Archive of Our Own

Do you ever get that feeling of being watched? Where the hairs on your arm and back of your neck stand on end, your leg starts twitching anxiously, telling you to move, even if you’re already moving? That was exactly the feeling Luz had been under ever since she’d left the Owl House in the early morning. What perturbed her the most is how nothing was different that day. Nothing was awry or out of place, nothing to indicate anything was wrong, and it made her think she had developed a minor case of paranoia over night.

Though, perhaps a little paranoia wasn’t unfounded, after recent events. The stench of boiling salt water that surrounded the Simmering Shoals still clung to the inside of her nose from when she and Eda had ended up at the mercy of the Golden Guard. She could still recall how he seemed to effortlessly avoid and deflect their attempts against him, and how he dangled them above the Boiling Sea with ease.

Luz shook her head to try and clear the memories from her mind, but it only led to thoughts she’d been puzzling about the Golden Guard to take their place. Despite the distortion from his mask, Luz could tell he was young, around the same age as her. The thought of it being some teenager behind the mask, carrying out the will of the man who had nearly petrified Eda, unsettled her. What troubled her more was how he spoke just as he was leaving. 

“The Emperor is not a merciful man.”

In the foggy shoals, it was hard to make out, but Luz could swear she caught a glint of his eyes through the slit in his mask, and the look in his eyes didn’t match his voice. Like his eyes were attempting to warn her, while his words tried to threaten her.

Now, several days later, with no sign of the Emperor’s right hand man, and no other troubles from the Emperor’s Coven so far, what should have been a normal day for Luz was turning into a nervous wreck of a morning. Groaning at her overactive mind fixating on the irrational thoughts, Luz shook her head to try and clear her mind once more as she took a deep breath. As she released the breath, she focused on the morning to come, she had plans to hang out with everyone from Hexside, and she’d be damned before she let her imagination get in the way of that.

She pressed her mouth into a thin line, annoyed at herself, as her leg continued to nervously twitch even as she put more pep in her step to try and get it to calm down. As she passed an alleyway of Bonesborough, her eyes drifted between it and over her shoulder, as she quickly decided that the way to get her thoughts of being watched out of her head was to prove herself wrong.

Quickly ducking into the alley, Luz reached into her jacket pocket, took a deep breath, and slapped an invisibility glyph onto herself, and waited, and waited, and waited. Initially, she felt her own nervous worries begin to dissipate, until the sound of boots clinking against roof tiles made her muscles clench and hold her breath even more.

“What the… ?” An all too familiar voice whispered above Luz and made her clamp a hand over her mouth as she had proven herself wrong, just not in the way she had hoped.

She felt so many parts of her mind divide on how to react to hearing the muffled scuff of boots above her. The part of her that had insisted she was being watched was internally celebrating loudly, the part of her that thought she was being paranoid was panicking at the fact that she had indeed been watched and the fact she didn’t know for how long. The rest of her was struggling with deciding whether to follow her fight or flight instinct as Luz, at the same time, wanted to wipe the smug out of the Golden Guard’s voice, and run as fast and as far from him as she could as she remembered their last tussle.

Her decision was made for her as she saw the Golden Guard above her leap from the rooftop to the opposing wall of the alley. Springing off the wall, he landed on the one above her, and continued jumping back and forth from the walls to slow his momentum as he lowered to the ground, before sliding down the wall to finally land. Despite shaking like a leaf as he landed a few inches beside her, Luz stayed as still as she could. The thrum of his staff and the crackling sound of static arcing off its gem made her hair stand even further on end.

“Where’d she… ?” The Golden Guard questioned the seemingly empty air again. Walking over to the entrance of the alley she’d come from, he turned his head back and forth to examine the streets before stomping back into the alley. “She came in through there, and then…” Seemingly internally visualizing the route he expected Luz to take, she could hear the confusion in his voice as he tried to piece together where she went.

Luz allowed herself to relax a small amount as he finally moved a decent distance away from her to check the only other entrance to the alley, where he assumed she would have left from. As her lungs began to burn, Luz knew she’d reveal herself by accident before he left, so, as quietly as she could, she let out a steady stream of air from her nose. The seconds of exhaling seemed to stretch out as Luz pictured the Golden Guard turning around and spotting her dozens of times as she felt the intangible magic keeping her hidden slip off her.

Finally fully revealed again, Luz felt her panic suddenly jolt, so she took a sharp intake before grabbing another glyph and hiding. Unfortunately, the inhale was much more audible than if she had controlled her breathing as the Golden Guard whipped around, brandishing his staff, the crackling static bursting to life, illuminating his mask under the hood.

“... Human…?” Despite the situation, Luz couldn’t help but roll her eyes at the way he referred to her.

Through the glow of his staff, Luz could make out his eyes through the slit in his mask, and how they narrowed as they shifted back and forth to sweep the alley. As he passed by her again, Luz decided it would be the last as she slowly rose to her feet. Her mind internally flipped a coin as she decided whether to grab his cloak and wrap it over his head to disorient him to make her escape, or to grab his staff and disarm him.

Before she could call the mental coin flip she was shocked out of her thoughts as he whipped around towards her and grabbed her arm. Letting out a small yelp, Luz’s panic went into full force as she struggled against him, ignoring the words she could hear him saying as she attempted to wrestle herself out of his grasp. Pushing her foot against him to try and kick him off, she yelped as she felt him release his staff to grab the offending limb. Now in an even worse position than before, she redoubled her struggles as he continued to grunt and say something that she wasn’t paying attention to.

After her dozenth round of spouting out, “Let me go” he obliged with a grunt of his own, releasing her flailing limbs and causing her to crash to the ground.

Scrambling to her feet, Luz rushed to the alley’s exit, only to gasp in shock as she felt the earth rise beneath her and send her tumbling back to the feet of the Golden Guard. With her shock and panic slightly faded, she grabbed another glyph from her pocket and prepared to hit him with it, only to go quiet as the wing of his staff cleanly pierced the paper, nullifying the glyph.

As Luz looked between the crumbling glyph and the Golden Guard, she paused as she saw him panting just as heavily, if not moreso, than her.

“Now, will you listen to me?” With her panic subsided, the words finally registered with Luz, and thoroughly confused her.

Making her confusion known with a tilt of her head, Luz relaxed slightly, but kept her guard up as she watched the Golden Guard, who slowly lowered his staff to his side and held up a hand in an attempt to be placating.

“Why should I?” The question was simple, but Luz wanted to take back some control of the situation, and steering the conversation felt like the best place to start.

“Because I’m not here to fight you.” The answer he gave was as simple as the question, but it only gave Luz more questions as she thought on the words.

“Said my stalker.” Luz spoke with a biting tone, but the Golden Guard only responded with a distorted scoff and click of his tongue, and Luz knew he was rolling his eyes at her.

“I was following you, I’ll admit, but it wasn’t stalking.” As the Golden Guard crossed his arms defensively, Luz mirrored him, and shot him a small glare.

“Sure it wasn’t, it’s not like you scouts haven’t been watching Eda for decades, and me for weeks.” Pushing her point, Luz saw the Golden Guard barely react to her words.

“The Owl Lady has proven herself to be a threat to the Empire, of course we’re gonna keep a close eye on her. As for you, well, believe it or not, Human, the Titan doesn’t revolve around you.” Luz could hear the smirk behind the Golden Guard’s mask as he spoke smugly, and she felt her jaw drop as she let out an indignant huff.

“I do not think the Titan revolves around me, you- y- golden boy!” Pointing her finger at the boy accusingly she internally groaned at the half-baked insult.

“Golden boy!?-” The Golden Guard’s own indignant tone was cut off as Luz continued.

“I know that Belos probably holds a grudge ever since I destroyed the door.” As the Golden Guard went quiet, Luz allowed herself a small smile as he hummed.

“Not that this back and forth hasn’t been amusing, Human, but I do have better things to do, are you willing to hear me out?” Uncrossing his arms, the Golden Guard rested his staff over his shoulders as he eyed her from behind the slit of his mask.

“I don’t see why I should.” Puffing her chest up, feeling her pride swell as she saw the Golden Guard shift on his feet from her defiant tone.

“Because if you don’t, we’ll just have this conversation a different day…” He let the words hang in the air, and they made Luz anxious. “With you in cuffs.” Luz tensed as he finally finished the sentence and leaned forward, further emphasizing the difference in their height.

Clenching her fists, again, internally debating her next move, Luz let out a sigh as she relaxed, and tried to regain some composure. “What do you want?”

Her words seem to bounce off the alley walls as the Golden Guard went strangely quiet. Bringing his staff forward, he stabbed the gem into the ground and leaned against the wooden handle as he watched her. A cloud passed overhead, and as the sun was slowly revealed, Luz got a clearer look into the slit of his mask, and she noticed that the color of his eyes wasn’t a trick of the red light from his staff. His eyes were pink, bright pink. Just as quickly as it had been revealed, the sun was covered by another cloud, and the small darkness left the thin window into his face completely black again.

“You’re… annoyingly clever. Has anyone ever told you that?” The question jarred Luz out of her brief focus as the words jarred the alley out of its tense silence.

