”

“Right now.”

“Right now, as in right now, right now?”

“Yes! Come on, let’s go!” Emira guides her brother to the door, trying to open it but it seems like it’s locked from the outside. 

“You’re not trying to leave, right Emira?” Hunter suddenly whispered loud enough for Emira to hear on the other side of the door.

“Fucking- What do you want, Hunter?”

“Nothing, just noticing that you were trying to sneak out. Oh, right. I was gonna ask how you missed this new lock that Camila got to make sure you don’t sneak out again.”

“What?! When did she get that?!”

“Just today. It looks like there’s a password on it with a number pad.”

“Hmm…what could the password be-”

“It’s someone’s birthday.”

“Huh?”

“I remember overhearing that the password was someone’s birthday. Might be one of us.”

“Then put my birthday in it!”

“What? Why would I?’

“Uhh, duh! I’m obviously her favorite. I mean, I did help her make food plenty of times without starting a fire!”

“It was one time! You know what?! Ok, fine, I’ll try your birthday, on one condition.”

“What do you want?”

“To prove that I’m not a goodie-two-shoes, bring me along with you to whatever mission you’re about to do with Casey.”

“Wait, were you listening to our conversation at the store?!”

“Yeah, I’m surprised Camila didn’t notice you guys talking.”

“Stalker~” Edric whispered to her sister.

“Oh, I’m the stalker now when Casey knows our exact address!”

“Huh, for once, you make a good point,” Edric said.

“Ugh! Just put my birthday in already!” Emira annoyingly said, causing Hunter to roll his eyes as he typed in her birthday.

“Wrong password.”

“What?!”

“Well, well, well, Blight. Looks like I’m Camila’s favorite kid!”

“How about you try my birthday?” Edric chimes into the conversation.

“Really? You think you’re Camila’s favorite?” Emira snickers.

“Oh, I don’t think so, I know so! I made Camila laugh several times!”

“That’s because it’s easy to make Camila laugh, Edric,” Hunter says.

“Just put my birthday in, mama’s boy!” Right after Edric insults him, the 3 idiots hear a soft beep indicating that they input the wrong password.

“Well, looks like you’re right, Ed! I am truly a mama’s boy-” When Hunter put his birthday, it was also wrong.

“Well, shit balls. Who’s Camila’s favorite kid?!” Emira asked.

“Looks like I’m truly my mama’s favorite after all!” Luz appears behind Hunter, joyful at the news. “And here I thought my mama wouldn’t recognize her love for her own blood-” Right when Luz put in her birthday, it was also very wrong.

“You were saying?” Both Emira and Edric said, bravely wearing a shit-eating grin since Luz was outside the door.

“B-But, b-but…who’s her favorite then?!”

“You called?” Vee pops out of the corner with Willow and Gus guarding her like they were the fucking president of the United States. 

Vee slowly and effortlessly walked to the lock, pretending as if she was figuring out what her birthday was. They then input the numbered month and day of her birthday, successfully unlocking the door. Vee then opens it to the shock of everyone around her.

“Will that be cash or card, ma’am?” Vee says, having her moment of superiority over everyone.

“We hate you so much right now…”

“No, you don’t. Especially you, Blight boy~” Vee pulled Edric by his collar, kissing both his cheeks, then walking away as if nothing had happened. No explanation, no further commentary, nothing, nada.

“Where did she get this sudden amount of confidence?” Edric said, completely shocked at Vee’s actions.

“I have no idea…” Luz said, her jaw dropping to the floor.

The streets of downtown LA were empty…well, empty as it could be in a city full of constant traffic every day. The Blight twins plus a bad but sad boy make their way to the warehouse where Casey said to meet, constantly looking over their shoulders for suspicious behavior. As soon as they arrived, they were met face to face with the one, the only; Viney.

“Well, well, well, looks like you two brought the Captain’s mistress!~” Viney teases as she sees Hunter with the twins.

“Oh, shut up,” Hunter says as he rolls his eyes, causing Viney to chuckle.

“So why is the Captain’s lover here anyway?”

“He wanted to come along to break out of his good boy attitude,” Edric explained.

“‘Good boy attitude,’ as if we're about to do anything bad.”

“Murder is pretty bad,” Emira says.

“Says who?”

“The law, Viney. The law.”

“I know, but who says we’re gonna murder people?”

“Says me,” Casey suddenly appears behind the group, scaring everyone.”

“Jesus Christ! Casey! What did I say about sneaking up on people?!” Emira says, ignoring the fact that she fell near Viney.

“My bad, I forgot about that. Anyways-” Casey stops themselves mid-sentence, seeing Hunter being a part of this group. After a strange awkward pause, they began speaking again. “Why is Hunter here?”

“Wait, how do you know my name???”

“My grandfather often works with both the FBI and CIA.”

“Ok? And?- Ohhhhh.” Hunter suddenly realizes how Casey knew his name. “So, privacy is a myth then?”

“Always has been. Anyway, since we are all here plus that…Hunter guy over there, let’s get inside shall we?” Casey walks over to the witches to make their way to the door. After they knock several times, a ringtone is heard , followed by someone talking.

“Who is it?”

“Wade, it’s me.”

“Oh! Casey! It’s been a while!”

“Yeah, it’s been 5 years. Listen uh, can you let us in? We need your help.”

“Sure! Sure! Come on in!” Wade says, opening the doors. Casey walks in with the others following suit into the dark abyss. At first, they were nervous until they saw two figures walking in the dark. Now, they were shitting their pants.

“HELLO!” The two figures say as the light comes on, scaring everyone and holding onto Casey closely, with Casey pushing everyone away. 

“Oops, sorry for that!”

“We’re just really excited to see more-” The two people gasp as they quickly recognize the Blight Twins.

“Oh my god! It’s Emira!”

“It’s Edric!”

“We’re such big fans of your father’s work!” The two shake Edric and Emira’s hands quickly, causing them to wobble around. 

“Can you guys stop, please?”

“Oh, right! What are my manners!? The name’s Abby!”

“And Gabby!”

“And we’re the Madison Twins!” Both Abby and Gabby said at the same time, with a neon sign of their title of Madison Twins behind the two, brightening their pink hair as the colors of the trans flag beamed onto them, leaving the others confused as to where the sign even came from.

“Do you always do that when you introduce yourself to people?” Edric asked. 

“Of course we do!” Abby said.

“You guys want one?!” Gabby asked as she grabbed a wrench and removed her trans pin, ready to build one.

“Yes!”

“Ed, no. We’re here to get some intel, not to ask for a commission.”

“Hey, you finally said something responsible, Em,” Casey said, with Emira only able to groan at what they said as the others chuckled.

“But since you guys are here-”

“How about we give you a presentation of all our weaponry!” Gabby continued Abby’s sentence as the two put back their trans pride pin.

“Come on pleaseeeeeeee?~” The two Madison twins got to their knees to beg Casey, giving them puppy eyes.

“...Fine. Make it quick.” Casey sighs, with the two quickly preparing everything.

“Hey! Why do you go easy on them but not me?!” Emira protested.

“Emira, you’re the reason why I have a drinking problem.” 

“Pffff, ha! You’re really that bad, Blight?” Viney laughed.

“Oh, she’s really bad. She stole Camila’s car once.” Hunter confirmed as well as taking the chance to shit on Emira’s track record.

“I was given permission!-”

“Not to drive,” Hunter smugly said.

“Never do that again, Emira. I don’t want to break you out of juvie for a second time.” Casey added, causing Viney to laugh harder.

“Your dumbass went to juvie?!”

“It was only for a day-” The conversation was cut off as the floor below them opened, causing everyone to fall down. 

Each of them safely onto a chair, with an automatic seatbelt wrapping across their chest. Casey rolled their eyes at the Madison Twins’ theatrical performance, as the presentation of a lifetime was about to begin.

“Hello, hello, everyone! I’m Abby!”

“And I’m Gabby!”

“Welcome to our super awesome weapons showcase that is definitely not classified as war crimes!” Both Abby and Gabby said, jumping in the air in excitement.

“Ever wonder if you can turn acid rain from the Boiling Isles into a weapon?”

“Well, here at KP Productions, we did just that!”

Abby and Gabby pulled a rope down, opening the curtains to an empty room with a glass window for the group to see. Then a random person drops down, confused and scared.

“WHERE AM I?!”

“SHUT IT!” Both twins yelled.

“This is Darrel!”

“He’s our little test rat!”

“Is this morally correct to have a human as a test rat?” Emira asked.

“Oh, don’t worry! He’s a 31-year-old groomer who tried to seduce several 14-year-old girls!”

“Because he wanted to recreate the tale of Jesus Christ!”

“Evangelical Christians really need to go extinct….” Edric remarked.

“You’re saying that as if they’re animals,” Hunter pointed out.

“They’re nowhere close to animals….” Viney added.

“Now behold!”

“The fury of the ACID RAIN 3000!”

The twins then fired the long weapon, showing acid rain at Darrel faster than any minigun. It melted Darrel away as he screamed for mercy, being cut short as the rain melted his brain. What was left of him was a pile of mush and muscle matter that cooked from the rain within it, leaving the group, beside Casey, shocked at its power.

“What do you guys think?” The twins asked.

“Uh…it’s interesting!” Viney managed to say without gagging at the sight of Darrel’s remains.

“At least you killed someone bad…?” Hunter reasoned with his moral compass.

“Makes me happy that you’re on our side!” Edric chuckled nervously.

“I’m not gonna question how you put acid rain in something unmeltable,” Emira said, still staring at the pile of blood.

“Good!”

“Now, on to the next item we have!”

“The RC Surprise Bot 3000!”

Another Darrel shows up, falling to the ground. He screams at the sight of the RC that’s wrapped around with potion bottles. After some running around, the twins detonated the RC with the potions mixing together to cause a huge explosion. The window kept them safe, but it was now covered with blood and liquid from the potions.

“Meep….” Everyone aside from Casey said.

“How about that?!” Abby and Gabby’s eyes sparkled as they both looked at the group.

“Uh, I thought you killed Darrel already?...” Viney pointed out.

“Oh yeah, we clone him a lot!”

“He never remembers anything that happened before his death!”

“Uh-huh….” Viney responds with fear in her voice.

“That’s enough, you two. We have some business these people need to attend to,” Suddenly Wade walks up to the twins, stopping the presentation.

“Come on, Wade!” The Twins begged.

“No, come on guys. These guys got a mission to do,” Wade reasoned with the twins, who whimpered as they started putting away everything. “Interns, am I right? Sorry about them. They are a little too much at times.”

“No worries, I allowed them to do it despite my better judgment,” Casey said as they came up to Wade and dabbed him up. “It’s been too long.”

“Sure has, and now I see you gain yourself an army of mentally ill people.”

“Hey! I- Actually, that’s very accurate,” Hunter attempted to protest this, until realizing the trauma that they all equally shared.

“So, what do you need help with?” Wade asked, walking over to put away the Madison twins’ weaponry.

“Do you have any information as to where Persephone could be?”

“Woah, Woah, Woah! The human traffic group?”

“Wait, we’re after human traffickers?!-” Emira was shocked at this, but before the room would erupt with thousands of questions, Casey quickly stepped up to explain everything.

“Yes, the human trafficking group. Yes, we’re after them. The reason is that they stole important files relating to Blight Industries that could disrupt our investigation into the company. The reason why these human traffickers stole our files is that they do dirty work for the elite on the side to make sure their main customers won’t be jailed for years. Now, are there any further questions?”

“I’ve been wanting to ask since you told me this. Casey, why are you investigating something unrelated to your first one?” Emira asked, leaving Edric confused.

“Wait, what do you mean by the first one? Emira, what’s going on?”

“Ed, I told Emira to not tell you or Amity about this since I didn’t want to entrust too many people with this information, but now…it seems like I have no other choice. If you guys don’t mind,” Casey explained, looking at Hunter and Viney, if they too would like to know what was going on, with the two of them nodding their heads.

“I’m going to keep this brief since we don’t have a lot of time. The first investigation was with NATO’s suspicious timing and pace of how quickly they got involved with the takeover of Blight Industries. They originally were going to let Alador be involved but changed their mind last minute for some reason. But right now, we put that aside for something more important. I wish I could say what, but I’m not at liberty to say at the moment, and even then I wasn’t allowed to say any of this.”

The group takes in what Casey said, taking a moment to process all of the info dumped onto their chests. Edric and even Hunter felt slightly betrayed that they weren’t told any of this but understood that this information was too risky to be shared around.

“Sorry that you 3 had to be involved in this crazed world full of corruption and insanity, but judging by Casey’s attitude, I can tell they didn’t have any other options,” Wade chimed in to break the silence and to regroup everyone on what's important. “So you wanna know where’s Persephone?-”

“They’re at this nightclub up by the hills!” Abby said with Gabby following suit to finish Abby’s sentences.

“It’s really big and nice and pretty! But it’s owned by Persephone, so I’m not going there to get a second boyfriend!”

“Second boyfriend?” Hunter questioned.

“What are you? Polyphobic?” Viney’s eyes squinted as she questioned Hunter’s progressivism.

“No, no! Just caught me off guard,” Hunter blushed as he probably envisioned getting a second partner….hint hint wink wink

“So, what’s the plan now?” Emira asked Casey as they paced around the room.

“Hmmm…do you guys have something nice to wear?”

The club music raves on to the night as it could be heard outside. Several…interesting figures are in line ready to party to their hearts' desires. Each and every one of them wore a witch doctor-like mask. Their attention is soon captivated by an all-black limousine driving up to the club. 

The bouncer walked up to the driver, being informed that the passengers were personally invited to the club. They accepted the news, walking up to the door to let Casey, Emira, Edric, Viney, and Hunter out of the car, all wearing their Grom outfits with Casey still wearing a suit, this time with a rose attached to his front pocket, wearing the same mask as the others.

The bouncer personally leads the 5 inside the club, opening the door to let them in despite the outcry of the crowd. All but Casey gawked at the beauty of the club’s interior architecture until recognizing the inspiration from the interior built during Belos’ time. 

“Are you guys in?” Wade asks through the earpiece that the group wore hiddenly through the use of Ed and Em’s illusion magic.

“We’re in,” Casey confirmed through the earpiece.

“Alright, keep a lookout for a guy with a golden mask. Once you find them, try to follow them. We gotta know where they’re holding their business meetings.”

“Got it. Looks like we gotta split up to find them faster. Ed and Hunter, go wait by the lounge area. Em and Viney, stay by the stage. I’ll be at the bar. Roger?” Casey spoke to everyone through the earpiece.

“Sure thing, Casey!”

“Don’t get too touchy, Blight.”

“Wasn’t planning on it.”

“Looks like we’re gonna be alone Hunter~”

“Shut up.”

Casey shook their head in disapproval as they saw the group walk away alongside their raging hormones. Rolling their eyes as they walk to the bar to get a couple of drinks while looking out.

—

Hunter and Edric chilled in the lounge, enjoying the music as they kept a lookout for a golden mask within the crowd. Someone was even kind enough to offer some drinks, but Hunter was quick to deny every offer, much to Edric’s dismay.

“Party-pooper…”

“Hey, I’m just looking out for us. For all, we know those drinks could’ve been drugged.”

“Right, such a shame, though. There are a lot of cute people here, but I guess I’ll wait until I’m in a club not full of potential degenerates.”

“And also at an age where you can drink.”

“Pfff, whatever.”

Edric’s eyes wander back to the crowd in search of the golden mask wearer until he notices Hunter taking deep breaths. He turns around to see Hunter using the technique that Gus had taught him.

“Are you doing alright?”

“Now I am. It’s hard to put on a mask that looks similar to-”

“What once was the Emperor's Coven?”

“Y-Yeah. Belos may be gone, but it seems like his influence hadn’t stopped there by the looks of things.”

“Sometimes, just because you kill the perpetrator doesn’t mean it’ll completely erase the effects of their actions,” Edric said, with Hunter nodding his head in agreement.

“I wish things worked differently here, but it seems like they romanticized everything Belos stood for,” Hunter remarked, sighing as he saw people laughing and praising the artwork from the Emperor’s Coven.

“That’s humanity for you. Plenty of good people, but for every decent human being, there’s a dickhead with no regard for others,” Edric said, a bit of Emira’s pessimism rubbing off in the Blight brother as Hunter nodded in agreement to his statement. 

—

Both Viney and Emira looked around their surroundings, especially at the stage. They felt a bit awkward with one another as the two avoided eye contact with anyone that’s partying. So to fill the little dead air that was taken up by the music, the two talked.

“So…are you sure our concealment stones will last long enough?” Viney asked.

“They should. They may not be the strongest materials I could gather at the last minute, but it should be enough to last quite a while.” Emira said as she examined the stone closely. However, Viney senses that something is up with the Blight.

“Hey, you doing alright?”

“With what?”

“This. A mission where we try to obtain a file containing some political and business non-senses about your company tied to one of the most powerful organizations in the human realm. It’s a lot to comprehend all of it. So how do you handle all of this?”

“Honestly, I don’t. I just kinda put it aside to focus on other stuff.”

“If so, then why put yourself through this?” After Viney asked, Emira struggled a bit to come up with an answer. Not because she didn’t have one, but because she didn’t have the courage to say it.

“...I just wanna know why they have such a vendetta against our family. The whole reason why I put myself through this is for the sake of Edric and Amity’s safety,” Emira said, looking away from Viney. Viney in turn, grabbed Emira’s hand tightly with both of her hands, causing Emira to look at her with her blood-red face.

“And here I thought you just wanted to impress me~” Viney winked, which didn’t help Emira’s flustered state. “I just wanna say I’m sorry.” Viney smiled, looking at her hands still holding onto Emira’s.

“F-For…?” Emira said, trying her best to avoid eye contact as much as possible.

“For the way I acted before. All this time, I thought you were just looking out for yourself…but the more I see you, the more I realize that you’re nothing like I envisioned. You’re…actually pretty cool!” 

“O-Oh! Ahaha…thanks. I’m not all that special, though!” Emira says, using her free hand to rub the back of her head.

“Well, in my eyes, you are exceptional,” Viney’s eyes softened as she spoke those words, her grip on Emira’s hands tightening. 

Emira felt at ease, at last. Her worries and responsibilities floated away the second she processed the touch of Viney’s hands with hers. She couldn’t muster up the energy to say a simple thanks as her heart beats faster and faster as she looked at Viney’s emerald-colored eyes. The only thing she could hear was the music as the crowd silenced, but the sounds of the world returned as the light shines brightly onto the two, followed by other couples in the club. The crowd cheers at those who the light shines upon, confusing Viney and Emira more. That is before Casey quickly talks to the two.

“Guys! You have to dance!”

“What?!” The healers both whispered into the earpiece.

“Get ready to dance!”

Before they could process it all, the couples around them grabbed a hold of each other. Viney and Emira did much of the same, the two blushing as they realized how close they were. Before either one could say a snarky comment, Autoheart’s Stalker’s Tango begins to play.

The other couples begin to dance in a tango style, Emira and Viney follow the same movement as the other, following the beat of the song. When the singing begins, Casey takes this opportunity to get a better look around the club. Edric and Hunter, although doing much of the same, take some slight glances at the two dancing, chuckling at how red their faces are.

As Emira spun Viney around, Casey saw a golden mask user in the corner of their eye. They tried their best to follow the person without ever noticing them. When Viney took charge of the dance, the golden mask user spun around and tried to attack Casey as they were both out of sight of the guest.

While Viney lowered Emira close to the ground, their lips almost touching, Casey ducked and dodge every slash from the person’s knife, almost scratching their skin off. As Viney raises Emira, Casey grabs the person by the neck and throws them to the ground.

The two spun around the dance floor, trying to mirror the movements of other couples. Finally, Casey grabbed the knife and stabbed the person in the throat while Viney and Emira finished the dance, and much to their surprise, seeing a familiar face.

“Emira?!”

“Sasha?!”

“I don’t mean to alarm you guys, but our cover has been blown!” Before Emira and Sasha could say another word, Edric yelled through the earpiece. 