“What?” Luz felt thoroughly thrown by the question, not sure if it was a backhanded compliment, or simply a begrudging one.

“I’ve been wondering for days the best way to describe you.” Pulling his staff free, the Golden Guard began moving, making Luz tense as she braced herself and watched him as he began to circle her. “And, yeah, annoyingly clever seemed like the most accurate term for you.” Before Luz could blink, she saw the Golden Guard flash forward in a burst of red, then disappear, then felt a weight press on her back. “Especially after Simmering Shoals.”

Looking behind her, Luz was annoyed to see him casually leaning his back against hers, and even felt him resting his hands under his head. As she quickly moved to let him fall, another flash of red put her face to mask with the Guard as he silently watched her, and she got another look at his pink eyes, now darkened under the shadow of his mask.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Luz tried to protest as she stepped back, only to stop as she felt her shoe press against the wall behind her.

“Don’t play dumb! I know the selkidomus is alive!” The spike in the Golden Guard’s voice made Luz tense again as she saw his eyes glare at her.

But again, like before, the look in his eyes didn’t match his voice. While his tone was angry and annoyed, his eyes were filled with cautious worry, and what to Luz seemed like fear.

“Did you finish the job?” Luz’s own voice became bitter as she stepped forward forcefully, finally creating some space between herself and the Guard as he stepped away.

Again, he paused and went silent, before he turned to look away from her. “No, after we were done, I went back to that ship captain, and he reported seeing it further out into the Boiling Sea than before. The Emperor. Was. Not. Happy.” The Golden Guard quickly closed the distance Luz had made between the two as he moved his mask closer with each enunciated word.

“That sounds like a you problem.” Luz allowed herself a small chuckle at knowing she’d inconvenienced the Golden Guard, even if only a little.

“You’re right, it was my problem, the Emperor made it my problem!” The Golden Guard’s tone shocked his words about the Emperor into the forefront of Luz’s mind for the second time that day, and she felt a small twinge of guilt. Especially as the small cracking of his voice confirmed her thoughts on his age as it told her that he was going through puberty like her.

“So, what, you just came here to yell at me?” Luz narrowed her eyes at the Guard, and he took a deep breath as he visibly relaxed and stepped away from her.

“No, no I didn’t.” Bringing a hand up, he swept away his hood, revealing pale straw blonde hair that he scratched idly before pulling his hood back up. “I’ve looked over the reports that we’ve had come in on you, Human, ever since you arrived, what little we have at least. Your exponential growth has been… interesting.” Luz’s eyes narrowed at the confident, upward inflection of the words as she could feel him watching her for a reaction. “Ever since your break-in at the Castle, the coven scouts are starting to see you as a risk, the Emperor just sees you as a pest.” Luz’s brief feeling of pride at seemingly sending waves through the coven is just as quickly reduced at the Emperor’s dismissal of her. “Personally, I see potential.” Luz’s eyes widened, and she suddenly detested the idea of where this conversation was going.

“No.” The word was simple, but she spoke it plainly, and unapologetically. “No, absolutely not.” Continuously reaffirming her rejection of even the idea the Golden Guard had in his head, Luz began making her way toward the end of the alley.

“You haven’t even heard me out.” Luz paused slightly, as she expected the Golden Guard to fumble slightly and attempt to make her stay and listen, but saw him do none of that.

“I don’t need to, I am not interested in… in…” Turning slightly, Luz pulled her arm closer to herself, trying to put as much distance between them as she could, in any way.

“In…?” Not bothering to finish her sentence, he continued to let Luz hang on her own words as he casually turned to her.

“In joining the Emperor’s Coven, alright, is that what you wanna hear? Now, I’m leaving.” Turning her nose up at the boy, Luz began down the alley again, and reached the end of the wall before his voice stopped her.

“Alright, if that's how you feel, I can always ask those Hexside friends of yours instead.” Luz’s eyes widened slightly as she pushed back from the wall.

Though the distance between her and the bustling streets of Bonesborough was small, it felt more like a chasm the longer she lingered in the alley

“What were their names again? Viney, Jerbo and Barcus, right?” Luz gritted her teeth at the rhetorical question and begrudgingly turned to face the boy again.

“What makes you think they’d be interested in joining?” She leveled a challenging glower at the boy, but due to the mask, she couldn’t tell if he was doing the same or not.

“Why wouldn’t they be, they are practicing multiple coven magics, right? I can’t imagine they’d be doing it for any other reason.” His tone left no opening for retort, as Luz could tell he was simply spouting rhetoric. “I mean, the Emperor’s Coven is the only place witches can legally study all forms of magic, so if they have no intention of joining the Emperor’s Coven, then they’re as good as wild witches.” As he emphasized the last words, his staff briefly flashed to life, purposefully illuminating his eyes, and how he was tauntingly narrowing them at her. “And we both know what the Emperor does to wild witches.”

“You can’t do that!” Luz could tell as soon as she spoke that she had given him the reaction he wanted as he nodded and wagged a finger at her.

“You’re right, kids their age were clearly misled, corrupted by a bad influence. But… someone’s gotta take responsibility for that. I suppose the obvious choice would be their principal.” Nonchalantly shrugging his shoulders, he slung his staff over one shoulder as he turned to exit through the other side of the alley. “I’m sure the Emperor will agree.”

Luz growled as she knew he was saying all this with the specific intent to get a rise out of her, but she also didn’t care. Rushing after the Guard, Luz grabbed the staff that hung over his shoulder, flinching slightly at the static that arced off it and over her fingers. As he turned to face her, Luz pulled out another glyph and, using the fact that his staff was out of the way, pushed the glyph into his other open hand and into the wall, freezing his hand to the stone.

“You can’t petrify Bump!” Holding a finger an inch away from the slit in his mask, Luz narrowed her eyes at him as she heard him slowly collecting himself and steadying his breathing from her sudden assault.

“Well, technically, Belos hasn’t been made aware of Bump’s… oversight, regarding his students and how they’re practicing magic, and with Lilith gone, responsibility of delivering that news to Belos has fallen to me.” Luz let out a groaning sigh as she realized she had inadvertently fallen back to where she had started with the Golden Guard, only now with him at a greater advantage.

Steadying her resolve, Luz crossed her arms. “I’m not joining you. End of discussion.”

The Guard let out a drawn out, dramatic hum as he rubbed his chin and tsked to himself. “Well, we are in a bit of a conundrum aren’t we, Human, you want me to keep something from Belos, but I’m not being given any incentive to keep it secret.”

“You’d be petrifying an innocent witch, how is that not incentive enough?” Luz was at the same time annoyed and surprised at the Guard’s casual dismissal at the idea of a petrification.

“There are no innocent wild witches.” Again, his staff flashed to life, but Luz didn’t flinch, knowing it was just to illuminate the eyes under his mask, and Luz saw a harsh glare beneath it, like his words came from experience.

With a heavy sigh, the Golden Guard released his grasp on his staff and let it fall to the floor and held his hand open in a placating manner. “Look, how about this, what if I told you, I can show you how dangerous wild magic really is?”

“I’d laugh at you. Ha. Like that, only more.” Smirking slightly, Luz took some joy as she heard a slight grumble come from under the mask.

Clearing his throat, the Golden Guard stood straight, trying to look as professional as he could with a hand still pinned to the wall. “I just so happen to have been given a mission to stake-out a town for a pair of wild witches today. I’m willing to bring you with me, undercover, to show you that whatever the Owl Lady has shown you isn’t close to the dangerous practices of real wild witches.”

“Eda’s the realest, wildest, wild witch there is, I doubt you can show me anything I haven’t already seen.” Luz’s tone slowly became more airy as she shrugged off the Golden Guard’s words, confidence filling her.

“Prove it.” The Golden Guard’s two words were enough for Luz’s confidence to feel like challenged pride, and made her narrow her eyes at him again.

Briefly looking down at where he had willingly dropped his staff, Luz hummed in thought before stepping forward, and pressing a finger to the Golden Guard’s chest. “Alright golden boy, I’ll come with you, but I have a few conditions.”

“Of course you do.” With the close proximity, Luz didn’t need any light to see him rolling his eyes at her as his words were dragged out in a tired groan.

“First, if we’re gonna work together, I wanna see your face.”

“Absolutely not.”

“What’s stopping me from just taking off your mask?”

“You tell me.”

Grumbling, Luz crossed her arms as she realized she didn’t have a good answer. Internally, she simply didn’t want to intrude on his privacy, while he might know what she looked like, and the coven had a habit of spying on her and Eda, she didn’t want to sink to their level.

“Tell me your name at least.” Luz groaned as the Golden Guard shook his head at her.

“If you’re gonna be undercover, you’ll need a scout uniform, which I can get. Scouts don’t refer to me by name.” Luz had to keep down her smile as she pretended to ponder her thoughts.

She knew the two initial requests would most likely be shot down, luckily she didn’t care for either, instead knowing the third would seem reasonable to him by comparison. A small trick of bartering Eda had taught her, now coming in handy. She simply hoped the Golden Guard wouldn’t adamantly refuse everything.