The audience around Emira, Viney, and the now-visible Calamity Trio soon ran away and in their place were guards wearing the same golden mask. They all pointed their guns at the group. Before they could fire, Emira formed a dome to protect all around her.

Casey grabbed the knife from before, jumped into the air, and stabbed the first guard in the face . They quickly grabbed the gun and shot the other guards before ducking to cover. As their focus is diverted, Emira breaks the dome and uses illusion magic to make a hundred knives, throwing them to impale most of the guards. The fight begins.

“So, what brings you here?” Emira asked Sasha as their backs met, trying to fight another group of enemies with knives and pipes as weapons.

“Jenny saw that Casey needed some help, so he texted us to come help!” Sasha said quickly, grabbing one of the guard’s pipes and smashing it across someone’s face.

“Oh great! As if I needed more of you in my life right now!”

“Too bad because after this, we’re having another session!” Sasha said as she and Emira fought the horde of guards that ran to them.

Meanwhile, Casey was on a killing spree as they perfectly shot several guards in the head, grabbing ammo along the way. They made their way to support Edric and Hunter, who struggled to fight off the guards while trying to dodge bullets. Suddenly someone with a shotgun appears and tries to shoot at Edric, but thankfully, Hunter grabbed him and teleported to Casey, who shot the welder right in the head.

“Why are guns more effective than magic in this world?!” Hunter said, while still fighting with the limited magic he could use using his staff.

“They just are!” Casey yelled, punching a couple of people to give them enough time to reload.

“Can I get a gun?!” Edric asked casually, as he grabbed a beer bottle nearby and breaks it across someone’s balls.

“Hell no, Emira- Wait, actually she can’t kill me…. Sure, why not?” Casey lets Edric grab their Glock, and Edric immediately starts shooting everywhere .

As bodies all to the lower part of the club, they hit the guards below trying to fight Anne and Marcy. Downright sword-fighting everyone with their small knives.

“One heck of a way to end a sleepover, huh?” Marcy remarks to Anne.

“Yeah! Trying to fight these punks for someone I don’t know!” Anne says after choking out a guard with her scarf.

“Oh, you wanna know them?!” 

“Wait, you know these people?!”

“Yeah! I know Hunter and his siblings! They’re cool people! But the twins do make for some good eye candy!~”

“Uh ew, age gap!” Anne gags at Marcy’s flirtatious attitude even though seconds before this, she sliced someone’s neck open.

“Hey! I can adore someone’s looks without being romantically attached!” Marcy says before the fighting gets ugly. The entire team gets pushed to the middle , getting cornered by all sides by attempting to still push through.

“Everybody shut the fuck up!” Someone yelled through the music, firing their M249 SAW in the air. The team had their backs cornered all around them with guards all over them, with the SAW user walking down to meet them.

“Why are we listening to this asshole?!” Sasha asked.

“You’re not very bright, aren’t you?” Casey says, eying down the M249 SAW.

“Oh, right. Wait, was that a pun?”

“Not intentionally.” Casey said Sasha realized that they knew her last name but didn’t question it.

“Shut up. I do the talking here,” the LMG welder said, his platinum mask glimmering in the light. “It seems like you 5 are here to get this,” the person behind the platinum mask said as he presented a briefcase, opening it to reveal the files on the Blight Industries. “You know, I’m willing to give this up if I’m offered a decent deal.”

“Let me guess, a person?”

“Why yes, specifically those 3,” The person behind the platinum mask pointed at the Calamity Trio, causing them to look at each other in confusion and fear for their safety. Viney saw this, motivating her to try to use a Beastkeeper spell to summon rats to chew on the cables above the person.

Emira noticed Viney’s cast of the spell, so in turn, looked around to see what could help. In the corner of her eye, she saw the shotgun nearby. Using her foot, she nudged her brother in the direction of the gun, telling her with just her eyes to be prepared to fight.

“Oh, now you want to traffic children now?”

“Fuck no! But judging by what I heard through the grapevine, they seem interested in something called the Calamity gems…” A chill traveled through the Trio’s spine. They were angry, scared, and confused more than ever. No one other than Mr.X and themselves knew about the gems, so how could anyone else know about it? “I’m waiting for an answer…” 

“You’re not getting one,” Casey said, not acknowledging or even asking how this person knew about the gems, causing the Trio to cast suspicion on them.

“I guess I have to deliver them in a body bag,” The person was just about to unload all of the bullets into the team. But just before pulling the trigger, the studio lights from above started to fall onto the mysterious person and their guards.

They dropped the gun to make it easier for them to run away but fortunately for the team, the studio lights crushed the last remaining gun welders. Their skulls and necks break, scaring their fellow co-workers, leaving Edric an opening to grab the shotgun and fire buckshot after buckshot at his new targets .

As Edric pushed forward to chase after the supposed leader of the group, the Calamity Trio and the now-adults of the Hexside crew with Casey grabbed guns left behind by the guards. They all fire bullet after bullet at each guard that tries to provide an escape for their leader. 

When they ran out of bullets, they resorted to making them into melee weapons, smashing them across the face, and even taking their weapons to replace their old ones. They would be using their magic, but in the heat of the moment, all they could do is focus on surviving while chasing after the leader.

As a last-ditch effort to have their supposed leader escape, they circle the team and turn the gunfight into a brawl out. Punches were thrown, glass was broken, knives were impaled, blood spilled everywhere, and shotgun shells bounced everywhere. Eventually, the team came out victorious with blood from their targets and scars all over their body.

A distant car engine was heard, alarming the crew that the leader was now escaping. They run outside, barely missing the leader’s car. Edric tried to fire his shotgun, but it was out of bullets, causing him to grunt in frustration. Emira quickly looked around for a nearby car that was fast enough. After a couple of seconds, she found the one, breaking the car window to open the door.

“What the fuck are you doing?!” Casey yelled out to Emira as she knocked the case under the steering wheel.

“What does it look like?! I’m hotwiring this car!”

“Hotwiring a car doesn’t work like the movies Emira!”

“I know! That’s why-” Emira, using a spell to have the electric energy needed to start the car and turned on the car. The second it turns on, the radio plays Paul Engemann’s Push It To The Limit . “I’m using magic!” Emira finished her sentence, smirking at Casey.

“You fucking bitch,” Was all Casey could say as the crew rush to get inside the car aside from the Calamity Trio, telling them to go and that they’ll catch up in Jenny’s van.

“Wade! Try to track down where that son of a bitch is going!” Casey said to Wade through the earpiece.

“Already working on it!” Wade replied. “Girls! Track every single phone in the Glendale area, stat!” 

“We’re on it, sir!” Abby and Gabby said, rushing to the computers and listening in to every conversation as Emira speeds across the city to where they assumed the leader was driving.

“Jesus Christ, Emira! Where did you learn how to hotwire cars?!” Viney asked.

“Got bored one day and looked up how! Try to test it out on Camila’s car using magic, and it worked like a charm!” Emira answered.

“Are you seriously still bragging that you stole Camila’s car?!” Hunter said, annoyed at how proud Emira is of that ‘achievement.’

“Quit the babbling, guys! Looks like your guy is heading to the Hollywood Burbank Airport! Right now, they’re ordering a private jet to escape!”

“That’s like a 16-minute drive, and we’re a couple of minutes behind! Are we gonna make it?!” Edric asked as he processed the amount of time required to get there. Emira looked at how much gas the car had, noticing that it just barely ticked down to the last tick that measured the gas. It wasn’t just a battle against time. It was a battle against what limits of the car she chose.

“Hold on tight, guys! I’m about to make it a 10-minute drive!” Emira pumped the gas pebble to the maximum. Despite driving at a speed notorious for being impossible to control, Emira used her knowledge learned from the race to drive quickly without a scratch.

Through Wade’s screen which was tracking down the leader and Emira, he was extremely impressed that Emira was already catching up. Abby and Gabby even cheered her on, much to his annoyance. However, he noticed 2 more dots were suspiciously speeding up to catch up with Emira.

“Guys, be careful! Someone may be on your tail!” Wade warns and just in time as Emira looks in the car mirror to see a car speeding behind her.

“I got this!” Casey says, pulling out a mini version of the Acid Rain 3000.

“Wait, you had that this entire time?!”

“Yeah, but I wasn’t about to use it with the risk of it melting the files!” Casey said as they kicked open the door, holding onto the handle as they prepared to fire the Acid Rain 3000. The acid rain shoots out, hitting the car just before the passengers could shoot, melting them alongside the car.

“Good thing we can’t hear those screams, huh guys?!” Edric nervously chuckles as he watches them visually scream for their lives.

“There’s more coming!” Wade alerted the crew, seeing multiple dots from all over the place reaching Emira.

“Shit! Still need some time for the gun to cool down!” Casey said, trying their best to fan the heat away. Emira looked around for anything to slow down the criminals before seeing a log carrier.

“Have you seen Final Destination 2, Casey?”

“Wish I could say that I hadn’t.”

“Well, be prepared for us to relive our trauma!” Emira said, using a spell to cut the ties holding the logs, causing them to fall into the road. Some of the cars chasing them halted just in time to avoid the logs, while others literally had head-on collisions with the logs.

“Hey, asshole!” Someone said through the earpiece, and the crew immediately recognized the voice as Sasha. “You’re lucky Jenny’s van is armored!” Sasha says as Jenny’s van was now side by side with Emira.

“Explains why you took so long! But how come I can hear you through the comms?!”

“Jenny hacked into the system!” Anne explained with Wade sighing.

“Abby, Gabby, please improve our security system next time.”

“Yes sir…” The twins frowned at their failure.

Soon enough, the amigos reach Hollywood Burbank Airport with the leader right in front of them. The second they saw them, they began firing at Emira’s car, causing her to drive behind Jenny’s van for cover. 

“Jenny wants to know if he can shoot!” Marcy said through the comms as the 3 cars break through the fence and enter the airfield.

“No, don’t! It’ll ruin the files! I have a better idea!” Casey says before pulling out the RC Surprise Bot 3000 and starting it up to race across the track.

“You had that too?!”

“Yeah! Abby and Gabby couldn’t stop begging me to take them, so now I’m gonna use them!” Casey says as they control the RC to follow the track of the car down. They tried to keep a good distance between it and the car to make sure the impact of the explosion would flip the car over.

“Why is there an RC-XD in front of us?! I thought it was just a Warzone thing!”

“Don’t you mean Black Ops?!” Edric corrected Marcy.

“Black Ops 4?”

“No! The first one!”

"Never played it!”

“KID, YOU’RE MISSING OUT!”

“Says the one that thought suppressors actually suppressed gunshots!” Hunter said, smacking him for yelling at Marcy.

“SHUT UP AND TAKE COVER!” Casey yells out, activating the explosion from the RC. The impact was so powerful that even Jenny struggled a bit to control the van. However, for the leader, their car flipped over.

The leader emerges, still wearing their platinum mask as they run away, shooting at the two vehicles. Jenny stopped the van, moving it sideways so it could block all the bullets. Emira stops and rushes out, preparing a large shield for everyone to push forward to chase after the human trafficker. 

As they head to the hangar, the guards soon arrive and raise fire amongst the crew. Everyone ducks to cover while Edric and Emira still run after the person with the file, with the three running into a private jet. 

“You’re not escaping asshole-” Emira says until getting punched directly in the face. Edric jumps over his sister to start throwing furious punches before being thrown across the floor.

Emira tackles the person, causing them to drop the briefcase. Out of frustration, they pulled out a knife, trying to slash Emira's face but only leaving a scratch on her cheek, deep enough to bleed. As Emira dodges each attempt by the leader to stab her, they make their way back to the staircase leading to the entrance. 

However, Emira falls onto the stairs, and before she can get up, the person lunges their knife at her chest. Just in the nick of time, she stops it by grabbing the knife by its teeth. Her face winched in pain as the teeth of the blade cut through her palms, bleeding more and more as the knife got close to her chest. 

Edric gets up to see his sister on the brink of death, with his friends unable to help due to the hellfire of bullets. Edric does the only thing he could think of to help, start the plane’s engine.

“Wade! Which button do I press to start the jet?!” Edric asks as he sits down in the pilot seat. Wade looks at the plane that Edric is in and looks around in a manual for it, seeing how to start the jet.

“Ok! Look at the bottom part of the control panel, do you see two silver buttons?”

“Yeah! Which one do I press?!”

“The second one!” Right when Wade said this, Edric pressed the button, activating the jet’s engines as the fans slowly spin faster and faster, roaring across the hanger.

“Motherfucker!” The leader cursed out Edric as they saw the jet engine starting. Emira sees the opportunity that her brother had given her and using the very quick window she had left, used an illusion spell to tie the criminal’s leg and shoot the end of the rope to the jet plane. They turned to see Emira smiling as the ropes got sucked in.

“See you in hell!” Emira yelled out before the leader got sucked into the jet’s engine and…well…leaving out a bloody mess of guts and body parts cut from the sharp blades of the fans within the engine, much to the dismay of Anne and Marcy.

“Oh my god!” Anne and Marcy said, gagging at the sight of the murder.

“What? It’s just a couple of guts cut up to a million pieces,” Sasha remarks.

“Why are you used to it?” Hunter asked.

“...Unrestricted internet access.”

“...I’m not gonna ask any further questions.”

“Good because my therapist already knows.”

The gunfight ends as the police sirens rage from the distance. The guards ran to their cars and drove off while the rest tried to make it back to theirs while trying their best to cover their faces. Just before any of the dashcam footage can capture their appearance, they were all in their cars and already leaving. Their cars turn invisible as they drive off into the night.

“Ow! Ow! Can you be a little soft on my hands?”

“Not when your cut is this deep!”

Viney was in the process of healing Emira’s hands. Each time Viney moves slightly, Emira groans and winches in pain, hissing as she holds back her scream.

“You know you’re a real idiot for grabbing the knife by its blade. You’re lucky the blood didn’t spill onto the floor for the police to track us down,” Viney remarked.

“It was just a spur-of-the-moment thing, ok?!”

“Quiet down, lovebirds. Just because we’re by the mountainside doesn’t mean they could hear us,” Casey shushed the two, having them blush at the nickname given by them.

“Say, have I seen you before?” Anne says as she walks up to Casey.

“If you have before this moment, I’m afraid I’m gonna have to kill you.”

“Wait, what?!”

“Pfff, just fucking with you. You’re…Anne Boonchuy, correct?”

“...howdoyouknowmyname.”

“You don’t wanna know. But I would like to know why you know about this mission in the first place.”

“Uhh…J-Jenny noticed that you were heading to KP Productions on your own, so he figured that there was something up and had us follow you,” Anne could barely explain as she feared the amount of embarrassing knowledge Casey has on her. Not even noticing how they and Jenny started each other down intensively.

“...Interesting,” Casey said, walking away to meet with Edric. “So you did bring the briefcase with you?”

“Duh! We didn’t go through so much bloodshed just for me to forget it!” Edric says, pulling the briefcase out of his back. Casey grabbed it, peeking to see all the files accounted for.

“Good. Sorry that I had to bring you guys along for the ride, but my family will appreciate this,” Casey said to the Blights plus Hunter and Viney.

“Anything to help the Blight family!” Viney said, wrapping up Emira’s hands with bandages.

“Never thought I’ll hear those words from you,” Emira remarks, blushing at how soft Viney was with her hands.

“There’s first in everything, sis! Including you Hunty,~” Edric said, wrapping his arm around Hunter’s neck.

“Please don’t ever try to make that my nickname.”

“Whatever you say Mister not goodie-two-shoes” Edric said, winking at Hunter, who brushed it off with an eye roll at the Blight brother.

“I’m just gonna ignore what you two for now. Emira, I wanted to ask you something,” Casey asked in an attempt to avoid thinking about what Edric was trying to do.

“Uh…go on.” 

“I know that, by technicality, your debt to me has been repaid. However, given that you probably already figured out that your original favor involved being a part of the investigation into Blight Industries, I want to know if you’re still willing to help me out one last time.”

As Casey finishes their explanation, Emira ponders for a bit. Emira was somewhat conscious about what Casey had in store for her. She wondered what Casey will have her do to aid in this supposed mystery that needs to be solved that she knows nothing about. 

Emira does trust Casey, but never fully as everything surrounding them is the one mystery that she’ll never get answers to. However, what is important is getting this over with so she can figure out why the governments of the world are against her.

“If it means helping you get back to your original case, I’ll help.”

“Good, because you didn’t have a choice either way.”

“Of course,” Emira rolled her eyes, already expecting that answer.

“Oh, and also, Camila already knew about this.”

“WHAT?! BUT-”

“Because I wanted to fuck with you guys,” Casey chuckled, answering a question that everyone didn’t even have time to ask.

Once the coast was clear, according to Wade, everyone headed back home after saying their goodbyes. Casey on the other hand, calls in one of their men to pick them up to take them back to KP Productions to see Wade again. Although they needed to return to their office with the files, they wanted to see Wade for a reason.

“Wade, let me in.”

“Woah, Casey. Why are you here?”

“Just let me in.”

Wade sighs at Casey’s vague nature, opening the door personally to meet eye-to-eye with Casey. They enter the warehouse with the briefcase close to their chest, avoiding eye contact with Wade or the Madison Twins watching this from a distance.

“Is this about that Hunter kid?”

“...you could say that,” Casey sighs, placing the briefcase on the table where they sat near, pondering about something.

“Figured. Still kinda hard to believe everything you told us back on our first mission together,” Wade recalled, patting Casey’s back as he pulled a chair to sit close to them.

“Felt the same when my granddad told us about his life.”

“Well, I guess some stories don’t set in until they see the impacts of it in reality.”

“Wait, what are you guys talking about?”

“Yeah! We’re your interns Wade! We wanna know!” Abby and then Gabby demanded as curiosity got the best of them. Wade was about to scold them but Casey stood up, looking at the twins.

“You’re right. You guys are now a part of this team. However, what I am about to explain must not leave this room, got it?” Casey explained with Abby and Gabby looking at each other before nodding.

Casey took a deep breath, to ease their nerves. They reach for a necklace they hid underneath their suit, revealing a concealment stone. 

They took it off, their ears immediately proofing away to show their pointy ears and sharp fangs. Ready to explain everything.

Chapter Text

“Good girls follow orders, dear.”

Boom

Darkness. There was just darkness in this world Emira found herself in. There was nothing, absolutely nothing. She couldn’t move or breathe or speak.

Boom

A light suddenly clicks on, revealing the robotic figure from her last nightmare, just standing there idly, watching her, or so she thought.

Boom

Her view of the figure got closer as if her eyes were a camera shot cutting to another scene suddenly to scare the viewer.

The echoes of a supposed past play throughout Emira’s mind as she watches the figure just stand there. She wanted to move, she wanted to yell, she wanted to breathe, but she couldn’t. Faded memories play over and over again, trying to refresh Emira’s mind of memories that hid deeply behind her brain or rather were completely hidden.

At this point, this figure wasn’t looking at Emira.

It was looking at you .

—

Cut to Emira sitting on her bed, already awake from her nightmare, hitting snooze on her alarm. She sat there still, pondering what her mind had put her through yet again. She didn’t wake up out of fear or shock from the dream, but rather confusion.

[Another strange dream…at least I got a decent amount of sleep though.]

Emira’s siblings soon woke after she hit the snooze on the alarm, stretching and yawning after a long sleep.

“So…who’s gonna shower first?” Amity asked.

The clock ticks above Emira’s head, as she waits for Sasha to write down a few notes from, according to her, other ‘patients’ whom she had sessions with recently with some students from her high school.

“Sorry that you have to sit here and watch me write some notes. Business has been booming due to some current events. It’s thought for us to see headlines about subjects we have no control over,” Sasha said to fill in the dead air around them.

“Take your time. You’re not in a rush,” Emira reassured Sasha but tsked at her response.

“Yeah, but you’re here for a service that I haven’t provided yet.”

“Well, you are almost done though, right?”

“Still, I kinda feel bad that I haven’t been providing yet,” Sasha says as she writes down her final note. “But now that I’m finished, let’s start our little session. Beginning with your reason for being here.”