“Alright, how about this,” starting the last offer with what she hoped seemed like an unsure glance, she bridged her fingers together, “after we’re done, whether I agree to join or not, you have to promise not to tell Belos about what’s going on at Hexside.”

The Golden Guard was silent for a moment, and Luz began to wonder if had clued into her plan, but kept her face neutral, hoping to keep up her act. Slowly, the Guard finally nodded and, with a grunt, broke his hand free of the ice, making Luz stumble slightly out of surprise.

As he dusted off the last of the ice, he held his hand out to her. “Truce?”

Taking it as an agreement to her terms, Luz shook his hand, hissing slightly at the stinging cold that clung to the leather of his glove.

With the deal made, the Golden Guard retrieved his staff and sat on it as it hovered. Hesitantly taking a seat behind the boy, Luz prepared another invisibility glyph for the journey, not wanting to be seen with him and deflecting his questions regarding the magic that was unfamiliar to him as they flew.

After a rather brief flight, the two landed on the roof of a small coven outpost and Luz waited, crouched behind a knee high wall, bouncing her leg to soothe her nerves as she constantly checked her surroundings, quickly deciding to lay out a small amount of glyphs around her as traps in case this was a setup by the Golden Guard.

The trap was not needed for long however, as Luz soon heard the familiar sound of boots scuffing against the roof, and collected her glyphs again as she saw him approaching with a coven uniform tucked under his arm.

“Here. I didn’t know your measurements so I just got the smallest we had.” Waving off his half-hearted explanation, Luz began to fiddle with the uniform, putting it on over her regular clothes.

Slowly fitting into it as she slipped on the various pieces, Luz was thankful for her thin clothing as she could tell she would otherwise be burning in the uniform. Grabbing the last part of the uniform, the mask, Luz slipped it on over her face and adjusted the hood to fit over it.

“Do I look like enough of a toadie to you, Geegee?” Luz twirled around in the uniform, flicking the white cape back and forth as she did.

“Geegee?” The Golden Guard tilted his head in visible confusion at Luz’s words.

“You’re not planning on telling me your name, and ‘The Golden Guard’ is too much of a mouthful. So, until you tell me your real name, your name’s Geegee.” Poking the Golden Guard’s chest with a chuckle, Luz smirked under her mask at the audible sigh from the Guard.

“Just don’t call me that in front of the scouts, we need to at least pretend you have some semblance that you know what you’re doing.” Frowning up at Geegee, Luz started to appreciate the disguise more, as she started to enjoy that he could see her reactions less than before.

“I know exactly what I’m doing; blind obedience to the Emperor, be boring all the time, that sort of stuff right?” Waving off Geegee’s concerns the boy let out a sigh as he shook his head.

“Aren’t you just a ray of sunshine?” Luz rolled her eyes at the sarcasm that dripped off the Guard’s words. “You know the coven isn’t actually that bad, right?” Luz poked her tongue out at the boy, though she wasn’t sure he could see as he seemingly hummed to himself. “Ray… ray…”

“Ray?” The repeated word confused Luz as she tilted her head.

“You’ll need your own name while undercover. Ray ought to do it.” Shrugging his shoulders, Geegee laid his staff across them as he gave Luz the codename.

“Awwwwww, am I your ray of sunshine?” Turning the sarcasm back on the Guard, Luz’s tone turned teasing as she poked him and paused as he stepped forward and leaned towards her. “What are you-”

“Stay still.” Luz paused as the Golden Guard’s mask was much closer to her as she felt his hands brushing her hair back under her hood. “You’ve got hair sticking out from your hood, if you can’t pretend to act like a scout, you can at least pretend to look like one.”

Bringing her hands up instinctively, Luz’s hands twitched as they brushed over the Golden Guard’s gloves before he stepped back to let her finish fixing her hair. Murmuring a quiet thanks, Luz quietly sat on Geegee’s staff as it started to hover above the roof.

“So…  why are you alright with this?” Luz leaned slightly over the staff into the Golden Guard making him grunt in slight annoyance as he shuffled to move away from her.

“Alright with what?” The Golden Guard seemed to scan the horizon as he moved his staff minutely to angle it in a specific direction.

“With me, you know this isn’t gonna work right?” As Luz waited for whatever Geegee was doing to finish, she idly drummed her finger against the staff.

“You never know, Ray.” The Guard put emphasis on Luz’s new codename as he spoke, and she could hear the smirk from his voice alone. “Besides, it’s like they say, keep your friends close…” Shrugging his shoulders, the staff under Luz let out a sudden, violent shake before she felt herself lurch forward at breakneck speed.

Luz couldn’t stop the scream she let out as the two rocketed across the skies of the Isles in a streak of red, the same one the Golden Guard had used to depart from their first meeting at the Simmering Shoals. Luz clung to her hood and mask to stop them from being whipped off in the wind rushing past them. Her screaming slowed as soon as it started though as the staff seemed to reach its destination and lurched to a stop. The intense speed left Luz shaking slightly as she tried to steady her breathing, feeling like she had just been put on twelve different roller coasters at the same time. Her shaking body went stiff as she felt something solid hit her feet. Jolting slightly, Luz’s head snapped up and she felt her breathing becoming heavier, obstructed by the mask.

Lifting the beak shaped mask to clear her mouth and nose, Luz felt a heavy hand wrench it back down. “What are you doing!?” Geegee’s voice came out as a whisper yell as he stepped off of his staff along with her.

“It’s hard to breathe in this thing.” Luz’s shocked system still hadn’t recovered fully as she wobbled on her feet.

Luz was surprised to feel the same hand catch her as she stumbled on her feet and felt her knees go weak. Still finding it difficult to focus on her surroundings, she went where the Golden Guard led her until she felt a wall press against her back and slid down it as the hands released her. Pulling her mask free, the obstructive eye holes finally let her take in her surroundings as she saw Geegee looking back and forth, watching to ensure their apparent privacy as Luz saw no other witches around.

Finally able to take a deep breath, Luz felt chuckles build in her chest now that she had a steady stream of air again. “WOOHOO!” Leaping to her feet and pumping her fist, Luz grabbed Geegee and shook him slightly. “That was so cool! How does your staff do that!? We have to do that again!”

“Would you stop?” Batting away Luz’s hands, Geegee adjusted his cape as he turned away from her. “Now if you’re done clinging to me, we can do what we came here for.”

“I did not cling to you.” Luz muttered the words indignantly as she begrudgingly fell in line with the Guard and put her mask back on.

“Are you kidding? I thought you were gonna squeeze the air out of me with how tight you were clinging to me as we flew.” Luz was thankful for the mask again as she adjusted it, briefly recalling her arms instinctively grabbing whatever they could to keep her stable as they rocketed through the air, which just so happened to be the Guard she flew with.

“Golden Guard. Sir!” Luz was snapped from her thoughts as a new voice pulled her attention.

A new scout, much taller than her and Geegee approached the two and saluted the Golden Guard who simply nodded back to him in acknowledgement. “Captain.” The two went quiet until the scout’s hand lowered slightly and Luz saw his mask turn to look at her. “Cap-tain.” The Golden Guard nudged Luz forward slightly as he enunciated the syllables of the scout’s title.

Struck with realization, Luz snapped to attention and attempted to mirror the scout’s salute. “Captain!” She allowed herself a small smile as Geegee sighed at her whimsical tone as she put as much flare onto the title as she could.

“New recruit, sir?” The captain turned back to the Golden Guard who simply nodded.

“Scout Ray, fresh out of basic training, hasn’t been assigned a superior yet, so I’m stuck with her.” Luz scoffed slightly at the nonchalance in the Golden Guard’s voice and how the captain simply nodded along with him.

“More like I’m stuck with you.” Luz murmured to herself but tensed as she remembered she was supposed to be undercover.

“What was that scout!?” The captain’s sharp, biting tone made Luz step back, only to stop as Geegee held up a hand.

“Relax, I’m sure we both remember our first day after basic training being rough, right captain?” The stern but level voice of the Golden Guard surprised Luz as the captain quickly relaxed to agree with his superior officer. “Now, any leads on my- our target today?” Luz took a moment to note the Golden Guard correcting himself to include her as he moved in line with the captain as he spoke.

“Several reports of duplicate witches throughout the town today. It’s them sir. Reports indicate that they’re focusing their attention in this town’s merchants hub.” Reaching into his cloak, the captain pulled out a sheaf of reports that the Guard quickly skimmed through.

“Good work Captain, at ease.” The captain saluted once more before departing as the Golden Guard nodded in a direction for Luz to follow.

As Luz took in the architecture of the buildings that stretched around her she stopped with a grunt as she collided with something, awkwardly putting her in darkness as her mask was twisted to the side.

“Oh, for Titan’s sake-” With a quick twist, the Golden Guard corrected her mask and Luz saw him staring down at her. “I thought you were at least going to try and take this seriously.”

“Clearly, you don’t know me very well.” Luz snickered to herself as she could feel the annoyed and tired eyes under the golden mask staring at her.