“For one thing, it’s because yesterday you said we were gonna have a session today-”

“Awww! You remembered!” Sasha gleed with excitement in contrast to Emira’s faded attitude.

“...the other thing is I had another strange dream.”

“Oh? Mind explaining what you could remember?” Sasha asked

“It was bizarre. It wasn’t some scary crazy dream. It was some person just…staring at me but at a certain point, I felt like I wasn’t myself. I felt like this sort of camera for this person to stare at.”

“Hmm…interesting. Anything else you can remember?”

“...I think I heard someone talking, saying…something,” Emira’s breathing rapidly increased, remembering those distant phrases. Sasha was quick to stop Emira from breakdown, easing her mind.

“It’s ok! It’s ok. I think that’s enough info that you need to share,”

“O-Ok…if you say so, haha…” Emira chuckles, her way to ease the tension in the room. 

She was embarrassed for almost having a nervous breakdown over something she thought was nothing trivial. However, Emira was confused as to why the phrases would lead to her mental stability declining to an anxious state.

“Judging by your behavior and dream, maybe this had something to do with your family's past? I mean, we just did a mission to help solve some mystery about your family’s company,” Sasha recalled, softening her tone to better help Emira’s stability.

“Y-Yeah, I guess so?” Emira shrugged off the explanation, accepting it without giving it a second thought.

“Since the mission brought back some attention to your past, maybe try to do something as a distraction?” Sasha recommended.

“Eh, I don’t really have much to do. I finished the books I bought, and I’ve pretty much been everywhere I wanted to go in LA. Except, Skid Row, no way in hell I’ll be there ever in my life.”

“Fair enough. But if you don’t have anything else to do, may I invite you and your family somewhere?” Sasha smiles as she asks.

“Depends, where are you taking us?”

“I can’t believe it! I’m finally going to the Orange County Fair!” Luz screams out of joy, jumping up and down before the seat belt pulls her down.

“Right?! I can’t wait to make this our 470th date!” Amity glees as she hugs Luz with her hugging back, much to the annoyance of Hunter.

“Great, more of this nonsense.” 

“Says the one who was excited to go here to take Willow to romantic places around the fair,” Emira sighs from exhaustion from the 2 couples. Edric, on the other hand, was thrilled at this as he was ready to tease everyone's cringey attempts at flirting.

“W-Well, I-...Look, if those girls were kind enough to offer us tickets to the fair, I’m taking full advantage of it!” Hunter tried to come up with an excuse while his face blushed. Willow giggled at her boyfriend’s poor attempts to maintain his ‘cool’ attitude.

[It’s really surprising that Sasha could afford so many tickets for us. Either one of her parents must be loaded with cash if she spent that much money. It bothers me a bit since I didn’t want someone who’s already supplying me with a service free of charge getting us tickets.]

Emira ponders more about her predicament of that strange dream but hopes that Sasha’s suggestion of spending time in the fair helps. Plus, it allows her and the others to get to know her and the rest of her friends, that being Anne and Marcy. She remembers hearing from Luz that she and Anne actually met long ago when trying to find a way back home to the human realm. So the journey might be at the very most interesting.

—

“You invited…her?” Emira could barely mumble the words as she received the news.

“Yeah! I didn’t want to leave any of you guys behind! Especially since I heard from the great vine that your relationship with them seems to be blossoming!~” Sasha teases as she bumped shoulders with Emira.

“You're my therapist, not my personal cupid.”

“Oh, now you wanna say I’m your therapist when it’s convenient!”

“Whatever,” Emira entered the fair, preparing to see that brunette again after their last conversation. 

She still didn’t know what to make of it all, with how physical Viney was and intent on making constant eye contact with her. Although nervous about meeting her because of this, Emira figured she had to cross the bridge eventually, that being right now, unfortunately.

So far, their venture through the Orange County Fair started with getting some snacks and talking with each other. As expected, Anne and Marcy practically hit it off with Luz as if they were already friends. It turns out that having two goofballs with the talent of info-dumping random facts would ease the process of best friendhood.

The Hexside Squad sat at the same table as the two girls while Emira and Sasha sat together at the next table over. Emira did want to sit with them but was already too overwhelmed with the thought of seeing Viney again, with Sasha seeing this behavior she decided to sit with her.

“You nervous?” Sasha teases. “You know, you don’t have to consider this an attempt to try to improve your love life. Just take this as me trying to grow your circle of friends.”

“Doesn’t help that she’s hot…” Emira whispers under her breath.

“Heard that, nerd.” 

“God dammit…”

“Don’t worry, I won’t tell. But if you want any help from the legendary dating queen, I’m your girl!”

“Didn’t you need Anne’s help to have you break up with several people?”

“...Look, I’m just saying-”

“Despite not having any level of expertise in maintaining a relationship.”

“...I’m going to tell my therapist about my newfound insecurity,” 

“Oh boy,” Emira says as she drinks her sorrows away while Sasha begins to have an existential crisis over her love life. 

“Boo!”

“AH!”

Viney pops up behind Emira, causing her to spit her drink and fall to the ground. Much to her dismay, the others saw this commotion and laughed extensively at her. Viney bends down to pull Emira up. She hesitated at first, blushing at the thought of grabbing Viney’s hand and holding hands for a moment. Anne and Marcy picked up on Emira’s emotions, being suspicious about her behavior.

“Sooo, what’s up with them?” Anne asks Luz.

“Who? Viney and Emira? Oh, they’re just a little special,” Luz explains despite the fact there’s seemingly more going on.

“...Are you sure about that?” Marcy asked, looking at how immensely red Emira’s face is as she talks with Viney. Well, talk is too nice of a word to describe Emira’s behavior as her speaking is barely audible and grammatically correct.

“Seems to me it’s something beyond special,” Anne says, eyebrows rising at how much of a red mess Emira is.

“Now that you point it out, there’s something weird going on between the two,” Amity said, noticing how Emira’s acts were similar to how she acted with Luz. “Did something happen between Viney and her, Ed?”

“Oh, nothing. Just some talking about some stuff and then some dancing. The usual~” Edric sarcastically explained much to the annoyance of Hunter, who felt the need to properly explain what happened.

“The Viney girl was very touchy though. I think it’s more than just ‘talking’ Ed.”

“Hunter, I was being sarcastic.”

“Oh.”

“Dancing, huh? Touchy, huh?! Interesting…” Amity’s eyes narrowed as her suspicions rose while Luz was still processing everything.

[The Orange County Fair, a yearly tradition that dates back to 1890, with the only remotely exciting attraction being a horse race. It was a different location every year until settling here in Costa Mesa in 1949. Funny enough, this location was once a military airfield which is…odd, but hey, the less military in my life, the better. Well, according to Marcy, that is. She’s been info-dumping me about the fair’s history, but I’m not complaining. It’s genuinely interesting to hear about human history, even if it’s something minor. Besides, it’s cute to know she’s massively info-dumping me because she’s trying to impress me.]

As Emira thought to herself, Marcy continued to explain her personal history with the OC Fair. She was retelling her tales of going every year before moving to Connecticut and talking about her favorite rides and how they work. Emira listened closely to Marcy’s rambling, enjoying learning about her and the fair itself.

“You know cutie, you’re pretty smart,” Emira said, winking at Marcy who began to stutter uncontrollably, trying to say thanks several different ways.

[Haha, I still got it. Good to know the Blight charm still works after all these years later. It gives me the opportunity to make Sasha mad about this for well, obvious reasons. But I guess I’m not allowed to judge Sasha’s subtlety since…]

“It’s kinda sweet that you listen to Marcy’s rambles,” Viney said as she passed in between Emira and Marcy.

“W-Well I…I’m just interested in history, you know?”

“Pfff, such a scholar you are, Blight~” Viney winked at Emira, blushing before hiding her cheeks.

[I still have HER around me!]

It was Emira’s turn to become a disaster, trying to thank Viney for her compliments. Marcy looked at the events transpiring in front of her, seeing more of Emira’s true colors (HA). As Viney walks away to catch up with Luz, Marcy takes the chance to tease Emira.

“So, you two seem close~”

“Why you…” Emira glares at Marcy, who giggles in return.

“Funny, you almost know everything about me, but I know much about you.”

“Pfff, what made you have this realization?”

“Well, from the looks of it, you’re kinda a dork despite trying to keep up this ‘bad girl’ appearance.”

“What gives you the impression that I’m a dork?”

“...” Marcy silently stares at her, her eyes moving to her Saiki K shirt that she still has.

“...You got me there, but what else?”

“Your Saiki shrine-”

“HOW DOES EVERYONE KNOW ABOUT THE SAIKI SHRINE?! YOU-” Emira grabs a random bystander who just walks past her to ask them something. “DO YOU KNOW ABOUT MY SAIKI SHRINE?!”

“N-No?” They whimpered before walking away after the occurrence.

“Dork,” Marcy whispered as she laughed at the encounter.

“Whatever… I don’t know why you seem interested to know about me when there’s nothing to know that is of note.”

“Well, everything I said isn’t of note. Not like info about my blood type would be important.”

“Who knows, maybe you need my AB blood one day.”

“Hopefully not, but that’s beside the point. My point is that it’s pretty unfair that you know a lot about me, yet I don’t know much about you.” Marcy laughs off the prospect of any situation requiring Emira’s blood type and drives her main point home to her.

“I guess you make a decent point there,” Emira sighs and gives in. “So what do you wanna know?”

“Do you like Viney?”

“Erm, next question.”

“Hey! Come on, you can tell me! I won’t tell anybody, pinky promise!” Marcy pulls out her pinky finger to Emira.

“...Fine.” Emira reluctantly accepted Marcy’s pinky promise. “So…I think I do? Maybe not? I’m not really sure since I haven’t been giving it much thought.”

“Well, how do you feel about Viney?”

“Um…safe? More open to talking? Like I can finally rest?”

“Your heart skipping a beat whenever you see her?”

“Y-Yeah, you could say that-” Emira stopped in her tracks, as the realization struck her. Looking back at how she felt about Viney, why she acted the way she did, why she felt so odd, why she stared into Viney’s eyes so often. “Oh no.”

“Ha! I knew it! You guys are too close to be just ‘friends!’-” Marcy’s mouth was then covered by Emira to quietly shush her.

“Shhh! Don’t say it out loud! Luz could hear you!”

“Hear about what?” Luz suddenly appears, scaring Emira before she quickly gathers her thoughts and tries to act very, very , normally.

“NOTHING- I mean nothing! Haha! Just Marcy being a goofball and nerd, haha! RIGHT?!”

“Yeah, haha! Ain’t I a little silly?” 

“Goofy even!” Emira and Marcy laughed nervously as Luz’s eyes squinted, a bit suspicious at how they were acting before just walking away as if nothing happened.

“Surprised you didn’t tell her,” Emira said, shocked at Marcy’s faithfulness.

“Look, I take my pinky promises very seriously.”

“I have no idea why what you said scared me for a bit, but thanks. I’m not ready to tell someone else about it.”

“Eh, no problem! Just promise me one thing.”

“What’s that?”

“Get the girl! Come on, you got the wits, the snark, the charm, and looks to have Viney fall for you in a matter of minutes! What major flaw can keep you from chasing after her?” Marcy said, jumping to Emira’s level to walk to her quietly enough to not attract Luz’s attention.

“Feeling like I lack purpose in life, fear of commitment, lack of self-worth, fear of rejection-” 

“Ok, ignoring all of that, you’re basically flawless!”

“...Sure. But you just expect me to ask Viney out instantly without knowing how she feels,” Emira said while Marcy rolled her eyes at the sight of Emira’s blatant lack of comprehension over Viney’s actions.

“Well, you could just have a nice moment with her to make her more interested in you.”

“Like what?”

“Emira, you’re in a fair, which has a Ferris Wheel, the most basic romantic thing ever,” Marcy suggested as she pointed out the huge attraction.

“Ugh…do I have to? Seems like something Amity and Hunter would do, and I hate that so much.”

“Awww come on, don’t be like that!”

“Look, they’re unbearable to be around. Plus, I’m sure the two of those fuckers are gonna berate me over how much of a hypocrite I am.”

“So you’re not gonna try to win Viney over because your pride is more important?” Marcy smirked as she critiqued Emira’s flawed logic.

“You…” Emira sighed as she defeatedly accepted Marcy’s advice. “How can I naturally bring it up then?”

“Simple! Just bring it up as a suggestion after doing a couple of rides! Shouldn’t be too hard.”

“Easy for you to say,” Emira sighs, looking at Viney already queuing up for a ride with the others.

[Well, here goes nothing.]

A montage has begun of the teens exploring and enjoying all the attractions that the OC Fair had to offer, everything from games, shows, and rides. They all secretly gamble their cash to see which pig won in the pig race. Play each of the games, trying to win several prizes. Scream in joy as they ride all of the classic rides.

However, in between the downtime, Emira tried to talk to Viney and bring up riding the Ferris Wheel together only for everyone else to take her attention. Even winning some of the prizes just so Viney can have what she wanted, with Emira hiding her jealousy especially when Sasha got her revenge.

When Emira did have small talk, it was only interrupted by something catching Viney’s attention. Although Emira did enjoy seeing how cute Viney was very excited by every attraction at the fair, it did bother her that it kept her from talking to Viney.

Very single attempt failing more and more, as if at this point this is just a way for God to fuck with Emira’s luck since it's too much of a coincidence to see how badly everything goes south the second she opens her mouth.

After a long day of failing to talk to Viney, they’re discussing the next ride they want to go on, one of which involves Emira’s greatest fear; heights. That ride is the one and only, TITAN .

“Can Boiling Isles officials sue OC Fair for using the word Titan?” Anne asked.

“Nah, it wouldn’t make any sense. It’s like suing someone for using the word Jesus to title their attraction,” Willow explained.

“Ignoring that they’ve been the word before they knew about our existence,” Hunter added.

“Erm…why are we talking about the Titan? We’re not gonna ride that next…right?” Emira tried to laugh off the suggestion and not to seem afraid of how…tall it is. Seeing how high up the people are, and then being tossed around as they rode the high-speed thrill ride, causing her to gulp.

“What’s wrong, Em? Are you scared of a little thrill in your life?” Edric teased.

“O-Of course not! I’m a witch! How can a witch be afraid of…a little action…in the sky,” Emira says before getting distracted by the screams of the people who ride the Titan.

“Blight, you don’t need to go with us if you’re scared of the ride,” Viney tried to reassure Emira, who took it as Viney seeing her as a scary cat.

“Me? Scared of a little baby-man ride like this? Pfff, I’ll have you know, I eat nails for breakfast!”

“...cool? I guess-”

“Well, Em, since you’re suggesting that you’re tough as nails, how about we put it to the test?” Edric says as he starts to push his twin to the line with everyone following suit.

[Oh god, oh fuck! Wait! I haven’t gotten to write my will yet! How else am I going to give up all my money to Camila!]

Emira fought to hold back tears and panic breathing more and more each time the line to the Titan. She clamped her hands together and prayed in silence to the Titan for her safety, hoping that in the end, she’ll actually enjoy it. But her doubts set in as the group reaches the entrance.

They are seated in a seat of their choosing, strapping in tight. Emira holds tightly to the handlebars as they are lifted in the air to let go of the previous riders. There Em awaited, dangling 160 feet in the air, slowly panicking yet grateful that Viney was on the other end of the ride. Ignoring that Edric, Hunter, and Willow are here to witness the death of Emira’s ego.

“Edric.”

“Yeah?”

“When this ride is over, I’m going to stab your FUCKING eyes out.”

“Ahaha- Wait what-”

Just before Edric could say anything, the Titan ride had begun. Soon enough, the ride spins the crew around in the air at 60 miles per hour. The wind and force hit their faces as Emira's screams echo across the county.

“The sky is very nice…” Emira mumbles as she lays down on a nearby bench, imaginary stars spinning around her head. The others look at Emira’s stunned state, either fighting back their uncontrollable laughter or (in the case of Viney) confusion over why she even rode the Titan in the first place.

“Why don’t you guys go on ahead? Looks like Emira is gonna need some more time to rest, and I don’t mind keeping her company,” Viney suggested.

“Are you sure? I don’t want you to miss out on-”

“Sure thing! Just don’t have too much fun!” Sasha quickly covered Luz’s mouth and pushed her away, everyone following her as they were quick to notice what Sasha was trying to do.

“...ok then?”

—

“Haha…that cloud looks like a giraffe…” Emira blindly looks at the empty skies as she still recovers from the ride, with Viney standing by. 

Viney couldn’t help but find it funny yet cute how Emira is, reminding her how Skara handled riding Puddles. Without thinking, Viney plays around with Emira’s hair for a moment, which causes Emira to snap back to reality.

“U-Uh, what are you doing?!” Emira said quickly under her breath, almost falling off the bench.

“Nothing! Just- checking up on you! Yeah! Just checking, ahaha!” Viney shouts out, looking away from Emira just before her cheeks could blush.

“Sooooo, how many people made fun of me?”

“Practically everyone. Well, except for those managing the ride. They seem pretty annoyed at how much you screamed,” Viney chuckled as she recalled the aftermath of the ride.

“Oh, Titan…I made a fool of myself!” Emira groans as she throws her head to her hands.

“You wouldn't be in this situation if you just said no to the suggestion,” Viney said.

“I’m not too sure. I know that either way, I’ll still be called a wuss,” Emira moans out, already envisioning all the ways Luz and Edric will tease her about riding any other ride.

“Then why even go through the trauma to ride it if the outcome were the same?”

“You were excited to ride it, no?”

“Yeah, so what?”

“I didn’t want to look like a party pooper and a wuss in front of you,” Emira looked away, ashamed to even reveal anything about how she felt during the situation all the while Viney sat there, shocked at how Emira worried about how she perceived her. “Sorry, I shouldn’t say that when you’re trying to enjoy yourself.”

“No, it’s fine, really! Say, maybe to make it up to you, we could get on a ride of your choosing!”

“Wait, really?”

“Yeah! I don’t mind! Besides, I’m sure everyone else is busy staying in a long line for something,” Viney said as Emira hummed at the prospect, seeing an opening to finally get what she wanted.

“Well…there is one ride I’ve been wanting to get on for some time.”

“Make sure you’re seated at all times!” One of the ride operators said before closing the doors to the cabin that Viney and Emira are in. 

Funny enough, they decided to sit next to each other despite there being room for 4 people. But, they rather face the embarrassment of being very close than awkwardly stare at each other for the whole ride.

“Soooo, if I may ask, why did you want to ride this ferries wheel despite being afraid of heights?” Viney asks as she was just genuinely curious, but Emira worried that suggesting this ride made her a hypocrite.

“I-I just really like the view, y-yeah! I like seeing how much humans have advanced over the course of a few years!” Emira nervously laughed it off. Despite doing this out of Marcy’s advice, it was partly why Emira even took her suggestion.

“Huh, never took you for someone who enjoyed sightseeing.”

“Well, it’s nice to sometimes slow down and appreciate the little things in life while we still can. Even if…it means going through your…fears,” Emira pauses in between her sentences as her eyes slowly look down to see how high up they are in the air, squirming around to calm herself.

“If I could ask, is there a reason you’re afraid of heights?” Viney asks to distract herself from how close they are to each other.

“Not necessarily. Ever since trying out a training staff to practice flying, I’ve been deadly afraid of being up in the air, one failure away from falling to my death, not being able to do anything about it.”

“Seems like a very natural fear to have, yet it looks like you’re ashamed.”

“ I am ashamed! I’m a witch for crying out loud! How can a witch be afraid of flying? Not like I’ll get a palisman anyway.…”

“What makes you say that? I’m sure there’s a palisman for everyone! It’s in our blood to be destined to do great things, even if it’s something minuscule.”

“Well, not for me. I tried to get a palisman from that huge Bat thing, and none of them seem to connect with me or my goals…well lack thereof.”

“Maybe that’s the issue; you don’t really have a particular goal in mind to make an impact on a particular palisman.”

“Viney, someone said they just wanted to graduate school as their goal and got a staff.”