Her snickers were cut short by a yelp being pulled from her as she was yanked up by the lurch of the Golden Guard’s staff moving her suddenly as her feet collided with the stone of what was apparently a rooftop.

Quickly correcting herself, Luz grabbed the Golden Guard and shook him slightly. “Warn me next time you jerk.”

“I thought you wanted to do that again, Ray?” The teasing, mocking tone of his words, and use of her codename by the Golden Guard, made Luz silently fume to herself.

Her disgruntled thoughts were distracted as the Golden Guard swept past her and began silently watching over the streets below. Walking beside him, Luz peered in the same general direction as him, trying to catch sight of anything unusual that he might be watching.

When minutes went by and Luz was still unsure of what she was looking for, she groaned and let her head hang back. “Ugh, Geegee, what are we looking for?”

“I thought I told you not to call me that, Ray.” The Golden Guard grunted as Luz spotted his pink eyes peering at her through the edges of the slit in his mask.

“You thought wrong, your exact words were to not call you it in front of other scouts. So come on, Geegee, spill the beans, who’s got you all riled?” Rocking back and forth, Luz knew her lackadaisical tone was at least getting under the Emperor’s right hand man’s skin a little bit, which was a victory in her eyes.

Luz audibly heard the Guard taking a deep breath to calm himself before he spoke again. “The witches we’re looking for are a pair of demons specializing in illusion magic.” Luz nodded along with Geegee’s words, now peering over the street and eliminating any normal looking witches as whoever they were looking for. “They’re called Gin and Kin, call themselves the Gold and Silver Brothers because of their penchant for thievery. Because of their magic, they often disguise themselves as anyone they can, including coven scouts.” Luz sighed as she realized that meant that the brothers could be any of the previous witches she had seen.

“And these guys are a threat?” Luz asked incredulously, the whirlwind of being in an undercover mission finally settling and reminding her that the witches they’re chasing are wild, like her and Eda.

“Of course they are, their magic is pretty powerful, and being able to disguise themselves as anyone means they could get important coven information.” Luz hummed to herself, and smirked mischievously, rather enjoying the thought of such witches going against Belos.

“So how do you plan to find them?” Luz peered over the hustle and bustle of the crowd below, not seeing anything unusual.

“We’ve got scouts on the ground regularly casting small dispelling charms so as to not draw attention, it’s our job to catch sight of the two when they get hit by one of the charms.” Crouching down, Geegee rested on one of his knees as he let his staff rest against the knee-high wall that surrounded the roof.

“And how are we supposed to pass the time until then?” Luz let her head fall forward, only to hit her mask against the wall as she groaned, already feeling boredom creep up on her.

“We don’t, we wait, that’s why it’s called a stake-out. What did you expect?” Barely turning his mask to glance at her, the Golden Guard locked his gaze back onto the streets below.

Groaning, Luz leaned back, feeling her investment in the stakeout draining by the second until she fell flat on her back and reclined her legs on the wall to relax. The wind whistled past as she stared up at the sky, and Luz let out a curious hum as the sun didn’t give off a painful glare that made her squint while the hood blocked it from her view. She enjoyed the peaceful silence as she watched the clouds slowly passing by overhead, a griffin’s silhouette in the far distance.

“A boat.” Luz absentmindedly muttered the word as a certain cloud passed by, an amalgam of awkwardly shaped white clouds to make it appear like the shape a child might doodle to represent a boat. Soon another set of clouds began to shift into view, drawing Luz’s attention, and her imagination. “A tree. A bunny-”

“What are you doing?” The witch boy clicked his tongue in annoyance, and Luz lazily let her head drift to look at him, and saw his mask turned to her.

“Cloud watching. Wanna join me?” Luz knew the answer before she asked, but was more interested in distracting the Golden Guard from his job.

“That sounds like a waste of time,” Geegee dismissed Luz outright, and she let out a puff of breath, her hood fluttering slightly, “and didn’t you agree to this stake-out mission in the first place? You could at least pretend to try to look for these two.”

“You’re right. Gone is Luz, now I’m Ray. Another one of the Emperor’s countless faceless minions now, I should try and do my job. To make it really authentic, I’ll do that job poorly.” Luz grinned as her words caused Geegee to fully turn to her and she could feel the glare he was shooting her without seeing it.

Though she expected him to silently brood some more, or to have some biting protest, she was surprised when he took a breath and simply turned away from her as he spoke. “You’re right. I shouldn’t expect you to take this seriously.” Pulling her legs off the wall, Luz sat up slightly as she listened. “Especially since you don’t have someone like Lilith or the Owl Lady to hold your hand through it this time.”

Luz narrowed her eyes and pressed her lips into a line behind her mask at the Guard. “Was that a jab?”

“Might have been.”

“Was that a challenge?”

“Might have been.”

As Luz pressed forward, her annoyance palpable, slowly closing the distance between her and Geegee as she did, he held firm, simply turning his mask to meet her gaze as Luz found herself barely an inch away from him for the second time that day.

Luz let out several hums, processing that the Golden Guard had actually just said that, moving away from him as she did. “I’m surprised you’re so adamant in having a wild witch’s apprentice work with you, Geegee.”

“I’m surprised that the Owl Lady’s apprentice is so underwhelming, Ray.” Luz’s eyes widened further as the Golden Guard continued to match her in their verbal back and forth.

Crossing her arms, Luz’s annoyed frown turned up in an amused smirk. Pacing the roof slightly, Luz looked between the Golden Guard, now silent again, the streets below, and the clouds still passing overhead as an idea struck her.

With her smirk now growing into a grin, Luz stopped and sat back beside the Guard. “Alright, Geegee, how about another deal?” Despite his groan, he made no protest, so Luz took it as an indication that he was listening. “I will focus on finding these Gold and Silver Brothers with you, but only… if you spot one cloud with me.” Holding up a finger to emphasize her point, Luz was unsurprised when he turned his head to face her and tilted it in confusion.

“You can’t be serious.” As another cloud passed by and unveiled the sun, Luz saw through the slit in Geegee’s mask and saw that his eyes were narrowed in annoyed disbelief.

“Come on, it’ll help you get that stick out your butt.” Laying down again, Luz patted the spot beside her, and the Golden Guard simply huffed and turned his back to her.

Luz drummed her fingers against her chest and internally counted the tick of her internal clock until another grunt pulled her attention as the Guard laid down beside her. “I see clouds, what a waste of time.”

“Hey, come on, if you want me to be serious about your boring stuff, then you have to be serious about my stuff.” Playfully nudging the Guard, Luz snickered as he squirmed away from her.

“Alright fine, that one…” He vaguely waved his hand upward in no particular direction as he let his words hang in the air, clearly scanning the sky for any semblance of shape. “That one.” With more certainty, he pointed into the sky, and Luz followed the line of his finger as he spoke. “Looks like a birdcage.”

“Hey, you’re right, it kind of does.” Luz watched the birdcage cloud drift by, smiling as the winds above started to slowly split the cloud in two, breaking the imaginary bars. Turning her gaze across the sky, she pointed at her own choice of cloud. “That one looks like Belos.”

In actuality, the cloud was just a mess of gray and white clouds mixing together, but the resulting, indignant “hey” and small push from the Golden Guard protesting her own lack of seriousness about the cloud watching was amusing enough to Luz that she didn’t care. Pushing back against the Guard, the two went back and forth in a small scuffle that resulted in the two simply batting at each other’s hands. As the two slowed down, Luz paused as Geegee let out a series of forced coughs, which she swore were hiding chuckles that she had only heard for an instant, so quickly did he cover the chuckles that Luz wasn’t sure if she hadn’t just hallucinated them.

“Well, I did it, can we get back to catching these dangerous criminals now?” Lazily holding her hand up as the Golden Guard sat up, he groaned in annoyance before grabbing her hand and yanking her up.

For the first time since they landed on the roof, Luz was content to let the silence linger for a little bit as she tried to keep to her word and look for the two illusionist demon brothers. Using what little she knew from her classes in Hexside and from talking with Gus, she tried to focus on each witch and see if there was anything that seemed off about them.

As Luz kept an eye on the street she let her excess energy escape through her fingers as she drummed wherever her fingers lingered, on her arms, then across the surface of the knee-high wall they were peering over, then up the Golden Guard’s staff. The staff being snatched away from her tapping and the Guard briefly eyeing her as he turned his mask to face her made Luz smirk as she let her fingers settle.

The only indicator of time passing was the slow passing of clouds overhead and Luz soon found her fingers eager to move and stretch again. This time, as Luz drummed her fingers, they came into contact with the Golden Guard who groaned before letting his head fall forward into the wall, his metal mask clinking against the stone as it did. Peering at Geegee as he quietly banged his mask against the wall, Luz smirked as she continued to drum her fingers against his arm towards his shoulder, until she lightly jabbed a finger into the crook of his armpit. The sensation made the Golden Guard unintentionally snort and reflexively flinch from her.

Seeing the reaction made Luz’s mouth morph into a wide, open-mouthed smile. “You’re ticklish!” Luz accused the Guard as he grumbled and wrapped his cloak around himself. “Tag!” Poking into the area his armpit would be again, Luz smirked as the Guard again recoiled and snickered.