“...Fair enough. Palisman seems tricky to get a hold of if neither you nor Luz manages to get one. Perhaps your future doesn’t require a palisman.”

“Maybe, it doesn’t sting any less than it already has, though,” Emira sighs as they cycle back to the ground, their cabin starting to rise again.

“Why not think of it this way: it means you can figure out your own destiny without being tied down to an already existing one set up by your connection to a staff,” Viney says as she grabs onto Emira’s hands. “Or maybe you’re in a unique circumstance where you don’t need a staff to prove much of a witch you are!”

“Erm…I-I’m sure if that were to be true, I won’t really accomplish much.”

“You will! You’ve made it this far despite skipping classes,” Viney laughs. “You’re truly an interesting and unique person, Blight. It makes me wonder why you were anything but a selfish person, only caring about yourself on this fixed path to success.”

“I don’t blame you for thinking that. I wasn’t that great of a person back then. But…thanks, Viney,” Emira’s soft smile creeps in, warming Viney’s heart as they stare at each other for a moment, both admiring each other’s presence at a time of vulnerability…

“Sorry to interrupt but…the ride’s over,” Before being asked to leave. 

The two witches quickly leave, avoiding any eye contact with the ride operator and the next guests waiting to be boarded. Without realizing it, the two still held each other’s hands as they left. They try to laugh off the moment before one of them accidentally pulls the other close, finally noticing their hands still intact with each other.

“A-Ah! S-Sorry, I didn’t realize-” Viney blushed as she pulled away.

“N-No! No! It’s fine!” Emira hid her face to hide away her red cheeks from Viney.

The two stood there as the crowd circled around them, annoyed yet not bothering to take a jab against them. Despite the heavy conversations around her, Emira could hear Viney mumble about something. She couldn’t make out what, but she assumed it had something to do about this predicament. Viney sounded angry, worsening Emira’s assumptions as her eyes met the floor with her ears perking down.

[Seems like Marcy’s suggestions just made things worse between me and Viney. I don’t know why I’m surprised. This is what I get for expecting a suggestion from a kid to work out.]

Viney suddenly runs past Emira. She worried that Viney was running away from her, so Emira tried to catch up to her to apologize for everything that she thought she did wrong. However, Viney slows down as she reaches what was called ‘The Hangar.” A concert seems to be playing out, with a group halfway singing Black Eyed Peas’s Meet Me Halfway .

“Oh my Titan! I love this song!” Viney begins to hum the song as she joins the crowd.

“Wait, you know this song?” Emira asked.

“Hell yeah! It’s one of my favorite songs!” Viney shouts excitedly as she dances to the rhythm of the performance.

𝆕 𝆕 𝆕 𝆕

“Meet me halfway, right at the borderline is where I'm gonna wait, for you!” Emira began to sing as she joined Viney, surprising her with her angelic singing voice and knowledge of the song.

“I'll be looking out, night n' day! Took my heart to the limit, and this is where I’ll stay!” Viney sings with Emira, this time it was her turn to surprise Em with her singing talents.

“I can't go any further than this! I want you so bad it's my only wish! I can't go any further than this! I want you so bad it's my only wish!” Viney and Emira continue to sing as they dance together, not noticing how close to home these lyrics hit the both of them as they ignore their moment of embarrassment and anxiety to enjoy each other.

𝆕 𝆕 𝆕 𝆕

The audience cheers as the song ends, with the group thanking everyone for watching. Meanwhile, Viney and Emira both breathe heavily, out of breath from all the singing and dancing. Without thinking, they embraced each other with a hug…for a split second before moving away.

“Sooo…you know that song too?” Viney tried to avoid another awkward conversation over physical contact.

“Y-Yeah, I’ve been listening to it since first arriving in the human realm,” Emira chuckles, as the two walk side by side together.

“Same! It makes me wonder how we survive living in the Boiling Isles without these amazing songs!” Viney replies.

“We’ve really been missing out on a lot of stuff here. Wonder how much both of our realms will change now that we’ve been sharing our cultures with one another.” Emira ponders as she stares at the darker skies as the sun sets.

“It’ll be interesting to see as time goes on, but I want to talk about something else; your singing is out of this world!” 

“H-Huh?! My singing isn’t that good!”

“It is! We’ll surely need you when we sing at that venue!”

“What do you mean by that?” Emira stopped in her tracks, confused by Viney’s words.

“You didn’t hear us talk about it? We bonded so much on this trip that we decided to try to kick some people off from that venue we walked past to sing some songs! I even invited Jerbo and Skara to sneak in!”

At that moment, Emira realized that during all her time trying to get Viney’s attention has distracted her from the journey that was in front of her. She missed an opportunity to join Marcy and Luz’s talks about Dragon Quest 11. She missed Hunter and Anne exchanging information about their journeys, showcasing how comfortable Hunter has become with his identity despite being a supposed ‘clone’ of someone.

Sasha may have brought Emira here to relax, but she never lifts anything off her shoulders. If anything, she became more distant from everyone, similar to how she was at the beginning of the trip.

“You didn’t?”

“No, I wasn’t really paying any attention,” Emira frowned as she sheepishly admitted. “Sorry, I-I know that I- I mean we-”

“It’s fine,” Viney softly smiles as she places her finger to shush Emira. “Maybe use this time to get a proper conversation with everyone?”

“Y-Yeah, w-will do.” Emira stutters like crazy as she blushes like crazy.

Both Viney and Emira make their way to where the others were preparing to sing along, which was at Plaza Stage. Strangely though, there was barely anyone around despite a huge amount of people seen attending the OC Fair. Viney ignored that fact to greet everyone who was there, including Jerbo and Skara who barely sneaked in.

“Yooo! Sorry to keep you waiting!” Viney yelled out before rushing to hug Jerbo and Skara.

“Uhhh, how did you guys get permission to use this stage?” Emira asked.

“Oh, it was easy!” Vee says as-

(OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO FLASHBACK)

A band was playing their hearts out as they performed their cover of Beach House’s Space Song . The crowd tearing up as they could see the work of their craft go to full effect, even causing the band to softly cry.

That was before Vee jumped out of nowhere, disguised as Nemesis screaming out the word ‘STARSSSSSSSS’ and causing everyone to run in fear.

(oOOOOOOOOO FLASHFORWARD)

“...How did you manage to get with that?” Emira asked, dumbfounded at Vee’s actions.

“Oh that’s easier! We just bride security 20 dollars each!”

“With what money?”

“Yours, of course!” Luz hops on top of Vee with Emira’s credit card in hand.

“Looks like you lost your credit card privileges yet again, Luz,” Emira sighs as she snatches it back.

“Don’t worry, I’ll get it back eventually,” Luz whispers to Vee as Emira walks to the Calamity trio.

“So you guys know how to use these instruments?” Emira asked.

“Yeah! We used to be a garbage band back then,” Marcy explained as she dust off the equipment used by the previous band.

“We used to KILL everyone at talent shows,” Sasha for a brief moment had flames around her as she said ‘kill.’

“...Are you sure you’re fit to be a therapist in the future?”

“Oh trust me, my therapist is worse-”

“Anywayyyyyyyyy,” Anne shuts Sasha to talk with Emira. “Hey, Blight girl-”

“Emira.”

“Emira, right. You wanna join us to sing some songs? I heard from Amity that you know how to play the piano!” 

“Wait…what songs are you guys performing that would require a piano?”

“Well, Queen of course- AH WHERE DID YOU GET THAT PIANO?!” Anne answered before seeing a piano suddenly appearing in front of her, with Emira already seated.

“All you needed to say was that you were going to play Queen,” Emira says while ignoring the question. 

“W-Wow, I take it you’re a Queen fan?”

“I’m not just a fan, you mere mortal. I am a Queen stan. I breathe, eat, and shit Queen. The only reason I bother going to piano classes is so one day fully perform every single fucking Queen song in existence.”

“...o-ok! Nice to see you enthusiastic for a change!” Anne stumbles her words, seeing the literal burning flames of passion that Emira has for Queen. 

“Ok, everyone! Which Queen song are we playing first?” Marcy asked.

[Sure, ask everyone but me. Totally don’t feel offended and the need to commit murders.]

“How about Good Old Fashioned Lover Boy? I really wanna see how good Em is with the piano!” Viney suggested.

“Good Old Fashioned Lover Boy it is!” Emira says, despite no one yet agreeing.

“Erm, sure. We gotta start somewhere!” Sasha causally hints at the girls to just play along to help Emira impress Viney.

They prepare to play their own respective instrument, waiting for Emira to begin the song. She takes a heavy breath, stretching her arms and cracking her fingers, before immediately beginning the chorus.

𝆕 𝆕 𝆕 𝆕

“I can dim the lights and sing you songs full of sad things. We can do the tango just for two~” Emira’s fingers naturally play the notes perfectly as the lyrics come out of her angelic voice. “I can serenade and gently play on your heartstrings. Be your Valentino just for you.”

“Ooooo, love, ooooo, loverboy! What're you doin' tonight, oooooo hey, boy?!” Anne, Sasha, and Marcy join in perfectly in rhythm. “Set my alarm, turn on my charm. That's because I'm a good old-fashioned loverboy!~”

“Oooooo, let me feel your heartbeat~”

“Grow faster, faster!” Amity and Willow act as the background singers for Luz’s performance. “Oooooo”

“Can you feel my love heat?”

“Ooooo~”

“Come on and sit on my hot seat of love! And tell me how do you feel right after all!~”

“I'd like for you and I to go romancing. Say the word, your wish is my command!” Luz paused to give the spotlight to Amity and Willow.

“Ooooo, love, oooooo, loverboy! What're you doin' tonight, ooooo, hey, boy!” Everyone who sang so far all together joined the harmony. “Write my letter. Feel much better. And use my fancy patter on the telephone!”

“When I'm not with you. Think of you always~” Viney sang as she stared at Emira playing the piano, happily seeing her smile for once.

“I miss those long hot summer nights!” Jerbo and Skara sang for Viney’s background lyrics, ignoring seeing Viney enjoying Emira’s smile.

“I miss you~”

“When I'm not with you.” 

“Think of me always. Love you, love youuuuuu~” All three of the troublemakers sang together.

“Hey, boy, where do you get it from? Hey, boy, where did you go?” Suddenly, Vee, Hunter, and Gus bounce onto the troublemakers as a way to begin their performance. “I learned my passion. In the good old-fashioned. School of loverboys!~”

Sasha then starts her guitar solo, ripping and shredding the strings while Anne and Marcy hum the rhythm. Anne breathes in as she prepares for her turn to sing as Sasha finishes up her solo.

“Dining at the Ritz we'll meet at nine precisely!” 

“One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine o'clock.” Marcy and Sasha sang quietly during Anne’s performance.

“I will pay the bill, you taste the wine!”

“Driving back in style in my saloon will do quite nicely. Just take me back to yours that will be fine. Come on and get it!” The Calamity Trio sang together in union.

“Ooh, love!” Emira leads to the final act while everyone sings the background lyrics.

“There he goes again! He's my good old fashioned loverboy!” 

“Ooh, loverboy. What're you doin' tonight?

“Oooo, hey, boy!”

“Everything's all right. Just hold on tight That's because I'm a good old-fashioned-”

“Fashioned!”

“Loverboy!~” Emira sings as she slams the last notes of the music.

𝆕 𝆕 𝆕 𝆕

The gang cheer for one another as they take the moment in. Luz runs up to Emira, shaking her out of the joy of her talents.

“Emira!!! You didn’t tell me you knew how to play the piano!” 

“Well, you never asked! I would’ve played anything you requested if I knew how to play it.” 

“Even a Queen song?!”

“Especially if it’s a Queen song!” 

“YES! YOU OFFICIALLY BECAME MY FAVORITE PERSON IN THE WORLD!” Luz hugs Emira tightly around her chest, stopping the flow of her airway to her lungs.

“L-Luz, you’re…c-choking me a-again…-”

“Oh shit! Sorry! I always keep forgetting that I can’t put as much force into my hugs as before.” Luz chuckles as she lets go of Emira.

“S-So, I take it you’re a Queen fan too?” Emira asks as she coughs.

“Oh absolutely! Every time Mama drove me to school, I would always have her play the many CDs we have of Queen!” Luz sighs as she briefly relives old memories, as well as the tragic loss of Freddie Mercury. “If only Freddie lived long enough to contribute to my gender identity…”

“I blame Ronald Reagan.”

“Em, you can’t blame Ronald Reagen for everything,” Amity says while walking past her.

“I CAN, AND I’LL CONTINUE DOING SO!” Emira proclaimed, her burning hatred towards the 40th president increasing.

“Ignoring your weird hate obsession over one of the worst people in the world, would you be up to do another song with us?” Anne asked.

“If it’s another Queen song, sure. Despite feeling tired already- Wait, how much time has security bought us?”

“... well, there goes our dream of singing Bohemian Rhapsody with everyone,” Sasha sighs as she recalls that 20 dollars worth of stalling isn’t really enough time.

“We could still do the last half of the song! It’s only around the same length as the last one. Besides, I’m not so sure I’ll be able to perform as well if I did Bohemian Rhapsody in its entirety,” Emira suggests, chuckling at the thought of falling asleep mid-song.

“Then it’s settled! Let’s play before we end up getting charged with causing mass panic!” Marcy yelled to have everyone be ready for the next performance. “Ready, Emira?!”

“Ready as I’ll ever be!” Emira yells before already playing the first notes on her piano.

𝆕 𝆕 𝆕 𝆕

(ps. the track goes pretty fast, so I just decided to go basic here to keep up with the pace)

[Emira]: “I see a little silhouette of a man-”

[Everyone]: “Scaramouch, Scaramouch, will you do the Fandango?!”

[Anne, Marcy, Sasha]: “Thunderbolts and lightning, very, very frightening me!”

[Anne]: “Galileo!”

[Marcy]: “Galileo!”

[Anne]: “Galileo!”

[Marcy]: “Galileo!”

[Anne, Marcy, Sasha]: “Galileo, Figaro- “

[Everyone]: “Magnificooooooooooooooooo!”

[Hunter]: “I'm just a poor boy nobody loves me…”

[Luz, Vee, Edric, Willow]: “He's just a poor boy from a poor family! Spare him his life from this monstrosity!”

[Hunter]: “Easy come, easy go, will you let me go?”

[Viney, Skara, Jerbo, Amity]: “Bismillah! No, we will not let you go!”

[Luz, Vee, Edric, Willow]: “Let him go!”

[Viney, Skara, Jerbo, Amity]: “Bismillah! We will not let you go!”

[Luz, Vee, Edric, Willow]: “Let him go!” 

[Viney, Skara, Jerbo, Amity]: “Bismillah! We will not let you go!”

[Luz, Vee, Edric, Willow, Hunter]: ”Let me go!” 

[Viney, Skara, Jerbo, Amity]: “Will not let you go!”

[Luz, Vee, Edric, Willow, Hunter]: “Let me go!”

[Viney, Skara, Jerbo, Amity]: “Never, never let you go!”

[Luz, Vee, Edric, Willow, Hunter]: “Let me go!” 

[Viney, Skara, Jerbo, Amity]: “Never let you go!” 

[Luz, Vee, Edric, Willow, Hunter]: “Let me go!” 

[Everyone]: “AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!”

[Viney, Skara, Jerbo, Amity]: “NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO!”

[Emira]: “Oh mama mia, mama mia!-” 

[Everyone]: “Mama mia, let me go! Beelzebub has a devil put aside for me, for me.

For meeeeeeeeeeeee!”

[Sasha]: “ONE, TWO, THREE, GO!”

Right after Sasha countdown to three, everyone started headbanging as Sasha shredded through her guitar solo. Despite some of them not having long enough hair to have it go everywhere.

[Anne, Marcy, Sasha, Emira]: “So you think you can stop me and spit in my eye?!”

[Luz, Vee, Edric, Willow, Hunter]: “So you think you can love me and leave me to die?!”

[Viney, Skara, Jerbo, Amity]: “Oh, baby, can't do this to me, baby! Just gotta get out, just gotta get right outta here!”

Sasha continues her guitar solo as they all return to headbanging. Emira waits patiently to hear the last guitar notes so she can join the last segment of the track before doing her solo playing the piano.

[Emira]: “Nothing really matters.~ Anyone can see…”

[Viney]: “Nothing really matters…”

[Emira and Viney]: “Nothing really matters to meeeeeeee~”

Despite Emira being surprised that Viney joined her to sing the last lyrics of Bohemian Rhapsody, the two still give an outstanding performance, as if the two tell a story within it.

[Emira]: “Anyway the wind blows…”

𝆕 𝆕 𝆕 𝆕

Emira stares at the piano as she finishes the song, impressed that even when she was reaching her tired state, she played through to the very end. Also, because she feels like someone is staring at her and is afraid to look at whoever is will be Viney. 

“Already tired?” Luz says, popping up from behind.

“Y-Yeah…” Emira coincidentally yawns. When she gained the bravery to look in Viney’s general direction, she could swear that at the last minute, Viney turned her head away. “I-I could go for a good sleep just about now.”

“Awww, really? We were planning to pull an all-nighter!” Luz sighs.

“Wait, really? If you want, I could probably stay up a bit longer,” Emira says despite her voice noticeably getting quieter from being tired.

“No! You should rest!-”

“Actually-” Viney steps in as she walks up to the two. “If you want we could hang out at another time-” She stopped mid-sentence as she realized it sounded like she was asking Emira out. “I mean- with all of us! Not just us two alone! HAHAHA…unless you want it to be just us?-”

“Either way works,” Emira stopped Viney in her state of panic. “But um…is there a way to keep in touch?”

“Oh shoot right! Hold up, let me unblock you on Penstagram real quick.”

“You had me blocked there?” 

“...y-yeah. I was getting annoyed seeing you around my timeline back then.”

“Oh, that’s reasonable, I guess…” Emira chuckles as she checks her scroll to see Viney now following her account and returning the favor. The two teens wave goodbye to each other as Viney returns to her circle of friends as Emira watches, ‘sneakily’ admiring her from afar.

“Oh my godddd! I’m so happy you two are finally getting along!” Luz cheers as she hugs Emira, this time successfully not choking her. 

“Yeah…it feels good to have more annoying people like you in my life,” Emira remarks.

“Well, it feels good to see your grumpy self go away over time because of us!” Luz laughs off Emira’s attempts to be snarky.

Emira watches the Orange County Fair get farther from her view of vision, as Camila drives off. She smiles as she thinks about the prospect of being with Viney all day when they talk about a date and location to hang out at, all thanks to Marcy’s suggestion.

[I should thank her next time I see her…]

She thought, yawning as her eyes slowly weakened only to be fought back by her mind.

“Tired already, mija?” Camila asks the tired Blight.

“Perhaps,” Emira softly chuckles as she answers.

“It’s nice to see that you’re finally taking care of yourself. Eda and I missed when you were such a jokester.” Camila says, patting Emira’s back.

“I missed acting like that too,” Emira smiles, slowly drifting off to sleep. But just before she did, she let out her final words. “I’m so happy that I met your daughter, Camila…” 

Emira snoozes, letting out the widest smile that Camila could see judging by the reflection on the window. Camila smiles in return, playing with Emira’s hair as she stops at the red light, thankful that Luz found herself amazing friends.

“Goodnight, mija.”

Chapter Text

“Soooooooooooooooooooooooooooo-”

“Skara, stop it,” Viney groans as Skara pesters her in their one-three-bedroom hotel room while Jerbo sits there and enjoys the show.

“Come on, girl! It’s been 3 days since you saw Em and promised to hang out with her!”

“3 days isn’t a lot of time, Skara. You’re making it seem like it’s been ages!”

“Well then again, Em and the others are gonna leave next week,” Jerbo said, causing Viney to panic and fall off her bed.

“Wait, what?! I thought they were leaving next, next week!”

“I think you got mixed up with when Marcy will leave LA?” Jerbo’s guess is seemingly correct when Viney stands in shock, panicky looking for her scroll.

“WHERE IS IT?! WHERE IS IT?!” 