Geegee smacked her hand away as he turned to her. “Stop it! What are you even doing?”

“Have you never played tag before?” Luz enquired as she lifted her mask slightly so he could get a better look at her mischievous smirk as she waved her lone finger at him.

“No, and if it’s always this annoying, then I’m glad.” Geegee's curt dismissal of the idea was followed by him shuffling away from Luz to try and make some space between them.

Silence fell over the two again, and Luz began to spot the scouts that Geegee had mentioned before in the crowd below. It was subtle, but Luz could also make out the slight twisting of their hand as they drew spell circles meant to dispel the illusion using witches. As Luz saw the scouts, her mind began to wander, specifically to ways that she could help the witches in question, and get them away from being caught by the Golden Guard.

Luz spotted two of the scouts breaking away from the crowd and stopping by what seemed like the Boiling Isles version of a food truck. Licking her lips at the thought, Luz peered over to Geegee and saw him thoroughly unmoving again. As thoughts of food filled her mind, Luz felt her stomach grumble and realized that lunch time was either fast approaching, or had already passed her by in the monotony she found herself in.

“Hey, Geegee.” Though the Guard made no attempt to listen to her, Luz knew he could hear her. “Did you bring anything to eat?”

“No, and you’re not going to that food stop.” Geegee’s tone had a finality to it that made Luz scoff and cross her arms.

“Who put you in charge?” Luz shuffled closer to Geegee again as she spoke, finally making him turn his head again.

“You did when you put on that scout uniform, Ray. Look- just… stay here, the quicker we catch these two, the quicker you can go eat.” Luz groaned at the boy’s obsession with the skull-numbingly boring task she had let him convince her into joining.

“I bet you’re just saying that because you don’t have any snails for food.” Luz muttered to herself, making the Golden Guard click his tongue. “Or maybe you do?” Poking his side this time, Luz smirked as he reflexively snickered and pulled away again, batting her hand away.

Luz’s smile grew as she heard the faint jingle of snails rattling as he pulled away and brushed against his side. Following Geegee’s movement to close the distance between them again, Luz hummed as she continued to poke at him, sometimes dodging his hands that batted at her as she continued to poke at his clothing to try and pinpoint his snails. With a growl he pushed back at her and poked at her side, making Luz bend into her side as she snickered. Taking it as a challenge Luz continued to poke at the spots that the Guard was clearly unfamiliar with being ticklish in. 

As their back and forth continued it slowly escalated until Luz found herself jumping to her feet, giggling as the aggravated Guard got to his own feet and began chasing her in a very confined game of tag she had inadvertently led him into. As Geegee reached out to grab her, most likely to admonish her, Luz spotted the glint of a purse string by his side and ducked out of the way of his grab and leaned into him, making him stumble as he tried to back away, but Luz was quicker as she grabbed the bag and triumphantly held it up.

“Congrats, on playing, and losing, your first game of tag.” Luz chuckled breathlessly to herself as she threw the bag of snails up then caught it.

The two stood there panting, and Luz once again paused as she could have sworn she heard chuckles echoing off the inside of the metal mask, but the sound didn’t last long enough for Luz to confirm it as Geegee straightened his back and let out a sigh, dusting himself off as he did.

“Alright, you’ve got your snails, go get your food and leave me be! I might actually get some work done now.” With a dismissive wave, he turned back to where they were before, though he was visibly regaining his breath, despite his attempt to keep a calm demeanor.

“And here I thought you wanted me around.” Luz teased out the word as she threw the bag up and caught it.

“A decision I am starting to regret. Just… go, Human.”

Luz didn’t know why, but the Golden Guard’s use of referring to her in such a way felt strange, like she would have preferred if he kept calling her by the silly codename he had given her. Quickly quashing the feeling, Luz stored the snails in her pocket and made her way to the side of the wall that overlooked an alleyway below. Briefly peering back at the Guard, Luz sighed when he made no move to look back at her, and pulled out a plant glyph from one of her pockets and slapped it against the wall. Grasping the vine that sprouted from the glyph, Luz lowered herself down into the streets below and began making her way through the crowd.

It was a surprise to Luz when witches spotted her and actually made way for her to pass, and she wasn’t sure if it was pleasant or not as they greeted her as a scout happily as she passed. She was at least thankful to not be sandwiched by the crowd like she had occasionally been in the past as she finally reached the short line to the food stop.

Leaning back and forth on her feet, Luz scanned across the menu, written onto a wooden plank that was hung up by wrought iron chains that were hammered into the wall, and counted her snails, seeing if she’d have enough to bring back a peace offering of food to the Guard she’d clearly annoyed.

As two beaked masks in front of her turned to spot her, Luz startled slightly, and quickly relaxed as she remembered her disguise, then snapped to attention as she remembered that she was supposed to act like the scout she’s dressed as.

Luz nervously gulped, and wished she had stuck around the roof, or at least convinced the Guard to come with her as the two scouts turned fully to face her. Remembering her earlier interaction, Luz attempted a salute, hoping to not be questioned, only to be confused as the two scouts chuckled to themselves.

“At ease rookie, I doubt we outrank you.” The scout waved off her salute, Luz let out a thankful sigh as she relaxed.

“You’re new right? Who’s your superior?” The other scout spoke openly, clearly trying to ease her nerves. While Luz was glad the scouts were open to idle talk, she pressed her lips into a line at the question.

“Um, the Golden Guard, believe it or not.” Luz cleared her throat as she spoke, and was reminded of the usefulness of the mask as it stopped the scouts from seeing her eyes darting back and forth, hoping to see something to get out of this talk.

“The Golden Guard…?” The scout rolled his hand as he spoke, and his questioning tone made Luz nervous as she didn’t understand what he meant.

“He’s asking for his name, rookie- I mean- wait, I don’t think we actually got your name.” The other scout crossed his arms and Luz felt herself tense as he clarified the other scout’s question.

“I’m… Scout Ray, and the Golden Guard… is…” Luz’s brain went into overdrive as she tried to think of some excuse, her nervousness pausing as another round of laughter came from the scouts.

“Damn, so you don’t know either? I thought the scout he’d take under his wing would know his name at the very least. Been trying to figure it out for weeks. I can never get a read on that guy.” Luz sighed as the two scouts went back and forth, humming agreements about the Golden Guard.

“Yeah, well, I’m just working with him today, trying to catch these two wild witches.” Luz swung her arm, trying her best to pretend she was actually invested in the stake-out.

“Those demon brothers right? What were they called? Yin and Yang, something stupid like that?” One of the scouts tilted his head at the other who simply shook his head in annoyance.

“Gin and Kin.” Luz corrected, turning slightly to point upward at the roof she and Geegee were using. “We’re actually at a vantage point to watch for them while you and the rest of the scouts cast dispel charms to get rid of their illusions.” As the scouts nodded, Luz let out a relieved sigh, certain she’d made herself seem more certainly like a scout.

“So what was it like? Getting your mark, I mean.” As Luz hummed curiously, the scout revealed his wrist and the golden crest on it. “I always said it felt weird, but in a good way. This guy has no idea what I’m on about though.” Pointing to his colleague with a thumb, the scout crossed his arm as he looked down at Luz. “So let’s see yours.”

“Oh! Right. That.” Bringing her arms behind her back, Luz began to nervously rock on her feet before she stepped back. “You know what, this line is taking forever, and the Golden Guard isn’t gonna want to be kept waiting, so I’ll just-”

“Show us your mark, rookie.” The harsher tone of the scout made Luz freeze and caused her breathing to slightly pick up as her eyes once again darted behind her mask for a way out.

“Would you two killjoys relax?” A new voice appeared in Luz’s ear and she looked to see a new scout, the right side of his hood distinctly curved upward.

She yelped as she felt her arm being tugged up, revealing her wrist, and Luz curiously went silent as she saw an Emperor’s Coven sigil on it. Seemingly satisfied, the two scouts departed and waved off the new arrival.

“Sorry about them, dove.” Luz hummed curiously at the sudden nickname, and awkwardly pulled her wrist back to herself.

“It’s you who should be sorry, Kin, you’re scaring a fellow Wild.” Whipping around, Luz was surprised to see another new scout, both sides of their hood protruding upward.

“Idiot! Don’t call me that when we’re disguised.” Luz’s mind clicked as she let out a sigh in relief at realization of the situation.

“You two! You're- Thanks for that, come on, let’s talk over here.” Beckoning the two disguised demons. Luz led them away from the bustling streets. “This was a blindspot for me, so I doubt Geegee will be able to see us here either.”

“Good one, dove.”

“Geegee?”

The three stepped into the privacy of a new alley, and Luz took a deep breath as she took off her restrictive mask. The two demons followed suit. The one who’d nicknamed her, dove, apparently the brother called Kin, took off his mask and hood, revealing orange-gold colored skin with bright yellow hair, and red eyes, giving him a color scheme like fire. He had a pair of horns protruding up, though the one on his left was very clearly missing, broken in fact, explaining the outline of his hood. The other brother, presumably Gin, revealed blue skin with silver hair and white eyes. Unlike his brother Kin however, both of Gin’s horns were intact. The most distinctive part of the brothers were that neither had pupils, or noses, giving them serpentine like appearances.