“Viney! Chill! It’s right here!” Skara says with Viney snatching her scroll away and immediately putting in her passcode, suspiciously already having Emira’s Penstagram opened.

“WHAT DO I SAY?!”

“Just simply ask if she’s free today,” Jerbo suggested.

“UM, HOW DO I PHRASE THAT EXACTLY?!”

“Just ask!” Skara and Jerbo said.

(Earlier at the hotel the Nocedas are staying at)

Emira and Luz are sitting together on the couch, slouching as Luz keeps switching networks to find something to watch.

“Find anything interesting to watch?” Emira says as she yawns.

“No…just some boring stuff. Who knew TV went downhill since streaming took off,” Luz says as she continues to switch channels.

“ Owners of Tesla’s newest cars are unhappy as their engines have malfunctioned since its release yesterday.- ”

“ HI EVERYBODY, IT’S ME, RAD DOG, HERE TO TELL YOU GUNS DON’T KILL KIDS- ”

“ The war in Hong Kong continues as- ”

“ And now we return to our show; Blatant Copaganda number #624. Yes, that’s all TV is now- ”

“ We reach the second day of the Benedicta v RAWFAKES case being heard here in Supreme Court, which addresses concerns over AI- ”

After a long enough search, Luz just turns off the TV and drops to the floor out of boredom.

“Wanna just go to an arcade instead?”

“If it means destroying someone’s record on Pac-Man or Guitar Hero, sure thing-”

Suddenly, Willow bursts into the room with flaming green eyes as Luz and Emira practically shit themselves.

“SO THIS IS WHERE YOU TWO WERE INSTEAD OF HIKING AT THE VALLEY!”

“Willow! W-We can explain!” Emira shields Luz as she tries to come up with an excuse quickly.

“YEAH! We were uhhh…exercising!” Luz chuckles as she holds onto Emira for dear life.

“MY ASS! YOU WERE WATCHING TV! GOD FORBID ACTUAL NETWORK PROGRAMMING! I EXPECTED BETTER FROM YOU TWO!” Willow screams as she flexes her muscles, preparing to unleash her most powerful attack.

“NO! PLEASE WAIT!” Luz and Emira begged as they huddled behind the couch.

“DON’T WORRY! THIS WILL ONLY HURT A LOT!” Willow demonically laughs at the two quivers and says their final prayers…until a ding comes from Emira’s scroll, changing it to see that it was a message from Viney.

“EVERYONE SHUT THE FUCK UP! VINEY JUST TEXTED ME!”

“REALLY?!” Luz, even Willow, somehow forgetting everything that just transpired as they are now nosey about Emira’s interaction with Viney. They huddle next to Emira, much to her annoyance.

“Can you guys give me some personal space?!” Emira says, with the two doing so…by like 2 inches. With only about 30 seconds of silence, the two were annoyed by Emira’s lengthy attempts to respond.

“JUST SAY SOMETHING!” Luz was the first to say something.

“Like what?!” 

“What did she say?” Willow asked

“She just said ‘hi’ all lowercase!”

“Then say hi back!” 

Emira opened the message and took a solid minute just to say one simple word.

{Blight_Cat#2.9}: yo

{animal_lover69}: hey

“Huh…she responded quickly,” Emira thought out loud.

{Blight_Cat#2.9}: whats up 

{Blight_Cat#2.9}: do you need anything

About a solid minute has passed, the message being seen by Viney but not responding. Emira began to sweat, nervous about what she was about to say. The triple dots bouncing up to indicate Viney was texting only worsened Emira’s anxiety, every second feeling like an hour.

{animal_lover69}: wanna hang out

{Blight_Cat#2.9}: um

{Blight_Cat#2.9}: like right now?

{animal_lover69}: yeah

{animal_lover69}: if you’re not busy or anything

{animal_lover69}: haha

Emira looked at the message repeatedly, pinching herself to see if this wasn’t a dream. Looking around, pacing and stimming, trying to think of a response…until Luz grabbed the scroll and replied for her.

{Blight_Cat#2.9}: not busy! 

{Blight_Cat#2.9}: meet me by the front entrance to the hotel!

“NO! LUZ, YOU FOOL! YOU CAN’T JUST SIMPLY SAY THESE THINGS TO A GIRL LIKE VINEY!” Emira yells as she grabs and shakes Luz by the collar of her shirt until Viney responds.

{animal_lover69}: sure

“...huh.”

“Where’re my thanks for the help, Blight?” Luz smirks as she gives back Emira’s scroll.

“...ugh, thank you, Luz,” Emira says as she groans and rolls her eyes. “But now, what should I wear…”

“I think I can help with that! Willow says, now wholly forgetting about the whole ‘ditching the hike’ incident until-

“You still not mad-”

“SURE! T-Thanks for the help! Can always count on you, Willow! You’re such a good friend!!!” Emira quickly shuts Luz up, laughing nervously to avoid any suspension.

Viney sits by the hotel entrance, anxiously anticipating Emira’s arrival. She mumbles to herself, sweating instantly because of her nervousness. And also because wearing ripped jeans with a denim vest on top of her white t-shirt isn’t ideal in a 90-degree weather environment. 

“You’re still nervous, Viney?” Skara says through Viney’s scroll as she has her and Jerbo on a call to have someone around to comfort her nerves.

“Of course I am! I never hung out like… ‘this’ before!”

“Just call it a date, Vines. It’s not gonna kill you,” Jerbo corrected his best friend.

“It’s not a date! I didn’t ask her out!”

“Well, the way you made it seem back in the fair, it looked like you did,” Skara reminisces.

“Well, I didn’t! And it’s not like I like ‘like’ her,” Viney pouts her lips even though she wasn’t really physically there in front of Jerbo and Skara.

“You guys basically sang a duet like 2 days ago,” Skara brings up the fair again.

“So?!”

“And you were staring at Emira after you two sang,” Jerbo mentioned.

“ SO?! ”

“You started freaking out after you asked her out-,” Skara said before getting cut off.

“I DIDN’T ASK HER OUT-”

“I saw you blocked Emira because you just couldn’t stop looking at her photos and even panicked when you accidentally liked one of them,” Jerbo brought up the real reason why Emira was blocked during the fair.

“...ok fine. I give in! I like Emira Blight! And maybe I subconsciously asked if she wanted to hang out at another time because I just wanted to ask her out! Happy now?” Viney says out loud to hundreds of people outside, just minding their business, but-

“Do you think these two are roommates?” One of the bystanders whispers quietly to their friend as they walk away from her.

“Oh, we’re very happy,” Jerbo and Skara firmly said as they giggled together.

“Now, do you guys have any tips on…” Viney deeply sighs as she swallows her pride to say this. “Where to go and what to do on a date…”

“Girl, you seriously don’t have any idea?” Skara asks.

“This is her first date. She never really asked out anyone until now,” Jerbo explains.

“Really?! Viney, if you mess up your first date with Emira, I can take you out on a date and make you-!”

“It’s fine, Skara. I’m sure I’ll somehow manage if you guys just give me tips! Besides, I think Emira could carry the day, she seems pretty experienced,” Viney remarks, confusing Skara.

“What makes you think that-” Skara was about to ask until Viney cut him off.

“Shit! Save the questions and tips for later! I think someone is coming! Bye!” Viney quickly hangs up before that person, who she worries is Emira, could come out. Yet wishing she did receive any tips before starting her date.

—

“Weird for her to think that,” Skara comments.

“Why? I remember hearing about her dating plenty of people,” Jerbo says, which Skara was quick to dismiss.

“They were just dumb rumors conjured up by students of other schools trying to demonize the Blight name. I remember it something about Emira’s experience with relationships. I'm not sure if they were true since Amity never really brought it up.”

“Would she say why?”

“Not really. Just being very vague about it.”

“Interesting… I hope Viney changes that for her.”

—

Viney quickly puts away her phone, wiping the sweat from her face and sitting on the bench as if she were just chilling. Just waiting patiently and not looking like she’s seconds away from breaking down from her nerves. She looks in the corner of her eye to see if her suspensions were true, only for her to quietly gasp in awe.

Emira blushes so much that it practically makes her a tomato, wearing dark blue short jeans and a black blouse. Viney quickly looks ahead of herself, hoping that Emira didn’t catch her in the act. But, Viney turns when she hears Emira whistling, surprised to see her attire.

“You look…-”

“You don’t like it?! I can change if you’ll like-”

“Great. You look great, Viney.” Emira smiles softly, reassuring Viney.

“T-Thanks. And you look pretty-” Viney quickly stops herself, realizes what she said, and promptly tries to cover up her calling Emira pretty. “PRETTY GOOD! Uh, yeah. Pretty good.” Viney says, blushing slightly.

“You think so?”

“Yeah. Honestly, you surprised me with your fit given what you wear every day when you go outside,” Viney chuckles, reminding Emira of her exclusively only wearing sweatpants and a t-shirt referencing her favorite game or show. 

“Well, I don’t have a lot of eyes on me all the time nowadays. I get to wear whatever I want without being judged,” Emira explains.

“Are you implying that you dress nicely to impress me, Blight?~” Viney says, not thinking about how flirtatious her question was.

“In your dreams,” Emira laughs off Viney’s question as she walks away.

“Woah! Wait up!” Viney rushes to catch up to Emira. “Where do you think we’re going?”

“I assumed that wherever you were taking me, it would be somewhere in the city. Unless you had no plans?” Emira teased.

“Well- I do have some plans... with the rest, I’ll make it on the spot!” Viney said, embarrassed with how much her experience with dating was starting to show.

“Then where are we off to first on this… what exactly do we call…‘this’?”

“Hmm, I’m not sure. It’s not like it’s a date-” Viney was cut off by Emira choking on air when she heard that, quickly speaking to not bring attention to her reaction.

“Yeah! Not a date!” Emira nervously laughs.

“Not a date! Us dating would be weird!” Viney joins in the laughter, not noticing Emira’s hurt eyes hearing that.

“Y-Yeah. It would be weird….” Emira’s laugh dies down quickly, almost cracking her smile.

“Let’s just say it’s just a hang-out session, with us the two of us…alone,” Viney awkwardly explained.

“Yeah! We’re just going out…as friends!” Emira quickly corrects herself, briefly panicking.

The two continue to make their way to a place that Viney figured would be a good place to start a romantic date; Exposition Park. Home to many museums showcasing several topics of interest to the two, and it’s free! It being free was Viney’s main reason considering the group’s budget for the trip was low to begin with.

They sat together, huddling against one another as they rode the bus to their destination. The two occasionally made small talk before leading nowhere, returning to their heavy red face, avoiding any sort of eye contact. They exit the bus and face the Banc of California Stadium, the two commenting on it.

“Do you think humans have this…fetish or something of spending tax dollars on making as many stadiums as possible?” Viney asked.

“I don’t think it’s a matter of enjoying doing so, but rather just finding an excuse not to spend tax dollars on anything useful,” Emira’s pessimistic side comes out, scaring her for a bit before trying to switch moods. “B-But let’s move away from this topic. Where are we going first?”

“Oooo, how about the science center? That sounds interesting!” Viney sheepishly answers while looking at her phone, Emira clearly seeing that she had the park’s website open. 

Despite that, she agrees to go with Viney, having her lead the way…until Emira had to lead instead because of Viney’s poor sense of direction. But once they arrive, they both seem to have a decent time, with Viney reading bits and pieces of information provided by the cards near them and Emira enjoying seeing her interest in the world around her.

“Who would’ve thought that humans would travel as far as the moon after 66 years of the first flight!” Viney thought out loud.

“Yeah, impressive to see how quick they are with inventing stuff. Hell, they made phones before we even made scrolls,” Emira added.

“Speaking of which, if you were offered a guaranteed safe trip to the moon, would you take that opportunity?” Viney asked as the two stared at images taken by astronauts 

“Of course! I'd love to go to outer space! Just jumping around the surface of the moon before looking at Earth. Trying to pinpoint where Camila’s house is, processing how small we really are.”

“Sounds like you put a lot of thought into that idea.”

“I have! I used to think about going to outer space all the time when I was young. I even had Ed and I pretend as if we were the first witches in space, walking on the surface of our moon! Those were the days….” Emira says as she reminisces about her childhood, whilst trying to ignore the bad ones trying to flood her mind.

“Well, maybe in our lifetime, we’ll get the chance to travel through space…” Viney ponders.

“Promise?” Emira jokingly asked.

“Pff, with what money?”

“Who knows? Maybe you’ll make bank one day with your healing talents as a veterinarian.”

“Well, hopefully, they pay me well so I can show how rich I am compared to you,” Viney says, causing the two to erupt with laughter.

The two continue to explore Exposition Park before making their way to the Rose Garden to rest. They try to find a decent spot to sit, only to be met with couples sitting underneath all the gazebos. Frustratingly, they had to sit on the grass underneath the shade provided by the hedge behind them. 

“Are you sure you’re fine sitting here without a blanket? I don’t want you to ruin your clothes.” Viney asked due to seeing everyone coming pre-prepared with a blanket laying on the grass.

“It’s fine, Viney. I’m not afraid of getting a little dirty,” Emira reassured her as the two sat together as ‘friends’ amongst a sea of couples. 

Viney could even hear whispers from them complimenting them as if they were a couple, even admiration from some. To distract herself from these romantic thoughts with her, Viney decided to make small talk.

“S-So, I can see you and Camila are close,” Viney asks, rubbing the back of her neck as she worries if Emira can see through her facade.

“We’re very close, actually! Sometimes I think Camila favors me over Luz to an extent. But don’t tell that to Luz! I’m sure if she knew, I would’ve been dead by now,” Emira chuckles.

“I don’t blame her. I would fight for her love too. Luz’s really lucky to have a mom like Camila. I can see where she gets her need of helping people from. She even helped me learn Spanish when she didn’t need to!” Viney recalled.

“Same! She had me take the app Vee was using to learn Spanish and was there along the way. I even beat Vee’s score thanks to her!” Emira’s smile becomes more and more bright as she remembers every memory with her. However, the ones she tries hard to forget start to resurface, breaking her glee.

“Is something wrong?” Viney asks, seeing Emira’s demeanor change.

“It’s nothing…” Emira looks at Viney to smile, trying to fool her, but her smile breaks to see Viney’s sad expression.

“You were thinking about Odaila, weren’t you?”

“I…I was. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to be a downer or anything I-”

“It’s fine, Emira. We can’t always expect ourselves to keep everything in all the time,” Viney says, subconsciously reaching for Emira’s hand, and soothing them as continues to comfort the Blight. “If you want though, we can do something else to get your mind off things.”

“...I think that’s best,” Emira says, before realizing something. “Say, you wouldn’t happen to say that so you could see where else we could go?”

“Uhhhh…no…?” Viney sheepishly looks away, before Emira chuckles at Viney’s level of subtlety. 

“If you want to know, I would love to learn how to roller skate.”

“Well, lucky for you, Blight, I may know a thing or two about roller skating!”

—

As the two exit a skate shop with their new roller skates, they excitedly run to the nearby skate park. Emira was ready to take advantage of the park’s lack of visitors as she worried about people making fun of her lack of roller skating skills. She quickly puts on her skates and tries to skate around the park but falls, with Viney quickly catching her. 

Seeing that Emira needed more help than Viney guessed. Plus, Viney was bothered by seeing how badly Emira put on her roller skates. So Viney decided to help her properly put on Emira’s roller skates for her and hold her hands to help keep her balance. Despite Emira’s objections to holding Viney’s hands, she still followed through with Viney’s aid.

She struggled a bit, almost falling from time to time, but thanks to Viney’s strong stance, she was able to pick Emira up. It reminded Emira how really strong Viney is and how comforting it was to be close to her. The more she was getting the hang of skating, the less she wanted to let go of Viney.

But after a lot of practice, Viney tried to have Emira try to skate on her own. She reassured Emira that she’ll do fine. She hesitated for a moment but let's go, without a hiccup skating around the park slowly before picking up the pace until she fell again, luckily on her back and not straight on her face. Viney rushes to her aid but the two soon laugh at the occurrence as they take a break and decide to make more small talk.

“ You know, I’m kinda shocked there aren’t more people around since LA is a pretty busy city,” Viney comments.

“Yeah, I expected a lot of kids to be here since they’re on Summer Break. But I guess that isn’t the case for the human realm.”

“Come to think of it, I never really see many people our age or lower just hanging out in the city. Not even in malls or arcades, just older folks,” Viney recalls her ventures.

“Makes sense. This city seems to be over-relying on cars to travel anywhere,” Emira critiques LA’s street infrastructure.

“Explains all the car crashes that happen on a daily basis. I remember seeing 4 different car crashes on our way to the hotel. If I were someone who lived here, I would be alert 24/7 when walking anywhere,” Viney said.

“Let’s not forget about Skid Row.”

“Oh god, never mind. I would definitely want a car if it means I’ll have to travel anywhere near that place,” Viney was quick to change her mind.

“I’ll just not live here in general. LA may have some cool stuff to see, but it seems too depressing to make this your life,” 

“No wonder Sasha and Anne are seemingly depressing all the time.”

“Pfff, I would be too if I had to live in this dump,” Emira and Viney laughed as they made fun of Anne and Sasha’s home. 

They lay on their backs, watching the few clouds in the skies of LA. The pigeons and planes pass by during their cloud watching, enjoying the few bits of the beauty of the city. Soon though, Emira sighs as she puts herself up.

“Say, it’s about to get late soon. Is there anything else you want to do before we go back?” 

“There is one thing, but I kinda wanna skate a bit more while we still have our roller skates,” Viney sheepishly said, hoping for a yes from Emira.

“Well, what are you waiting for then?” Emira says, reaching her hand out to Viney, waiting for her to grab onto it and skate together.

“O-Oh… it's on!” Viney stutters, blushing as she grabs Emira’s hand and begins to skate.

Although meant to be a simple get-to-together, it felt like an intimate moment for one another. The two felt as if they were dancing to a melody. Despite the occasional fall by Emira, it didn’t take away from their heartfelt moment. Instead, the two laugh off her falls, giggling as Emira’s grip on Viney’s hands tightens. 

After a while, the two stopped. The two embrace each other, pinning their heads together as they smile, closing their eyes after a long while of performing. They opened their eyes, seeing how close their faces were to one another. They look into each other’s eyes, wondering if they were really about to kiss.

“T-Thanks, that was f-fun,” Emira says, breaking the silence.

“Yeah, it was,” Viney says in return, the two still not moving an inch away from each other.

“So, what was that other thing you wanted to do?” 

“Well, I heard that Kenneth Hahn State Park has a pretty nice view of the skyline at night,” Viney says despite the skies already beginning to dim.

“Isn’t it closed by this hour?” 

“Pfff, is Ms.Troublemaker afraid of a little rule-breaking?” Viney says with intense sass, causing Emira to blush more.

“W-Who said I was?” Emira says, trying desperately to maintain her flirtatious attitude.

“Then what are you waiting for?” Viney shouts as she summons her staff, making this her turn to reach out to Emira, making her a red mess, knowing full well she’ll be holding onto Viney the entire ride.

—

(Meanwhile with everyone else not having a romantic moment)

Luz gasps for air as she reaches the beginning of the trail of the hike. The group has finally finished their hike with Willow. As she falls to the floor, she curses Emira’s name, wishing she was instead spying on her and Viney.

“I told you to bring better shoes but noooooo, ‘pIKacHu knOws eVERythING!’” Willow mocks Luz’s lack of proper footwear.

“This is so unfairrrrrrr! How come Emira gets a pass and not meeee? Don’t you want all the juicy details?” Luz says as she struggles to get back on her feet.

“Why yes, of course! But it doesn’t mean you get to skip our exercise routine!” 

“Willow’s right, mija! You gotta be a strong girl! Especially since I’m getting old,” Camila says, stretching her back and cracking it.

“Oh, come on, mama! You’re not that old! You don’t like a day over 20!” Luz says, hugging her mom as she awes.

“She also performs in bed as if she’s still 20,” Eda whispers to Lilith with a devilish smile before Raine covers her mouth to prevent her from saying anything else revealing.

“ Please don’t say that while we’re with the kids,” Raine groaned as they demanded.

“I wonder how Em is doing with Viney. Did she say where the two of them were heading to at this time?” Lilith asks Luz, hoping for an answer.

“Viney did say something about sightseeing somewhere high, but I’m not sure where. Especially since most parks are closed by now.” Luz says, having Lilith be reminded of the two’s track record of their troublemaking background.

“ Titan, at this point the two will have a bigger case file than Eda’s.” Lilith thought as she summoned her palisman, ready to take off.

“Aunt Lilith! Where are you going?” Willow shouts out to her.

“Uh, excuse me, Willow, please! I’m going to check out on how Emira is doing!” Lilith shouts back as she takes off, ready to continue her search for the Blight.

“Sure thing! Tell me how it went!”

“OH YOU LET HER GO BUT NOT ME?! I CAN’T BELIEVE I’M BEING DISCRIMINATED AGAINST!” Luz cries out.

“Luz, you still need to work on yourself, and also Lilith is old and done enough,” Willow calmly states despite Luz’s dramatic gasp.

“WILLOW, YOU AGEIST BITCH!” Luz yells out as Willow face-palms herself.

—

“A-Are we almost t-there yet?!” Emira shouts as tears fall from her closed eyes, her grasp of Viney’s waist tight as she fears being in the skies at any speed.

“Almost! Just keep your eyes closed and hold on tight! We’re still pretty high!” Viney warns her ‘companion’ as they reach Kenneth Park.

Despite feeling butterflies in her stomach, Viney managed to stay focused to fly to the peak of Kenneth Park. Although worried about getting caught or seeing some wild animal, Viney lower her anxiety as she reminded herself of her skills as a Beastkeeper…and remembered how little of a fuck the average worker cared about their jobs.

As Viney reaches the top , her descent to the ground begins, without letting Emira know until they are an inch away from the ground. 

“You can open your eyes now, Blight,” Right after Viney says that, Emira breathes a huge sigh of relief, falling to the floor.

“Oh, thank god! Finally, back on the ground!” Emira shouts, breathing rapidly to aid her fast-beating heart.

“Emira! Don’t scare me like that! I thought you fainted!” Viney softly kicks her up, angry at her actions.

“Awwww, were you concerned for me there?” Emira says as she smirks.

“W-Well yeah? I didn’t want to fly you back to somewhere safe and have you miss the view!” Viney pouts her lips, avoiding looking at Emira’s face.

“Then pick me up if you’re so dead set on me experiencing this moment~” Emira extends her hand to Viney, which she does despite her ‘annoyance’ against Emira’s attitude.

As Emira gets up, she can see the bright lights from the distance of the city’s skyline (2). She silently walks past a monument (ofsomeonethattotallywasn’tkilledbytheFBI) and stares in awe at the view of Los Angeles. Hundreds of thousands of lights from different buildings shine brightly in contrast to the dark tall mountains behind them.

“So, what do you think?” Viney says as she stands side by side with her.

“It’s beautiful,” Emira says, still staring at the view. “It’s a great change of pace to just be here, appreciating the little things. No responsibilities, no work, or no shenanigans to worry Casey,” She laughs as she makes that joke.

“Yeah, wish it could be like this every day,” Viney sighs joyfully, her hands brushing against Emira’s. Surprisingly, Emira grabs onto it, rubbing her knuckles as she speaks to her.

“I just wanna say…thank you for this, Viney. Never in my life, I thought that I would be treated to such a wonderful day by someone who hated me moments ago,” Emira, for once in her life, genuinely smiles. Happy to be spending time with her. 

Viney chuckles as she is reminded of her previous thought, but also at the adorableness of Emira clearly struggling to say this to her, telling by her inconsistent volume.

“Well, I felt like it was the least I could do to make up for my previous behavior,” Viney explains. 

“You didn’t have to make it up to me. I deserved that sort of treatment given how I was back….” Emira says before her trail of thought stops. Memories suddenly come to her in a millisecond before her subconscious comes back to her. “H-How I was back then….”

“Emira?” Viney’s voice echoes throughout Emira’s mind, snapping back again to reality. “Is there something on your mind again?” 

“Y-You could say that,” Emira’s voice quickly went quiet, struggling to express her feelings. But she didn’t want to leave Viney hanging, causing her to worry more about her well-being. 

“Was it about your mom again?”

“...No. It’s about this one memory I had about someone in my life. The last time I was treated this well was with…my first partner.”

“You had…”

“A girlfriend. It was when I was 12. She really meant a lot to me.”

“Was? What happened to her?” Viney asks, afraid to see the person she grew to admire in a state of vulnerability, yet pulling forward to be there for her.

“...The Blight name back in the day attracts all kinds of people trying to make a profit off our name, raising their status in the hierarchy-”

“She was one of them, wasn’t she?” Viney correctly guessed, causing Emira to turn away, embarrassed to break away from her carefree character.

“I-I thought I was smart enough to tell. To distinguish w-who was trying to use me and who genuinely c-cared for me. I thought that she was finally the one! The one I finally find comfort in!” Emira stutters as she tries to keep in the air within her, trying not to cry in front of Viney. Not in front of her, anyone but her. “Even if she was trying to use me, I thought that maybe our time together could change her, that I could change her! But no! She fucking lied! Everything was a lie!”

Emira falls to the floor, finally letting out every single tear that she’s been trying to keep in for months. Viney quickly grabs her as she collapses, crying and screaming onto her shoulder. Viney sat there shocked. Thinking about how Emira, this seemingly childish troublemaker, always catching the attention of young admirers and being the butt of every prank she pulled, was easily fooled and heartbroken by someone trying to gain status in return for her supposed ‘love’ for Emira.

Viney pulled her in for a hug, rubbing her back as Emira continued to blatter incoherent sentences, weeping and trying to breathe in between her screams of the emotional pain of remembering her trauma.

“It’s ok,” Viney softly hums to Emira’s ear, repeating it bit by bit to calm the Blight. “You have me now,” Viney’s grip around Emira’s body tightens, burying her head under her chin. “You have me.” Emira’s cries soften, breathing slowly as she embraces Viney in her arms. 

“I’m…I’m sorry-” Emira pulls away to look into Viney’s eyes to say before she interrupts her.

“No, don’t say that. Don’t ever apologize for crying, Em. It’s ok to cry. It’s ok,” Viney wipes away Emira’s tears as she cups her cheeks. “You’re a wonderful, beautiful person Em. I know you have changed for the better. You don’t have to apologize for expressing all the stress you’ve been hiding away within yourself,” Viney begs, shaking as she holds onto Emira’s hands, trying not to cry.

“O-Ok,” Emira whispers, sniffing as she places her forehead onto Viney’s, closing her eyes.

“Promise me something, Em,” Viney whispered, looking deeply into Emira’s golden eyes.

“W-What is it?”

“Please, please if you ever feel like there’s something that you need to let out or even vent to, come to me. I’ll be there for you at your most vulnerable. Whenever, wherever.” 

“I-I…I promise…” Emira quietly says, smiling as she stares back at Viney’s emerald-like eyes.

The two smile at each other, staring at each other, until Emira inches closer to Viney bit by bit. Viney stands there, shocked at what’s seemingly about to happen. A million thoughts came to her mind, causing her to stand there like a scared animal. Viney stood there and accepted her first kiss, closing her eyes as she enjoyed the kiss, feeling every second passing through.

The two pull away, admiring each other before Emira’s pupils dilate as she fears that she has ruined her friendship with her.

“O-Oh my god, I’m sorry!”

“Wait, Em! I-” Viney tries to talk to Emira however, she runs away. Viney didn’t run after her. Instead, she stood there in complete shock, breathless and full of so many emotions thinking about how she had her first kiss with Emira of all people.

Meanwhile, Emira continues to run farther and farther down the park. Her lungs burned as the flow of her oxygen from her breathing became shorter and shorter. She trips, embracing for impact, but she doesn't feel the sensation of hitting her head on the concrete floor. Emira opens her eyes to see her floating in the air, then sees Lilith holding onto her, catching her just before she falls.

“Are you ok, Em?” Lilith asks, yet Emira doesn't answer. She just hugs her, weeping softly.

“P-Please…take me home,” Emira whispers, her words being muffled by Lilith’s clothes.

Lilith silently obeyed her wishes, making room for the Blight to climb aboard her palisman, silently flying away without saying a word. Emira rests on Lilith’s back, staring at the skyline, thinking about her supposed mistake of kissing Viney, wishing the day would just end already.

“Em-”

“Please…don’t ask me anything,” Emira halts Lilith’s attempt to aid her mental well-being, with Lilith obliging. Wishing that soon, Emira will allow others inside her bubble to have her vent her feelings away.

[I mess everything up. Like I always do…]

Chapter Text

(Dramatic silence.…)

A Valve Software Production….

Proudly pre-

Wait fuck

I mean

A Dusty Studios Production.…

Yeah

Sounds better

A series produced by Luz Noceda

“...so this was your first attempt at making a series?” Amity asks as she and Luz watch her old forgotten series based on the Azura books.

“Yeah! I tried to do it through GMod! Didn’t go beyond the first episode though,” Luz explains as the intro montage shows a young Luz dragging a ragdoll of Azura breaking everything in some restaurant.

“Can you guys keep it down? I’m thinking right now.”

“Thinking about what, Em?” Amity held back her groan, remembering the state that her older sister had been in since yesterday.

“Oh, nothing. Just about my dreams getting crushed.”

“Don’t mind her,” Hunter says as he walks by to get some water. “I’m sure once she’s out of this ‘I hate everyone who’s in a relationship’ mindset she’ll be able to open up.”

“Oh, piss off, cunt.”

“Don’t tell me to piss off when yesterday you threw a ball at my head!”

“It's not my fault that you have a big ass head.”

“I’m trying to be nice here!” 

“Yet you sound like an asshole-”

“Enough, you two,” Willow suddenly opens the door, causing the two to be still as a tree. “Love, please tell Emira that you’re sorry,”

“She started it!”

“Hunter, we talked about this,”

“Ughhh, fine! Emira, I apologize that my behavior was disrespectful. I was trying to be helpful,” Despite Hunter’s groan, he apologizes sincerely.

“Emira, do you accept his apology?”

“Given that it was better than any apology I received, yeah, I do,” Emira says, laying back down on the floor as Willow nods her head, and leaves.

Everything returns as usual, with Luz and Amity going back to watching the episode and Hunter refilling his glass with water. He drinks some of it and fills more as he feels more thirsty than usual. As he returns to his spot from before, he looks at Emira, thinking about any way of helping her. 

“Um, Emira?” He whispers to her as he goes down to her level.

“What do you want?”

“Look, I know I’m the last person you wanna talk to right now. But I know Viney on some level. She’s a great person, and I’m sure if you just try to talk to her about this, she’ll-”

“Hunter, please. Don’t bore me with your useless suggestions,” Emira says bluntly, staring off at the non-existent stars. Hunter sighs, getting up and walking away from her.

A bit of Emira regretted that she pushed away Hunter, frowning at the exchange between the two. They were always antagonistic with one another for reasons unknown to everyone, including Emira and Hunter themselves. They just don’t like each other much, to the point that seeing each other will trigger their annoyed attitude. Well, that’s what Emira feels like every time she sees Hunter.

She gets up from the floor and walks to the restroom to do some self-reflecting in the mirror. She looks at her ache-covered face, touching the side of her cheek, sighing at the sight of herself. 

[How could someone like me deserve a one-of-a-kind person like Viney?]

Emira’s negative thoughts about her figure and herself as a person return. They layer over each other, secretly being built up since Grom. They surround her, suffocating her, taking over her mind.

“Emira?”

Luz calls for her as she enters the restroom, worried yet relieved seeing Emira jump, reacting to her presence.

“O-Oh. It’s just you, Luz,” Emira sighs in relief, afraid that she may have concerned Luz again about her wellbeing.

“Sorry if I disturb you. I was checking up on you since you look a little downer than usual,” Luz explained.

“It’s fine, Luz. I’m just tired of pushing people away when I need help.”

“If that’s so, is there any way I can help? I’m sure I can set you two up perfectly!~” Luz lightly teases Emira, having her giggle at the exchange.

“That’s sweet of you Luz, but I wished you had asked sooner. I think Viney already hates me for leaving her like that….”

“Maybe if you talk with her about it, she’ll understand!”

“I guess….” Emira ponders about it, thinking about the logistics of this happening, quietly doubting it.

“Playing hard to get, huh? Ahhh, I see! I’m picking up what you’re putting down.”

“...putting what down?”

The conversation gets cut short when the TV goes quiet, followed by a loud thud from the living room. The two looked at each, concerned about whatever was going on. And also seeing who’s gonna be the first to check on Amity’s well-being.

“W-Well, after you!”

“Why me?”

“B-Because you’re Amity’s sister!”

“And you’re her girlfriend.”

“But who’s the one with magic and semi-training from Casey?”

“...Fine. But correction, Casey did not train me. They just kicked my ass in a witches’ duel,” Emira says, rolling her eyes as she slowly opens the door. 

Emira slowly steps out of the restroom, looking around her surroundings, except behind her. A perfect window for a supposed attacker to surprise Emira, and surprise her they did. The intruder knocked her out with a single hit of a frying pan, causing Emira to fall to the floor, seeing Boiling Isles stars all around her.

“Is it necessary to keep us locked?! Open the goddamn door!” Someone asked, kicking the metal door.

Emira groans, rubbing the back of her head as she slowly gets back to her feet. Although her vision was blurry for a moment, Emira could quickly tell that she was in some sort of quarantine room in some base, with Sasha being the one kicking the door. 

“Where the fuck am I…?” Emira groans, rubbing her eyes.

“Your question is good as mine, Blight,” Hunter says, sitting by the end of the room with Edric breathing in and out with a bag.

“Oh great. Of all the people to be locked in a room with, it had to be you ,” Emira sighs.

“Welcome to my world,”

“Come on, you two! Willow said to stop bickering!” Edric yells out but immediately seemingly regrets saying that.

“Willow isn’t here though, so-”

“Wait! That asshole is coming back!” Sasha yells out suddenly, standing by the door waiting to attack before being tackled down by someone wearing a hazard suit.

“Woah! Woah! Woah! What the fuck is going on?!” Emira tries to ask one of them before she is tackled to the ground, having her hands cuffed and picked up to be escorted somewhere.

“You couldn’t be less rough?!” Hunter shouts while the two are escorted out of the room with a piece of cloth covering their mouths.

The cuffs start to leave a red mark around the witches’ wrists as they push around anytime they slightly move slower. Once they arrived at their destination, they removed the cuffs of their hands and were thrown into the room. 

“Well, fuck you too!” Sasha tries to run toward the guards but slams her face into the now-shut door. “What the hell is going on!”

“Just standard procedure for handling diseases,” Casey responds, standing there and scaring everyone again.

“Christ- I mean Titan! Can you please stop doing that!” Hunter shouts, hiding behind Emira, who is now unfazed by Casey’s sudden appearance.

“My apologies. Especially with how my crew has been treating you.”

“Why are we here?!” Emira pleads for an answer from them.

“I’ll explain once everyone is here. Willow, Vee, Gus, and Marcy are here. We’re just waiting for Luz and Anne,” Casey explains, pointing out the very bored teens wearing their masks.

“OH! Hi Emira!” Marcy excitedly says, despite the predicament she’s in.

“Hi, Marcy.”

“You two seemed fond of each other,” Casey notices.

“Well, that’s because we both cosplayed as Dragon Quest characters for this year’s LA Comic Con,” Emira says, pulling out a photo on her scroll of Marcy dressed as Irin, Luz dressed as Eight, and Emira dressed as Sofia.

Interrupting the moment of memories were screaming and grunts coming from two girls with questionable gender conforming and meeting a god(?), Luz and Anne. The second the girls are thrown to the floor, Casey makes her way to the very front of the room, activating a projector from the ceiling.

“Ok, so now that everyone is here, I'd like to apologize to everyone here. My team is very…. dedicated to making sure what we have does not spread to the population-”

“Wait, are we sick?!” Vee asks, panicking about possibly spreading it to other people.

“Looks like it. Hunter, Emira, remember our little heist from a while back?”

“Yeah, why?”

“Doing that heist ruffled some feathers of one of the police gangs within the LAPD as they profited from many of the trafficking deals they made. So in retaliation, they implanted a virus within our water supply,” Casey explains, pulling out a mini test tube, full of water with little particles in the shape of worms. This caused the whole room to be sickened by the sight.

“Oh, my god.…” Hunter rushed to the nearest sink to try to watch off his tongue.

“It’s no use trying to watch it off. It’s already reached its final phase.” Casey says, pulling Hunter away from the sink.

“Wait! How long will these kill us?!” Sasha asks.

“According to the calculations done by my team….” oooooooo long dramatic pause “We have 24 hours to live.”

The room goes silent after the sting that they heard in their heads, slowly taking in the information. They were deep in thought, thinking of what to say. Until Hunter finally broke the silence.

“Well…since that’s how much time we have left in this life, I must confess something,” Hunter takes a deep breath before continuing. “I ship Malin Gael with Azura”

“WHAT?!” Luz and Amity scream at the top of their lungs, their argument getting heated quickly.

Emira slowly backs away from them, walking towards the Calamity Trio, to silently confess something as well about The Good Witch Azura.

“Is this a bad time to say I ship Hecate’s older sister with Azura?”

Poisoned Killionaire!

The crew is moved to an isolated base , away from the city yet heavily guarded by several guards and turrets. As requested by Luz, Casey decides to hold a meeting with everyone to do a send-off to each other. Joining them are the ever-so-joyful twins; Abby and Gabby alongside Wade, all wearing masks and other protective gear.

“This is a bucket,” Casey says, placing a bucket on the table.

“Dear god…” Gus says as if he is scared.

“There’s more-”

“No!” Vee’s voice quivers as Casey looks at her, confused at their behavior before continuing their speech.

“This bucket contains everyone’s dying wish, collected by Abby and Gabby. Right, you two?”

“Yes, sir!” The Madison twins both say.

“Good. Ladies and Gentlemen and those who do not fit those labels, synchronize your death watches,” Right as Casey commands it, the room is full of beeps of everyone activating their watches set to 24 hours. “We have 24 hours to live. For most people, no time at all. We are not most people. We are…something alright.” Casey struggles to come up with a common title everyone can share. “We have the resources, the will, to make these hours count! The clock is ticking. Let’s begin-”

“READ OURS FIRST!” Gus and Vee both yell out.

“Is your final wish to have the bucket?” Casey sighed as they correctly guessed.

“Yes!”

“You can have it after I finish covering everyone’s wish,” Casey groans, rubbing their head before reading the first wish. “First up are Hunter and Marcy, who both want what’s called a…GameClam Evolution?...”

“You haven’t heard about the legendary new console?!” Hunter shouts.

“The GameClam Evolution is so cool! You know you control it with your mind?! It’s called ‘Mind2Matter,’ they made it, it’s technology! It’s awesome!” Marcy explains further.

“Hunter, aren’t you still searching for a PS5?” Vee points out.

“Fuck the PS5 and fuck Sony! I still can’t find a PS5 for the life of me, and why is that?! It’s not like we are in a major pandemic or something!”

“Shut up, Hunter. Up next is Luz and Willow, who wished for…never mind.” Casey tolls the note after reading it.

“Hey! You said you’d grant us any wish we desire!” Willow angrily stated as Luz grunted.

“I’m not paying for an all-paid romantic double date for you guys. The closest thing we can do is have you guys eat at our cafeteria.”

“It’ll…have to do,” Luz sighs in defeat.

“Don’t worry. The food isn’t that bad…most of the time,” Casey says under their breath. “Then there’s Ed and Em who…drew a picture of me getting hit by a car. Classic.” 

“Just a little humor to lighten the mood~,” Edric says while Emira is holding back her laugh.