“Yeah, Geegee’s sort of… a nickname… I might have given him.” Luz awkwardly scratched at her neck as she tried to explain the name to the two demons, making the brothers chuckle.

“Well, that actually works in our favor, you being familiar with him might make this easier.” As Kin sat down, his brother did the same, and Luz soon followed suit hugging her knees to her chest as she looked between the two.

“Make what easier?” Luz cautiously asked, glancing between the two demons.

“Grabbing him.” Gin said it like it was the most obvious thing in the world, but it made Luz feel uneasy. “You have no idea how long we’ve been working on this, and the piece to bring it all together just fell into our lap.”

“Grab him? For what?” Luz shifted in her spot as she suddenly wished she had her mask back on so she could scan the alley without them noticing.

“Well, dove, once we have him, we’re gonna snatch that fancy staff of his. It’s like proof positive of his identity, and then, with a little bit of illusion magic…” Spinning his finger in a circle, Luz was surprised when she saw Kin disguise himself as the Golden Guard, visibly shrinking to be more accurately sized, and without the horns.

“It’ll be the biggest heist of the century. Stealing from right under Belos’ nose.” Gin finished his brother’s sentence with a proud smile. “And who better to help us than the Owl Lady’s apprentice, the one who fought Belos.”

“You know about that?” Luz lowered her voice to a whisper, peering up and down the alley openly now, suddenly worried about genuine scouts overhearing their conversation.

“Half the Titan does, dove- well, actually, it’s just the wild witches who know. Everywhere else it’s being kept real hush hush, you know?” Luz tensed slightly, as Kin moved to sit beside her, giving her a congratulatory pat on the shoulder as he smiled at her.

“Wait wait wait.” Standing to her feet, Luz turned to now look down at the two brothers. “How are you gonna impersonate Geeg- the Golden Guard? I mean, looking like him won’t be enough.”

“Oh don’t worry about that, dove, we’ve bumped into him like, half a dozen times now, we know how he moves and talks, we can handle impersonating him.” Shrugging cheerfully, Kin’s smile widened.

“Which brings us to the second part of our plan.” Gin cut in, pointing a finger to Luz. “How do you feel about another break-in to the Conformitorium?”

“Why would you want to go there?” Luz crossed her arms as she narrowed her eyes at the blue-skinned brother.

“Why wouldn’t we? All of Belos’ enemies that haven’t been petrified are there. Sure, a lotta them are just normal folk, but there are some real powerful wild witches in there too that would love to cause some mayhem. So how'd you feel ‘bout another break-in?” Bringing his hands together, Gin smirked up at her, like the deal was already made.

“I- I’m not sure how that’d work out. Me and Eda barely got out by the skin of our teeth.” Luz began to pace the alley, her mind a whirlwind from all the new information and offer she was being given.

“Well, that’s the easy part, dove, we kidnap ol’ Wrathy’s son.” Kin’s casual tone of the sentence contrasted his words so much that Luz lurched to a stop.

“What!?” Memories of the short, red skinned, toothy demon child filled Luz’s mind as she spoke with disbelief.

“Yeah, the Warden’s here to coordinate with your Geegee.” Gin snickered along with his brother at Luz’s nickname for the Golden Guard. “And it just so happened he had to bring his boy with him, maybe there’s trouble at home? I could care less, but the kid’ll be easy to snatch.”

“That’s insane!” Luz’s voice carried through the alley, though the demon brothers took her outrage for disbelief.

“Don’t worry, dove, it’ll be easy. Word on the grapevine is Wrathy got demoted thanks to a certain someone proving he wasn’t all that.” Kin lounged against the wall with his hands behind his back as he spoke, his brother nodding along with him.

“Exactly. He’ll be too in his own head to notice, and our illusions will leave his head spinning. We’ll be gone before he realizes.” The two brothers bumped their knuckles together, chuckling darkly to each other.

“That’s not what I meant!” Luz’s outburst pulled the two brother’s attention, and made them narrow their eyes. “I’m not letting you kidnap Braxas! Or any kid for that matter!” Luz began to pace as shock and concern over the two demons and their words began to fill her. “I mean seriously, what is wrong with you two!”

“Now there’s no need for harsh words, dove-”

“Stop calling me that! It was weird before, now it’s just creepy!” Kin’s narrowed eyes shifted into a glare at Luz’s words, as he briefly shared a glance with his brother.

“Well forgive me for trying to be friendly, Ray.” Luz narrowed her eyes at the demon, disliking his use of her codename even more than the nickname. “But look, it’s not like we’re gonna hurt the brat, we hold him, tell Wrath to leave the doors unlocked, and we break into the Conformitorium to break everyone else out.”

“Yeah, easy peasy, doesn’t have to be a big deal, no one has to get hurt.” Gin’s own white eyes narrowed further into a glare.

Stepping back from the two, Luz reached into her pocket and held her hand steadily against a glyph as she matched the glares of the demons. “Maybe the Golden Guard was right about you two.”

The demon brothers’ eyes widened at Luz’s words and as she saw them drawing spell circles, she pulled her glyphs free, only pausing as she saw a familiar red glow encompass Gin and slam him into the wall beside him.

“Ray!” Luz felt her heart lighten at the familiar voice as the Golden Guard appeared in a flash of red above Kin, flipping in the air before he slammed his heel into the orange-gold demon’s head, forcing him to collapse.

“Geegee! What are you doing here?” Luz relaxed at seeing the familiar gold mask, smiling up at the boy.

“Well, I saw you go into that blindspot, so I was already curious. Then you didn’t come out for a while, so I decided to investigate. Glad I did.” Geegee’s voice lowered into a disdainful tone as he gave a quick kick to Kin, the demon at his feet, bound up in the red magic of his staff. “Come on, we’re not done.”

“Wait, what?” Luz stumbled slightly as Geegee pushed past her to the other end of the alley. “Where are we going?”

“I want to check on Braxas. Make sure these two didn’t have some backup plan.” Luz nodded along with Geegee as he spoke, but slowed her pace as she processed his words, wondering how he knew about that part of the demon brothers' plan if he only just arrived. “Something wrong?”

The Golden Guard seemingly noticed her pause as Luz peered up at him. Her eyes glanced between his staff, which crackled with red light, and the slit in his mask, which strangely remained completely darkened. Thoughts whirled in Luz’s head as she put a smile on her face and walked ahead of the Golden Guard.

“I’m just thinking; I did help you get those two, so you owe me.” Her teasing tone made the golden mask turn to her slightly before letting out a small sigh.

“Of course I do.” The Golden Guard said tiredly. “What do you want?”

“Well, you won’t show me your face, at least tell me… what color your eyes are.” Luz kept her tone teasing, and tried to keep her gaze playful as she narrowed her eyes.

“They’re green, nothing special.” Waving off her question, the Golden Guard began to brush past her.

Luz’s body began to tremble as her suspicions were confirmed. She tensed her muscles to stop her shaking and grabbed the glyph she had let go of before. With a sharp cry, she shoved the illusory image away, and connected with something solid. As the fake Golden Guard slammed into the wall, Luz pushed an ice glyph into his chest. The surge of magic dispelled the illusion and revealed Gin, the blue skinned demon brother, and the biting cold of the ice made him gasp as it covered him from his waist up to his shoulders, freezing half his body in a block of ice that weighed him down and forced him to the ground.

“Titan- damn it! How’d you-?” Gin went quiet as Luz held another glyph up to his face.

“Where’s Gee- where’s the Golden Guard?” Luz grabbed her discarded mask and put it over her face as she loomed over the demon, pausing as he began to chuckle.

“My brother’s probably got him by now, you have us quite a lot of information. Where he was, that fancy nickname you gave him. Kin will be able to trick him long enough to get the drop on him.” As the demon’s chuckles turned into laughter Luz stepped back and glanced at the two demons still in the alley.

The red magic that the fake Golden Guard had used to pin them faded as the one that was a duplicate of Gin winked at her before disappearing. Meanwhile, the one Luz knew as Kin did the same, and Luz’s heart dropped as realization crashed into her.

“We… are very good.” Gin’s laughter continued as Luz began running to the end of the alley, briefly stopping to return to Gin’s side and trap his hands in vines from a plant glyph, and then freeze them to stop him from performing magic. “Oh come on! I’ll freeze my fingers off like this! HEY-!”

Gin’s protests faded as Luz ran back out into the street. Desperately whipping her head back and forth, her eyes widened as she saw the hulking form of Warden Wrath in the distance. Doubt and hesitance briefly flitted through her mind before she looked up at the rooftop she and Geegee had been sitting at, and saw no activity on it. Steeling herself, Luz ran to the massive form of the warden.

“Warden Wrath! Sir!” Luz hoped her voice would be distorted enough by the mask to not alert the warden to who she was, and begrudgingly remembered to try and pretend to be a scout as she saluted him. “I found one! One of the Gold and Silver Brothers!”

“What? Where!?” The mention of the demons drew his attention as the Warden rounded on Luz and she was reminded of how he towered over her.

Luz swallowed the lump in her throat as she briefly took in the precarious situation. Shaking her head to clear her nerves, Luz pointed to the alley she had come from. “I froze one of them over there! But the other is after Gee- the Golden Guard! He’s up on the roof and might need help.” Luz bit her tongue as she almost slipped up with the Golden Guard’s nickname.

“Exemplary work.” The warden’s booming voice echoed through the street as he began ordering the other scouts who split into two groups.

As the warden rushed off to arrest Gin, Luz ran with the other scouts to find the Golden Guard and Kin. As they approached the building, Luz felt a pit form in her stomach as she saw the vine she had used to climb down from the roof collapsed into a pile as it had been cut from the top.

One of the scouts called to her and beckoned her forward as he drew a magic circle, casting construction magic to effect parts of the building’s wall and extend it outward into ramshackle steps that led up to the roof. Luz disregarded the hurried state of the stairs and raced up them to the roof.

“Last time I’ll ask, where is she?” Luz paused as she nearly reached the roof, held up a hand, and was pleasantly surprised when the scout behind her paused.

“You’re cracked!” Kin’s voice soon followed and Luz narrowed her eyes over the edge of the wall.

She hummed as she saw Kin dangling upside down, held by one of his ankles wrapped up in the red magic of Geegee’s staff, or at least, that’s how it appeared. Luz groaned at the thought of another illusion tricking her. Taking a deep breath, Luz peered behind her, making sure the other scout didn’t see her preparing her glyphs.

“Where’s my scout, demon?” Geegee flicked his staff and the magic binding Kin’s leg swung with it making him yelp as he was tugged through the air.

“Who? The blood’s goin’ to my head, jog my memory.” Kin’s smug tone was silenced by a sharp slap.

“Ray! The scout, Ray, that you two tricked.” Kin grinned as he began to laugh.

“Her? She sold you out buddy, told us all we need to know about you.” Kin shook his head, his eyes fluttering as he winced from being dangled upside down.

“You’re lying!” The Golden Guard hissed out as he pressed his staff to the demon.

Finally stepping onto the roof, the sound of Luz’s boot hitting gravel snapped the Golden Guard away from his interrogation as she approached the two. Seeing Luz, Kin gave another smirk as he chuckled to himself as Geegee silently watched her.

“How ya doin’, dove?” Another slap from the Golden Guard silenced Kin before the boy turned to Luz.

“Good to see- what are you doing?” Geegee’s voice dropped as he saw Luz holding a glyph, his mask tilting up, clearly to watch the other scout behind her.

“How do I know you’re you?” Luz asked as she slowly approached the guard.

“I could ask you the same.” Geegee lowered his staff and it glowed as he pointed it in Luz’s direction.

Luz slowly approached Geegee as she kept her grip tight on her glyph, her eyes never leaving the darkened slit of his mask. Even with his staff pointed at her, and goading from Kin, he didn’t cast any spells, but Luz saw his muscles tense under his uniform as the cloth subtly shifted and his legs braced against the ground. As she closed the distance between them, Luz slowly brought her free hand up, and paused briefly as the two stared at each other. Slowly bringing her hand to his mask, Luz tilted it, until it caught the light of his staff and the sun, and showed a pair of bright pink eyes.

With a heavy sigh, Luz stepped back as she stepped up to Kin. Before the demon could get a word out, Luz slapped the glyph to his horn and the ice from it spread over his head. “I really hate that nickname. I much prefer the one you gave me.” Luz pulled her mask up slightly to let Geegee see her smirk, and though she couldn’t see past his mask, Luz reckoned he was smiling too as she could see his gaze through the slit of his mask relax as it settled on her.

With a violent crash, the ice on Kin’s head shattered, making him gasp and shake his head. As he began aggressively shouting at Luz, he let out a gasp of air as he was winded by his brother being thrown into him with enough force to break the ice around Gin's torso. Warden Wrath slammed the doors on the ratworm drawn carriage shut, happily dusting off his hands before slamming his hand into its side a few times, signaling the driver to move.

“Well, it’s almost hard to believe, but we got them sir.” The warden turned to Geegee, his own mask hiding any apparent emotion as well as the golden mask that stared back at him did.

“You handled the coordination of this task well Wrath, I’ll make sure to highlight that when I report back to Belos.” As Luz rolled her eyes at the mention of the Emperor, she noted how the warden seemed genuinely happy to hear that.

With a diligent salute, the warden marched off with several other scouts. Once again leaving Luz and Geegee alone with each other. The silence was tense, but Luz strangely found that it wasn’t an unpleasant tension. Eventually it was broken by the sound of familiar boots scuffing against the floor as he turned to her.

“So what made you decide to help me arrest those two?” Geegee’s words were filled with genuine confusion.

Luz was about to answer until she heard the warden saying something in the distance and paused as she turned her attention to it. Spotting the warden embracing a small red figure, Braxas, before wandering off, Luz simply smiled up at the boy.

“What can I say, I guess there are some bad wild witches after all.” Luz shrugged her shoulders before she turned to walk away.

“Where are you going?” The Golden Guard’s words were still confused as Luz turned back to him.

“Home? It’s kind of a long walk without a staff.” Before Luz could continue, her wrist was grabbed by the Golden Guard, but not in a tight grip.

“I haven’t dismissed you yet, scout, you’re still due for review.” Geegee’s voice was light and Luz’s eyes widened in disbelief at the teasing, almost playful tone.

Geegee sat on his staff and let it hover over the ground before turning his mask to look at Luz expectantly. Seeing the intent, Luz couldn’t help but smile as she sat behind him.

“Try not to cling to me too tight this time.” Luz was certain this time that she heard a small chuckle emanate from the mask, and she giggled along with him as she wrapped her arms around him, bracing herself for the flight.

Again, like before, the staff slowly adjusted before, with only a brief warning, the two rocketed off at a speed that nearly threw Luz off, even with her trying to hold on. As they sailed through the air in a streak of red, Luz let out a boisterous cheer like she’d have given on an amusement park ride.

All too soon though, the ride ended and Luz once again found solid ground under foot. More used to the sensation by now, Luz shook her legs to keep the blood flowing in them as she pulled her mask off, breathing in the familiar air as she took in the surroundings without the red tint from the magic flight obscuring her vision and smiled as she recognized the outskirts of Bonesborough.

“So, I guess this is where you warn me about the Emperor again, and fly off all mysterious like?” Luz happily fell into her joking tone, dropping the formalities from before as she peered up at the Golden Guard.

“Well actually, you said you were hungry right?” Luz quirked a brow as Geegee put his hands into his cloak and pulled out a wrapped sandwich. “I got it from that food stop while you were helping Wrath grab the brothers.”

“Well, I guess you’re quick, if nothing else.” Chuckling at the boy, Luz happily took the late lunch and unwrapped it, smiling at the griffin egg salad sandwich.

Luz’s eyes drifted to a rock and moved to sit on it, letting out a relaxed sigh as she did. Pulling her hood down, Luz shook her hair free, idly scratching at her scalp. “You should tell whoever designs those uniforms that the hood makes your scalp itch.”

Luz smiled as the Golden Guard chuckled once more, and she couldn’t deny that she enjoyed his presence more when he was more openly expressing himself, even if he did clear his throat to try and play off his chuckles again. Geegee simply stood as Luz slowly ate through the sandwich, watching her, thinking to himself, or maybe he’d fallen asleep on his feet, Luz still couldn’t tell through the mask.

When he finally moved, he surprised Luz as he shifted his cape and sat beside her and let his staff come to rest on his feet, and relaxed his arms against his knees.

“I’m glad… that- you know, that they didn’t-  I mean, that you weren’t-”

“Are you trying to say you were worried about me?” Luz snickered as she cut off the Golden Guard’s rambling, laughing more as his breath hitched and he turned his head away, proving her suspicion right.

Leaning into the boy, Luz nudged him with her elbow, making him push back against her with a huff, making her laugh harder as she rocked back and forth before leaning into him, pausing when he let out a sigh and left her to lean against him.

“I’m sorry.” Luz muttered quietly as she bit into the sandwich, not looking up at the Golden Guard, but could feel his eyes on her. “If I hadn’t left that vine by the roof, or if I had just kept my mouth shut around those guys…” Luz let out a sigh, disappointed in herself as she tried to silence herself with more of the sandwich.

“Don’t apologize. When I said I wanted you to take it seriously, it’s because I thought they’d try to take advantage of you being a wild witch too, which they did.  I… should have been more clear.” Luz nodded slightly before turning up to look at the boy and giving him a small smile.

“Well, I guess we both learned something today. Though, I gotta ask. How’d you know that Kin wasn’t me?” Luz tilted her head as she recalled seeing Kin having already failed in tricking him, and her curiosity rose.

“Are you kidding me? There’s no one who can impersonate you. You’ve got this very distinctively annoying energy about you.” The Golden Guard’s condescending words were contrasted by his light tone and made Luz smirk.