“...Right. They also drew another picture of me…I shower every day you two,” Casey sighs as they share a picture of themselves with smelly radiative waves, causing both the Blight and Madison twins to laugh. “Fantastic, this concludes our meeting-”

“You didn’t read ours!” Anne yells out with Sasha slamming her hands onto the table.

“For the last time you guys, I’m not giving you guys a gun. Now everyone, kindly fuck off and leave me to my own devices. I still need to finish some business with my people.” Casey says, opening the door for everyone to leave. “See you all in hell!”

(20 hours remaining)

Both Gus and Willow lay on the floor, looking at the dull ceiling above them, as they have a radio playing one track on a loop. While they lay there, Emira is trying her best to ignore the repetitive song as she stands by the door.

“You guys couldn’t pick a better song than this?”

“You can always leave, you know? You uncultured swine!” Gus let out his deadpan response.

“Can’t, waiting for Hunter and Marcy to get out of the music room,” Emira sighs as she watches the duo laying on the floor as well, but with their faces on the ground as the infamous GameClam Lover Song

“They’re taking the fact that the GameClam wasn’t real, really badly,” Emira says

“This is why I didn’t say anything! It hurt their soul and pride!” Willow shouts.

“Ok, ok, geez. I was just saying,” Emira scoffs at Willow’s reasoning, waiting patiently as the music drives her nuts. Suddenly, faith would have it; Emira accidentally kicked open a box full of packages of Smile Dip.

[Huh?.... Smile Dip? I thought these were banned. Why does Casey have-]

An idea struck in her head, an awful brewing idea…

—

“Hunter! Marcy!” Emira kicked open the door, entering as she hid the Smile Dip behind her.

“Not now! We are about to cry during the best part of the song….” Marcy says pointing at the monitor showing a guy singing despite no music playing.

“Oh well, I guess you’re gonna have to miss out on these gifts I have for you two!”

“Whatever it is, I’m sure we’ll be fine missing out on it,” Hunter says.

“Even if it’s Smile Dip?” In a mil-second of Emira mentioning the infamous snack’s name, Hunter and Marcy appear in front of her with widened eyes. 

“HOLY SHIT, YOU HAVE SOME?!” Marcy and Hunter screamed out, almost deafening Emira.

“Y-Yeah! Casey had some hidden somewhere in the base! So how about you guys enjoy them during our final moments?” Emira says, softly pushing them away from the music room as they talk about the Smile Dip.

“I can’t believe they have this! I thought they were banned!”

“I know, right?! Let’s go try these babies out!”

The two nerds soon run off with the Smile Dip, leaving Emira alone. A huge weight of despair lifted off of her shoulders. She stopped the screen from playing GameClam Lover and stood there, deep in thought.

[Perfect! They’re finally gone!... Now it's time to think of a song to sing.]

The cloak ticks and tocks, making every second feel like a minute, every minute feeling like an hour. Sitting there by the piano, thinking of a song to play before moving on to one of the many things Emira wants to do before she passes. 

But there is one wish that she is purposely forgetting. That was until a ding came from her scroll, notifying her that she had received a text message. Luckily, Emira didn’t unlock her scroll to open the app, as she saw that the message was from Viney on Penstagram.

{animal_lover69}: hey um

{animal_lover69}: i don’t know how to better ask this question but 

{animal_lover69}: can we maybe like

{animal_lover69}: talk about what happened yesterday

{animal_lover69}: please?

Meanwhile, at Viney’s end, she debated over sending that one last message. The message that she feared could be the nail to the coffin of their friendship; ‘I love you.’ After a bit, she deleted that text, desummoning her scroll, waiting for a response that’ll never come.

Back with Emira, she thought about answering Viney’s text. But instead of taking action, she just sat there, staring at Viney’s last message of her pleading for her answer. Emira’s ears flopped down as well as her eyes, defeatedly unlocking her scroll. Not to respond to Viney, but rather to look up the notes to a track she finally knows what to play.

Using her illusion magic, she summons clones of herself who were equally as saddened as the real Emira, using the instruments to play the track of her desire. At the same time, Viney gives up waiting for Emira to respond and decides to hear a track that Emira was about to play; Ace of Hearts’ Fool For You .

𝆕 𝆕 𝆕 𝆕

[Emira]: “I make a lot of promises! Not for myself, but for you. So I have these forgotten dreams! About a love, split in two.  And then you go and do it again when you tell me I'm…a fool for you. And then you go and do it again when you tell me that…you love me tooooooooooooooooooooo!”

[Viney]: “But I wanna talk about you! You're everything I could ever want, so please come home 'cause you're stuck inside my dreams!”

[Emira]: “Inside my dreamssssss! Ooooooo~”

[Viney]: “I can't believe I've been a fool, so let me be the fool for you!”

Emira and Viney, without realizing it, are so in the rhythm of the performance of each other that they begin to reminisce about their experience together.

[Viney]: “I make too many promises!”

[Emira]: “They're out of mind, out of sight…”

[Viney]: “They're out of mind, out of sight! I can't believe you've never seen-”

[Emira]: “The same moon I…see at nighttttt” 

[Viney]: “The same moon I see at night! And then you go and do it again when you tell me I'm…a fool for you. And then you go and do it again when you tell me that…you love me too!”

[Emira]: “But I wanna talk about you!”

Emira jumps off her seat and starts to sing her heart out, leaving another illusion clone of herself to play the piano in her place.

[Emira]: “You're everything I could ever want, so please come home 'cause you're stuck inside my dreams!~”

[Viney]: “Inside my dreamssss! Ooooooo~”

[Emira]: “I can't believe I've been a fool, so let me be the fool for you!”

Both Viney and Emira head to the mirror near them, resting on it and accidentally creating a perfect image of them laying their backs on one another.

[Emira and Viney]: “And then you go and do it again when you tell me I'm…a fool for you. And then you go and do it again when you tell me that…you love me too.”

They both placed their palms onto the glass, looking at their reflections but looking as if they were both staring at each other's eyes with a sheet of glass keeping them away from one another.

[Emira and Viney]: “And then you go and do it again when you tell me that…I'm a fool for you. And then you go and do it again when you tell me that…you love me too!!!”

𝆕 𝆕 𝆕 𝆕

Emira falls to the ground, her eyes shut as she rests from singing. She checks her phone again, still seeing that Viney’s messages are left unanswered or seen. Emira wants to answer. She wants to talk to Viney, but her fears always win over her.

“You seem to have a conundrum here!~” Luz pops out of nowhere, scaring Emira and instantly punching her in her stomach.

“Oh shit! Luz, I’m so sorry!”

“N-No, it’s my fault. Shouldn’t sneak up on you like that,” Luz groans, holding her stomach as she sits back up. “What’s in your mind?”

“It’s…” Emira pauses for a moment, seeing from the side of her eyes Luz’s worried eyes, pleading for her to open up. Given that she only has so much time before passing, she decides to speak her mind. “It’s that I got a text message from Viney. She’s asking for us to meet up to talk about yesterday.”

“Well, are you gonna say yes?”

“I’m scared to say anything, honestly. I’m afraid that I’ll do something stupid again. I don’t want to lose Viney, lose what I already have with her,” Emira says, getting up as she walks over to the piano with Luz following her.

“But you love her a lot, don’t you?”

“Yeah! B-But, I don’t know if Viney likes me back! For all I know, she just enjoys my presence a lot! But I need to talk to her, but I don’t have a plan for that and…UGH!” Emira shouts before softly slamming her head onto the keys of the piano. “I wish I was a natural with this dating stuff like you and Willow…”

“Woah, woah, woah! What makes you think Willow and I are a natural at dating?” Luz couldn’t help but let out a chuckle as she asked Emira.

“You guys made up with your partners despite Amity almost killing you and Hunter trying to drag Willow and her friends into what is basically a cult! Meanwhile, I’m here stupidly struggling to have Viney be my girlfriend when the worst thing we've done to each other was call each other names. It should be easy for me since you guys didn’t have it like that.”

“You’re right. It wasn’t easy,” Willow says, stepping into the room as she overheard Emira and Luz talking. “But you shouldn’t compare your struggles with ours, especially since we’re anything but ‘natural’”

“Yeah! Do you think I had some step-by-step plan to win over Amity’s heart?! God, no! I just winged my way to try to be Amity’s friend, and then boom, here we are!” Luz recalls her journey of becoming Amity’s awesome amazing girlfriend.

“Same here! I just wanted Hunter to join the Emerald Entrails when I first met him. I never envisioned Hunter being so involved with life in the future. It was hard for me and Luz to trust our partners after what they had done to us, but your struggle with Viney is completely valid!” Willow explains.

“Sure it isn’t as grandiose or dramatic as ours, but sometimes the hardest part of our journey in this pile of mess we call life is going through normal obstacles like the ones you’re facing right now. Just let things play out,” Luz continues the pep talk, smiling at Emira who returned the gesture.

“Thanks…but I’ll need some help to try to set this up since I think I might just confess my love for her right then and there,” Emira says before chuckling, 

“We’ll be happy to help!” Luz jumps with joy as she hugs Emira.

“But you do have to make it up to Casey. They seem really pissed about what you did to them,” Willow reminded Emira of the drawings she and Edric did.

“Pffff, don’t worry. I always manage to soften Casey’s mood with my charm!~” Emira says, making her way out of the music room and on her way to Casey’s office, hoping that her charm will soften her mood.

(19 hours remaining)

Anne walked around the base, cursing whoever designed it as she was completely lost. Accompanying her was Sasha, as the two searched for Marcy and Hunter. They wanted to invite Marcy for one last match of Uno but didn’t find her in the music room.

“God fucking dammit!” Anne shouts, clenching her teeth. “Where is Marcy?!”

“They couldn’t have gone far if they were done not long ago. Think, if we were Marcy, where would we go…” Sasha said as the two combined their last brain cells to think of where could Marcy could’ve gone-

“The game room,” 

“JINX! You owe me a soda if we have enough time to live!” Anne says as soon after she and Sasha said the same thing.

—

They tried retracing their steps back to where the music room was and attempted to find where the hell the game room was. After about 20 minutes of walking, they finally found it and kicked the door open to see…a board full of papers and different colored strings connecting to each other.

“OH! IT’S YOU TWO! QUICK! GET INSIDE!” Marcy quickly drags the two teens inside, noticing that she and Hunter have some Smile Dip smeared under their noses. “GIRLS, HUNTER AND I HAVE FOUND OUT ABOUT A CONSPIRACY INVOLVING THE OUR SICKNESS!”

“Huh?!”

“OK, LOOK!” Hunter rushes to the board, pulling everywhere as he explains everything. “CASEY WILLIAMS IS THIS STRANGE INDIVIDUAL WHO SUDDENLY DECIDED TO BE INVOLVED WITH THE BLIGHTS’ LIVES AFTER THEIR COMPANY WAS TAKEN OVER BY NATO, RIGHT?!”

“Right!”

“BUT LOOK AT PHOTOS OF CASEY AND THEIR DAD! DO THEY LOOK LIKE A CERTAIN SOMEONE?!” Marcy yells out, pulling out photos of Casey and Conor, and pointing out their facial similarities to a ‘certain someone.’

“They…kinda look like you, Hunter.”

“RIGHT?! THE ONLY DIFFERENCE IS THAT CASEY AND THEIR DAD ARE THINNER THAN ME, AND THEIR HAIR IS MORE DARKER THAN MINE!”

‘This means…”

“THIS MEANS THAT THEY ARE FEMBOY CLONES OF ME!” Hunter shouts, making Anne and Sasha dumbfounded by this weird conclusion.

“...What?”

“LOOK AT THIS SLIDE FROM A PROJECTOR THAT I JUST INSTALLED RIGHT NOW!” Hunter says as there is no projector in sight but the two didn’t bother saying anything. “THEY LOOK FOREIGN, WEAK, AND WITH VERY FEMININE MOVES!”

“Hunter, what the fuck are you talking about?” Sasha mumbles as she’s so confused by Hunter’s claims that it just broke her brain.

“DON’T YOU GET IT SASHA?! THEY’RE HIRED BY THE GOVERNMENT TO TURN EVERYONE INTO FEMBOYS! STARTING WITH US WITH THIS DISEASE THAT THEY 100% INJECTED INTO US!!!!!!” Marcy screams into Sasha’s face, grabbing her shoulders to shake her.

“WE ARE TEST SUBJECTS FOR GOVERNMENT-SANCTIONED WEAPONIZED FEMBOYS!” Hunter yells out as he falls onto his knees

“Guys! Guys! This is insane! You’ve lost your mind because of the Smile Dip!” Anne shouts as she shows them the now emptied bag of smile dip. The two snitched it away, hissing like animals as they tried to find any remnants of the banned snack.

“YOU GUYS DON’T GET! THIS IS THE FUTURE LIBERAL WANTS!” Marcy shouts.

“Marcy! You’re a liberal!” Sasha shouts back.

“NO, BECAUSE, UNLIKE LIBERALS IN CONGRESS, I WILL NOT COMPRISE! I WILL NOT STAND BY AND LET EVERYONE DIE! I WILL MAKE A CHANGE! сука блять !!!!” Marcy yells out as she throws Sasha out of the way, running to the laboratory with Hunter as their beloved anthem plays from her phone.

“OH, GOD! OH FUCK ! SASHA, RUN AFTER THEM BEFORE THEY START RECITING THE COMMUNIST MANIFESTO!”

(18 hours remaining)

Casey sat on her chair , drinking wine straight from the bottle while the Madison twins discussed business about their future projects that totally didn’t violate some of the Geneva Convention. But interrupting Casey’s rare moment of peace was none other than the other pair of twins that annoyed her more.

“Helllooooo, Casey!” Emira says as she slightly opens the door, peeking behind it alongside Edric.

“We are here to apologize to our favorite person in the worlddddd!” Edric chimed in to try to ease Casey’s annoyed mood.

“Ah, thank you so much… Now please, go fuck yourselves and leave,” Casey groans at the sight of them from the side of the eye, taking another sip from her wine bottle as she flips off Emira and Edric.

“...Haha, very funny, Casey. So let’s say-”

“No.”

“Oof, they didn’t even let you finish,” Edric whispered his comment to his twin, which Emira ignored.

“Casey-”

“You don’t like taking no for an answer, don’t you?” Casey says as they gritted their teeth, getting more annoyed by the second.

“Come on, Casey!-” Abby says, popping up behind Casey’s chair.

“Hear the girl out!” Gabby finishes Abby’s sentence as she pops up from her twin sister.

“...Fine. Make it quick,” Casey groans, taking a big sip from their wine bottle to prepare themselves for whatever Emira has to say.

“Ok, so…um…I did have a final wish written down. I-I’ll like to spend my final hours with…V-Viney.”

“The healer from the heist? What’s so important about her if you want my team to risk the health of this Viney person?” Casey says, ‘ genuinely’ surprised by her request. “Unless-”

“I’m not asking for a date!”

“You are asking for a date, Em,” Edric admits the truth on her sister’s behalf.

“I don’t know if you’re asking for a date but, what makes you think you’ll have a chance with a girl like Viney?” Casey chuckles at the thought of it, causing Emira to angrily blush.

“Excuse me?! I’ll have you know that Ed and I had many notes of admiration from several of my peers back at Hexside!”

“And how many did you take up their offers of taking you out for a date?”

“Um…-”

“I took up one offer! And I later regretted it!” Edric says in a happy tone despite the sad nature of his tale.

“Good on you, Ed. For once, I’m proud of you for being daring,” Casey says, patting Ed on the back, purposefully annoying Emira more.

“W-Well- I CAN BE DARING TOO! WATCH ME!” Emira shouts as she grabs a nearby office phone and dials a number.

“911, how can I help you?”

“PLEASEEEEEEEEEEEEEE, GO OUT WITH ME!” An audible hang-up sound effect is heard by all in the room, turning Emira into a bright red healthy-looking fresh tomato.

“Well, if you’re not willing to say your true intentions of wanting to drag Viney all the way here, then I guess it’s a mystery we will take to our grave. Goodbye!” Casey walks back to their chair, ready to go back to drinking wine.

“WAIT! Wait! UGH! Fine, you win! Casey, this never leaves this room.” Emira takes a deep breath before telling Casey the truth. “I-I…love Viney. She means a lot to me, and I want her to know how I truly feel about her. I need your help to make this happen. So, what do you say?”

“ Hm…sure , I don’t see why not. I’ll help, but on one condition-” Casey says, snapping her fingers, ordering Abby to pull out the microphone which is connected to the speakers across the base. Meanwhile Gabby pulls out a phone, calling Jerbo and Skara who answer quickly, confused as to who's calling them.

“You wouldn’t mind saying that again, do you?” Abby and Gabby sheepishly let out an evil giggle.

(16 hours remaining)

“So, you got the hots on my best friend, huh?~” Jerbo says, grinning so widely that I don’t know if it’s considered a grin or a smile, sitting on a chair while he leans on the rails of the back chair.

“I hate you guys so much right now,” Emira sighs defeatedly, sitting on a foldable chair with Casey behind her.

“No need to be such a downer, Em. We are all here to help you one way or another,” Amity says to reassure her older sister as Edric and Gus try to create a last-minute concealment stone on Luz.

“But is it necessary for Luz to look exactly like Viney?”

“Nonsense! This will help you try to overcome your nerves when talking with her! A wig isn’t gonna help with much!” Gus says as he and Edric finally finish making the concealment stone.

“Do you think it’s weird that your government friend has this many illusion-related stones?” Skara whispered to Emira, but Casey coughed loudly to catch the bard’s attention.

“Don’t you think it’s rude to cast suspicion based on what my father owns?” Casey whispers back, causing the bard to jump from fear. 

Emira didn’t think much of Skara’s comments due to the sudden appearance of illusion smoke appearing as Luz puts on the concealment stone. As the smoke settles, Luz has now transformed into Viney.

“I am getting very mix signals from my brain-”

“Seems like you already have butterflies in your stomach seconds after taking in Viney’s natural beauty~,” Luz says, still sounding like herself as she leans on Emira’s shoulder.

“Luz.”

“Ok. Ok. Enough messing around. Time for your first lesson in winning over a fellow troublemaker’s heart. Let’s start off by showing me what you know so far: Emira Blight, seduce me,” Luz says, standing there with her arms crossed behind her back as she smiles.

“...W-What?” Emira mumbles out. She looks at her younger sister, who is equally confused as her.

“Seduce me.”

“Luz, I’m not-”

“SEDUCE ME!”

“Okay! Okay. Jeez,” Emira stands up, breathing as she tries to come up with something flirtatious to impress Luz. She breaths one last breath, clearing her throat, ready to speak. “...You like jazz?~”

Stringbean appears from behind Emira, slapping her cheek with her tail as she is shapeshifted similar to Viney’s palisman. Emira yells out from pain before being dragged by Luz as she grabs the end of her shirt.

“Is that how you speak to women, young lady?!”

“I’M OLDER THAN YOU!” Emira says with Stringbean slapping her again.

“I’m a woman with class and dignity! You want to be my girlfriend?! Earn it! SEDUCE ME!” 

Everyone looks from a distance , watching Emira’s carefully built persona fall apart as she exposes her lack of experience. Although Emira sees this as a hit to her ego, it gains the respect and joy from many. Happy to see that Emira is finally showing her true self.

With their admiration and respect gained, the group immediately begins to do their best to make sure by the end of the day, Viney is head over heels for Emira. A montage ensues with everyone doing their part, with Casey in charge of everything. 

Skara, Edric, and Jerbo are stationed at the base’s cafeteria, making it look as romantic as possible for Emira and Viney. Casey teaches Emira every single romantic dancing style there is, shocking her and pretty much everyone who saw at their skill. Amity tells Emira every single possible way to de-escalate a tense or awkward situation. Luz and Vee cooking the best dishes that combine both Viney and Emira’s taste for food. 

There were a few hiccups along the way, such as Edric needing to stop putting practical pranks around the cafeteria. Emira’s boot tossed as she kicked her feet up, almost hitting Casey. Vee messing up one of the dishes thanks to a sudden little shake from the ground-(waitwhat).

Despite the mistakes, the crew successfully prepared the date and confession for Emira and Viney!

—

(2 hours remaining)

A bright flash blinds Emira for a brief moment until her eyes adjust in seconds. Emira is dressed again in her outfit from her last date. Casey stands behind her as the two spectate everyone’s finishing touches in the cafeteria.

“You look more nervous than when hearing my offer for a rematch,” Casey says, grinning as she can see Emira starting to break a sweat from her nerves.

“Because I know what it entails if we duel again. I don’t know how this date is going to play out!” Emira sighs, remembering what Luz and Willow said to her earlier.

“But…?” Casey leaves room for Emira to finish her sentence, knowing that she is still determined to play this day out.

“I’m not going to let this stop me! I will try to ask Viney out!”

“And if she rejects you?” Casey teases but Emira plays along with it.

“Pfff, as if she will. I’m everything a girl wants.”

“Including the trauma, free of charge,” Casey and Emira chuckle at their rare moment of bonding.

Casey is usually closed off from everyone from the Blight family, preferring to observe them from a distance. They never spoke with Alador since it was mostly their father’s job to do so, and Casey and Amity rarely talked to one another. It’s not that the two of them ignore each other purposefully. Casey just prefers to talk with Emira and Edric for a reason no one knows.

After Casey’s chuckling stopped, their smile disappeared. In its place was a frown, followed by a wave of deja vu from Emira as she noticed their sudden change in behavior. She doesn’t know why this feels familiar.

“Is everything all right, Casey?”

“No need to worry. Spend whatever time you have left with Viney,” Casey says, lifting their arm to show the time reading that they have less than 2 hours left to live.

“Oh shit! Only 2 hours left?!”

“Time flies by when you’re doing everything in your will to get someone to like you. Don’t worry though, Viney should be arriving right about…now,” Right on cue, a buzzer comes through Casey’s earpiece. “Alright everyone, Viney’s here! Everyone, head to the security room quickly. But please don’t do anything stupid while my crew isn’t here in the building”

The gang rushes their final touches and quickly makes their way out of the cafeteria room. As Casey guides everyone, Vee stays behind to give her best regards to the oldest Blight.

“Hey, if you’re feeling doubtful if you’ll get with Viney, according to Masha’s cards, you’ll blow this out of the park!”

“Isn’t the saying ‘knock it out of the park’?”

“No, like, they said you’ll literally blow this out of the park. Dunno what they mean by that, but it sounds like you got a shot!” Vee says as she makes finger gun sounds while they walk out of the room.

Emira quickly forgets that bit of info. Her trail of thought was that it isn’t the best to figure out what Masha’s card meant by that. It was better to stay focused on trying to make a great first impression on Viney after ignoring her texts for so long. 

[What to say…what to say…]

Sus pensamientos separar, pensando que vio a alguien de pie junto a la esquina detrás de ella.

“Hello? Is this where I’m supposed to be?” Viney shouts as she knocks heavily on the metal door. Emira gets surprised by the sudden noise but rushes to open the door.

“Viney! W-What an unexpected surprise! And by ‘unexpected’ I mean completely expected! B-Because…you know? I knew that you were…coming,” Emira rambles on until her steam dies off.

“Okay?... It’s been a minute since we spoke.”

“Yeah. Some may say hours.”

“Few would say a day.”

“Of course. Of course. Say…you’re l-looking rather…um…”

-

“HOT!”

“BEAUTIFUL!”

“PRETTY!

Skara, Edric, and Luz yelled out to the screen, which shows the two talking, hoping that somehow Emira could hear them. Casey sighs, rubbing their head, disappointed at the sight.

-

“R-Ravishing!”

“O-Oh? Well, you look…cute- I MEAN SOFT- I MEAN HANDSOME- I MEAN-”

-

“These girls may be close to being considered legal adults but they act like 14-year-olds,” Casey, although impressed by Emira’s complement, is more disappointed at their behavior.

A series of loud footsteps march to the security room. Then quickly Anne kicks down the door, screaming with every bit of oxygen in her lungs. Sasha, Marcy, and Hunter quickly start throwing out what sounds like accusations against Casey. However, not a single word was audible.

“EVERYONE SHUT THE FUCK UP! What, in the everliving fuck, are you guys talking about?!” Casey shouts as they shoot their silenced pistol to the ceiling.

“Titan! That’s loud! I thought silencers were meant to suppress noise!” Gus says as he covers his ears.

“Don’t change the subject, Gus! Please believe me when I say that Casey is about to turn everyone into femboys!” Hunter begs Gus, who could do nothing but drop his jaw, seeing his brethren go insane.

“W-What?” Gus chokes up, starting to laugh at his ridiculous state.

“We’re not lying, boy! Casey is trying to build a totalitarian femboy empire!” Marcy yells out, pointing at Casey dramatically as if she was an Ace Attorney character.

“I thought these guys were crazy at first, but then I found the evidence! You’ve been testing the disease that you injected onto us with these poor frogs!” Sasha says as she pulls out a cage full of frogs alongside the jar of worms seen previously.

“WE DEMAND ANSWERS, YOU BASTARD! I DON’T WANNA BECOME A FEMBOY AND QUESTION MY GENDER IDENTITY AGAIN!” Anne tries to grab Casey but falls to the ground as they kick her legs in the air.

“Again, what the fuck are you guys talking about?-” Then suddenly, it hit them. “Wait, nobody told you?”

“Tell us what?! You Illuminati cocksucker?” Anne yells, trying to get up until she’s kicked down again.

“...Gus,” Casey says with a venomous undertone, slowly turning their head to him.

“I-I thought Amity told them!”

“Me?! I had Ed tell everyone!”

“But I told Willow to do that!”

“I did! And I told Hunter to tell everyone else!”

“AND GUESS WHAT! HE’S FUCKING HIGH OFF OF SMILE DIP!” Casey screams as they point out the bit of the candy left under his nose.

“I’m not high! Just medically enhanced!” 

“‘Medically enhanced’ my fucking ass!”

“What’s going on?!-”

“WE’RE NOT SICK, SASHA DICKBRIGHT! This was just a ruse to trick Emira into finally asking Viney out because it was painful for me to watch everyone fail! Including you, Luz Noceda!”

“Hey! Leave my girlfriend alone!” Amity quickly hugged Luz and patted her head to try to comfort her.

“No. No, they’re right. I’m honestly disappointed in myself too,” Luz says.

“Wait, if we’re not sick…oh god. OH GOD! OH FUCK!” 

“Anne Boonchuy, why are you panicking?” Casey steps forward to her until Marcy stops them.

“Hey! Hey! How about a joke to lighten the mood?”

“No! What did you four do?!” 

“...we may have seen one of those Abomaton prototypes in a lab downstairs and-” Marcy tried to explain before Casey screams.

“YOU DID NOT JUST TURN THOSE MONSTROSITIES ON!”

The ground below them shakes right when Casey yelled, making it seem that their scream was powerful enough to cause the whole facility to shake. Everyone in the room looked at the paved floor until it started to give in, with everyone falling down the floor.

The security footage still played, showing Emira and Viney poorly communicating with one another.

-

“E-Enough compliments…would you like to take a seat?” Emira says, presenting the neatly dressed dinner table.

“Y-Yeah! But, I wanna ask you something first.”

“What is it?”

“Is this like a date or-”

“NO! I MEAN- It’s not like I wouldn’t mind going on a date with you,” Emira nervously laughs, trying to play what she said as a joke.

“...do you love me, Blight?”

“...is that a bad thing?”

“W-Well, do you?”

“I-I don’t know! I-I-”

“What do you mean you don’t know?!”

“I do know!”

“Do you or do you not know if you love me?!”

“I’m just scared to say anything!”

“Why?!”

“I don’t know!” Emira shouts.

Emira and Viney stood there, a couple of inches away from one another. Staring down at one another until Viney looked away, barely letting out the words coming from her mouth.

“I…I do love you, Emira Blight. Well, I think I do. Yet, I think-”

Emira’s heart stopped as her life slowed down, afraid of what Viney will say, afraid to relive her heartbreak again. 

“WAIT!” Emira screamed, trying to delay Viney from possibly rejecting her. “How about we talk about this over-”

The ground shook underneath the two love birds’ feet. They ran to each other and huddled together, blushing heavily while trying their best to make direct eye contact. The ground collapses and the two teens fall to the lower floor, Emira shielding Viney from any debris falling.

“Are you ok?!” 

“I’m fine! What about you?”

Emira attempted to answer Viney until a loud thud interrupted her. A puddle of purple goo reaches their shoes, followed by a belt rattling. A frog hops in front of them but disappears into the darkness as something pulls it away and eats it. The roof of the base collapses, revealing the giant beast that is the Abomaton 2.5 by the bright full moon.

On its shoulders are a pair of Maxim Machine guns with four barely functional arms. It wiggles around to move as it lets out a vicious roar, activating its guns. The witches threw themselves behind a large piece of cover as the bullets barely missed them. 

“What is that thing?!”

“I don’t know! But Casey has some explaining to do!” Emira grits her teeth, cringing at the bullets hitting the concrete behind them.

The Abomaton yelps in pain as one of its Maxim guns combusts into flames. Ascending from the rubble was Casey, welding a Mondragon Rifle, repeatedly shooting at the Abomaton’s weaponry. Willow rides on a pile of vines, trying to hold down the beast as Jerbo and Amity come up to reveal its weak spot using their Abomination spells. However, the Abomaton was quick to tear the vines and throw Jerbo and Amity away.

It pulls on the last vine from Willow’s spell, trying to munch her in one bite. Sasha jumps in the air and cuts the vine and grabs Willow just minutes away from being eaten. Luz flies in the air on her staff with Anne as she throws impact grenades at the Abomaton, baiting it to hit the roof and having debris fall onto its face.

Viney and Emira watch from afar, seeing the action occurring in front of them, thinking of what to do to help. Especially since they saw Marcy, Vee, and Hunter charging at the Abomaton with nothing but Waffles and knives, with bullets about to fly. Gus forms a large shield in front of the two, standing his ground as hundreds of bullets hail against him.

Viney searches around for anything that could help, seeing large bombs on a cart that Edric is working on. Then seeing Casey opening what seems to be a bunker room. An idea began to form, giving Viney the motivation to run and dodge all the bullets now heading toward her. Emira sees this and takes it as her cue to help. 

Seeing Gus starting to struggle with the shield, Emira runs to help, forming a bigger shield. The two breathe a sigh of relief as the two illusionists hear the gun firing, thanks to its water-cooling overheating. Everyone runs to attack it until Casey grabs Emira by her shoulder to stop her.

“This date seems to be going well!”

“Casey, what-”

“Shush! Not enough time! Go with Viney, I’ll handle this!” 

“Why?!”

“You know why!” Casey winks, giving Emira a hint which she quickly gets.

“NOW?!”

“Yes, now! Now go!” Casey says, running as they fire their rifle with Emira running in the other direction to Edric and Viney.

“Em?! What are you doing here?!”

“Casey’s order!”

“Oh!~ Take it from here then, big sis! You know what to do!” Edric shouts, entering the fight as Emira tries to quickly remember her training with bombs.

“You know how to work with bombs?!”

“Yeah! So I can make sure Edric doesn’t blow up his hands! But right now, I wanna talk about something!”

“This isn’t the best of times!” 

“I know! But this is important!”

“What could be so important than this life-threatening situation?!-”

“I LOVE YOU!” Emira yells out as soon as Viney finishes talking. Viney stopped and turned to meet Emira’s eyes as she continued to talk. 

“W-What…” Viney barely muttered during the chaos of the battlefield.

“I love you, Viney! Like a lot! I love you so fucking much! I was so scared to say that because I was scared to say anything because it’s been like forever since I asked someone out! A-And that I didn’t feel worthy of your love! I’ve been a pain in the ass to you for a while and I thought I didn’t deserve such a great and pretty person like you in my life! Also like you’re hot! Like really fucking hot like holy shit!- HMPH! ”

Viney suddenly pulled Emira for a long kiss on their lips. Emira’s eyes open wide, before closing as she embraces Viney’s face as they continue to kiss. The world around them seems to slow down for the couple, making their kiss feel like it’ll last for an hour. During their kiss, the battle continues, but in slow-motion, with Vee and Skara trying to cut the Abomaton’s arms.

The two slowly pulled away, still cupping each other’s cheeks as they admired each other’s eyes for a moment. The world still feeling slow for the sake of letting them enjoy their time together. They were about to kiss again, hoping that it’ll be longer than the last. That was until Marcy was thrown in their direction by the monster, the two quickly ducking.

“HAHAHA! WELCOME TO AMPHIBIA! LIFE DON’T MUCH CRAZIERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!” Marcy sings at the top of her lungs as she gets pulled back by the Abomaton.

“We’ll kiss another time!” 

“Right!”

Viney and Emira quickly get back to work, seeing that the fight has intensified. Skara runs after the arm that grabbed Marcy, and using her bard magic cuts it and catches Marcy. However, the Abomaton pushes them away to Vee. Vee is knocked back to their Basilisk form, angered by this she runs with the knife Marcy held before being stopped by Viney and Emira.

“Head to the bunker room, now! This bomb is gonna explode!” Emira yells out as she presses the countdown to 50 seconds.

Everyone runs as fast as they could to the bunker, with Casey waiting for Viney and Emira to start running so they could shut the doors. However, the Abomaton grabs the bomb with its last 2 arms, lifting it away from them.

“RUN!” Casey screams out, activating the doors to close.

Emira and Viney run to the bunker as fast as they could. Despite their best efforts, the Abomaton throws the bomb to the door, right when it is completely shut. The couple thought their fate was sealed, doomed to a violent death. But there was a light at the end of the tunnel.

As the Abomaton roars again, the two witches could see the frog from before . It was completely fine, untouched with the exception of goo on parts of the body. Viney and Emira looked at each other, nodding in agreeance as to what to do.

They both run towards the bot as it still roars as the clock on the bomb ticks to 5 seconds left. They held each other's hands and jumped into the Abomaton’s mouth as it closed. The bomb explodes, quickly killing it but thanks to its thick purple goo skin, it protected Viney and Emira from the explosion.

“...A-Are we dead?”

“I don’t think so. Wait, let me see…”

Emira and Viney are left in the dark until Emira ignites a small blue flame from her fingertips, providing enough light for them to see.

“Oh, thank the Titan! We’re alive!!!” Viney hugs Emira as she cheers. 

“Oh my god…I was scared for a moment. I’m so sorry that I put you through this, Viney.”

“Are you kidding me?! This was the most fun I had throughout my LA trip! I set off a fucking bomb, holy shit!  Can we do this again?!”

“Fuck yeah! Wait. I can’t. I’m gonna die soon.”

“WHAT?!”

“Woah, woah, woah! No one is dying! We’re going to live forever!” Gus says as he lifts a piece of Abomination goo over his head.

“Can’t guarantee that. However, I can confidently say that you are not sick, Emira,” Casey says as they lift another piece of goo and throw it to the side for Emira and Viney to get up.

“I’m not sick?!”

“Fuck no. No one is sick! It was all a ruse!”

“You mean to tell me that you had your team knock me out, drag me across the base, and keep me isolated from society over nothing?!”

“I mean, you did get a girlfriend out of this,” Casey smirks at Emira’s annoyed and angered face.

“...Fair enough.”

“Hold on! Explain why you have a prototype of my dad’s work!” Amity demands Casey to answer.

“Unfortunately, certain investors have discovered the documents surrounding the Abomatons and Abomatrons before we could label them as classified information. So they commissioned Blight Industries to create a successor to the Abomaton despite sending little funding for the project.”

“That explains those old-looking machine guns,” Edric comments on the nearly 140-year-old design.

“So, since you aren’t dying anytime soon, wanna go out for a proper date some time?” Viney asks as she grabs Emira’s hands. Emira looks at Casey, looking for confirmation.

“I’m not going to be busy anytime soon, Casey?”

“Sadly, yes. But I’ll tell you tomorrow. For now, just enjoy yourselves…somehow,” Casey walks away to the bunker room.

“Where are you going?”

“Gotta alert the team to fix this mess everyone caused,” Casey answered Emira’s question as they make their way up a hidden staircase.

“Hunter and I are free of punishment…right?” Marcy whispers to Emira as she hides behind her.

“Nope! Fuck you! You two owe me!” Casey screams out, their voice echoing throughout the base.

“Shit. I could go for a song right about now. Can you play the piano, Emira?” Marcy asks.

“I would, but the floor in the music room could collapse any second so- AH!”

Right on cue, the piano slowly falls next to the group without a single piece or string breaking. Marcy jumps onto Emira’s arms who struggles to keep her up.

“O-Oh god, y-you’re heavy,” Emira huffs and puffs until dropping Marcy to the floor.

“What do you mean heavy? Marcy’s nothing but skin and bone,” Anne says as she picks her up with ease.

“HA! You’re weak!” Sasha laughs at Emira’s weak nerd arms.

“I may be weak, but at least I know how to play the piano!” Emira says as she pushes a piece of rubble against the piano for her to play.

“Oh! Oh! Can I go on the high notes?!” Luz says, sitting next to Emira.

“I’ll go on the high notes. Besides, you don’t know how to play the piano.”

“Pfff, you’re always high.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

𝆕 𝆕 𝆕 𝆕

[Emira]: “You think I’m high all the time?”

[Luz]: “Maybe, who knows what you do in your spare time.”

[Emira]: “That’s a lie. I’m always sober.”

Luz tries to play the lower notes on the piano but almost messes up the rhythm that Emira has.

[Emira]: “Don’t fuck up the song up Luz, fuck the song up, Luz. I’m not high.”

[Luz]: “She’s always high!”

[Emira]: “I’m just happy-”

[Luz]: “She’s high…”

[Emira]: “I’m just happy. I’m not high-”

[Luz]: “She’s always smoking weed in thy shed! All alone…”

[Emira]: “I’m not high!”

[Luz]: “You’re always high!”

[Emira]: “Okay, I lied.”

[Luz]: “I see you all the time, with that big ass bong in the back of the car, and nobody wants to say.”

[Emira]: “That was me-”

[Luz]: “You got a problem, Emira! You got a problem, Emira!-”

[Emira]: “It’s not a problem. I feel so fucking great!-”

[Luz]: “You’re always so fucking high all the time! So fuck you! And fuck your drug addiction!”

[Emira]: “If I wasn’t high, we wouldn’t get this song.”

[Luz]: “I’m not high at all ever, and I still sing bullshit on the spot all the time.”

[Emira]: “Yeah, but you have confidence-”

Everyone starts laughing before going back to being enamored by the song that Emira and Luz had come up with on the spot.

[Emira]: “In yo self…”

[Luz]: “So, you’re telling me…if I smoke weed, I get confidence?!”

[Emira]: “Maybe not for you, but for some!”

[Luz]: “I want the confidence that weed can bring me!”

[Emira]: “Then maybe you should get high!”

[Luz]: “I don’t wanna get high anymore!...Please…”

[Emira]: “I think you should get high…”

[Luz]: “I tried getting high too many times…”

[Marcy]: “You should give it another try!”

Marcy steps in and shows Luz a mini bong she’s been hiding, surprising them that she had that hidden.

[Emira]: “Give it a try!”

[Luz]: “I don’t wanna smoke weed! Please don’t make me smoke the fucking stiiiz!”

[Emira]: “Fair enough…”

𝆕 𝆕 𝆕 𝆕

“So, you did all of this just for Emira?” Conor sighs, rubbing his head due to the stress he gains from seeing the destroyed base.

“It was the least I could do for the heist job we did together.”

The cleanup crew arrived at 3 AM in the morning, already starting the process to remove the rubble and burning the corpse of the Abomaton to hide the ashes deep in the ground. Conor and his father stood side by side with Casey, witnessing the cleanup as they talked.

“You did a good thing today, Casey. Yet, I feel like your intentions weren’t just to aid Emira,” Conor’s father suspected his grandchild had another motive to help Emira. 

“I can never hide anything from you,” Casey sighs. “I promised Lilith that I’ll help Emira out if she’ll do something for me: give me information about the Blight family.”