“So, what you’re saying is; you think I’m unique.” Holding a hand to her chest proudly, Luz grinned up at Geegee who nudged her with an annoyed, playful grunt.

“I’m saying that he was less annoying than you. Speaking of, when we were on the roof, how’d you know it was me?” This time it was the Golden Guard’s turn to tilt his head.

“Oh, that’s easy, your eyes. Now those are unique. I like ‘em.” Luz paused as she processed her own words, quickly turning her face away from the Golden Guard and distracting herself with more of her sandwich. Looking back up at Geegee, to try and gauge any sort of reaction from him to her words, she noticed the lack of any other food and laughed airily. “You’re really not gonna show me your face, are you?”

His head twitched slightly, snapping out of his thoughts before he chuckled too. “I like my privacy, sue me, Human.” Luz smirked at Geegee’s words, not feeling the same biting sting from when he had called her human before.

“So, now what happens to Ray?” Luz leaned a hand against the rock as she lounged backward.

“After a review of her performance today, I offered her a recommendation into the course that would see her promoted. But she found the work today too stressful, and respectfully requested transfer from the coven.” Luz smiled as she heard her and Geegee imagined character’s story developing. “I transfer her to some lowkey coven that won’t be investigated. Maybe the Tiny Cat Coven.”

“That’s a shame. She really enjoyed working with the Golden Guard, after he got the stick out of his butt.” Luz poked her tongue out at the boy, and there was no mistaking the chuckle he gave in response.

“I still think she could have been useful to the coven, but I also know I can’t force her hand.” As Geegee idly brought his staff up to his mask, he twisted at some of the screws that held the mechanical top together.

Luz paused as she chewed her sandwich, pondering over the questions she wanted to ask before swallowing. “If you knew you couldn’t change my- Ray’s mind… why’d you ask her to come out with you?”

“I asked you to come out with me because you interested me, Human.” Luz smiled as the Golden Guard dropped the petense as he looked at her. “I… I suppose I wanted to see what the apprentice of the, realest, wildest, wild witch was really like.”

“Was I everything you imagined?” Luz tilted her head as her smile turned up into a smirk as he repeated her words from earlier in the day back to her.

“If by that you mean impulsive, annoying, easily distracted…” Geegee shrugged his shoulders at Luz as he crossed his arms, and in the late afternoon sun, Luz could clearly see his eyes staring at her with a relaxed gaze.

“I was gonna say, easygoing and fun, but sure, that too.” With another bite of her sandwich, Luz looked down at the rest of the lunch and rewrapped it before offering it to Geegee. “Not to mention generous.”

While hesitant, the Golden Guard took the rest of the sandwich and stored it in a pocket before standing from the rock and walking a small distance away from Luz. “I… I suppose that not all wild magic is dangerous.”

“Why don’t we agree that it depends on who uses it. I mean, some of the witches who use it clearly are pretty bad.” The Golden Guard turned back to her, seemingly surprised by her words before softly nodding.

“I’ll be honest, I half expect to hear about you and the Owl Lady breaking into the Conformitorium to break those two out.” Bringing a hand into his hood, Geegee scratched at his neck as Luz shook her head, a small look of disdain on her face.

“Those two can break themselves out. Though… if you could maybe leave out the part where they were gonna impersonate you and kidnap Braxas from Belos?” Luz asked hopefully, shrugging her shoulders as Geegee groaned. “They’re bad guys, sure, but no one deserves to be petrified.” Despite Luz’s soft words, the Golden Guard could hear the certainty in them.

With a heavy sigh, he gave a curt nod. “I won’t lie to Belos. But… I suppose omitting some of the facts is the least I can do as a thank you.”

“Geegee! Did the Emperor’s right hand man really just thank a wild witch?” Luz exclaimed happily as she smugly grinned at the boy

With a groan, the boy turned away. “I’m leaving now.”

Before he could take a step the boy let out a grunt as Luz briefly wrapped her arms around him in a hug before pulling away. “You can call that, my thank you, for not being as big a jerk as I thought you might be.” 

As she smiled up at the boy, he paused as he stared back at her in surprise before shaking his head and snapping out of his thoughts. “Right. Oh, I forgot one last thing.” Luz nodded and held out the mask, but Geegee pushed it back towards her. “Keep it, it’ll be easier to handle logistically that way. No, I meant this.” 

Luz paused as Geegee got close to her for the third time that day. Before she could wonder his intent, she felt a finger poke into her arm. Curiously narrowing her eyes at the Golden Guard she heard his chuckles clearly as he hopped away from her and onto his staff. 

“Tag. You’re it human. Byeeeee.” With a wave, the Golden Guard sailed away in a flash of red, leaving Luz’s mouth wide open in an amused smile, surprised at the boy.

Chuckling to herself, Luz watched as the streak of red faded into the distance. “Bye, Geegee.” She softly muttered to herself before walking through the familiar outskirts of Boonesborough.

Luz’s walk back to the Owl House was slightly awkward as she slowly took off the uniform that covered her clothes, and she was beginning to wonder if the reason Geegee had left her with the uniform was to leave her in the awkward predicament of possibly explaining to Eda where she got it from.

With no immediate idea of how to explain her absence and how she got the uniform, Luz fiddled with the uniform, trying to fold it enough that she could maybe hide it behind her back. Any semblance of secrecy was broken as Hooty burst in front of her from the ground.

“Hiya Luz! Where ya been!?” Luz couldn't help but notice the difference between the high pitched, high volume of Hooty and the low, tired voice of the boy she’d inadvertently spent the day with.

“Oh, just hanging around Hooty, you know. Oh, hey Hooty, wanna do me a favor?” As the answer to her uniform problem struck Luz, Hooty let out a gasp before rapidly agreeing, ever eager to please the residents of the house he was a part of. “I need you to take this up to my room, okay Hooty?”

“You got it, Luz!” Biting down into the fabric and mask, Hooty flung his seemingly boneless body upward and through Luz’s window, shattering the glass.

While Luz sighed at the idea of cleaning up the glass again, she was glad that she didn’t have to try and sneak the uniform past Eda now. Speaking of the older witch, as Luz approached the front door, she heard the familiar cackle of her mentor and the laughter of King. As she opened the door, she found the two doubled over in laughter as they peered at Eda’s scroll, leaning against a stack of books on the table.

Spotting her apprentice, Eda waved her over. “Lu- Luz, you’ve gotta see this.” Eeking out the girl’s name through her continued laughter, Eda fell back into the couch as she pointed at the scroll.

The infectious energy of the laughter brought a grin of anticipation to Luz’s face as she stepped over to the table and peered at the scroll. Though her smile quickly fell and her eyes widened as she saw a familiar scene replaying. A very familiar rooftop being filmed from high above, the Golden Guard chasing her in her coven scout disguise across it as Luz saw their impromptu game of tag replaying over and over.

“Where did this come from!?” Luz tried to keep the shock out of her voice as she put on a smile at her mentor.

“That friend of yours, Viney?” She took her griffin out for a fly around the Isles.” Luz felt her eyes widen in realization as she recalled the silhouette in the distant sky as she watched the clouds. “When they got to this one town, she saw a ton of coven scouts and none other than the Golden Guard.” Eda’s continued laughter broke Luz out of her thoughts as the older witch replayed the video again.

King’s laughter began to fade as he jumped into Eda’s lap to watch the video with a better view. “Yeah! Him and his girlfriend.” As Eda and King looked at each other they laughed at the ridiculousness of the words.

Meanwhile, the words struck Luz in a very different way as she watched the video, and the recent memory of the small, playful chase repeated in her mind at the same time.

“By the way Luz, your friends came by asking about you, apparently you had plans with them but you never showed?” A small hint of concern touched Eda’s words and Luz smiled at her mentor’s small worry.

“Come on, Eda, it’s Luz, she probably made ten new friends and got distracted.” As the two settled down from their laughter, Luz couldn’t help but smile at King’s words.

“No. But maybe at least one.” Crouching in front of King, Luz ran her hands through his fur, making him lean into the affectionate touch. “Hey Eda, do you mind if I borrow this?” Grabbing the scroll, Luz turned to her mentor who shrugged nonchalantly.

Moving up through the house, Luz replayed the video on the scroll, rewatching the brief time she saw the Golden Guard not acting like the Golden Guard, and she couldn’t help but smile at the thought of him actually acting like the teenager he clearly was. As she stepped into her room, Luz sighed at the sight of the shattered glass that littered the floor. Quickly sweeping it up to clear the floor, Luz sat on her sleeping bag as she let the video replay. For a while, she simply rewatched the video, and briefly glanced at her newly acquired coven uniform, smiling at the thought of when she might see the boy again.

“Oh, Luz, one thing I forgot to mention.” The sound of Eda’s voice shocked Luz into dropping the scroll, spotting a nearby blanket, she chucked it over the uniform that was tucked away in the corner and tried to appear relaxed as Eda appeared in her doorway. “I spoke with the Bat Queen earlier today while you were out, she’s thinking of bringing some palismen from her woods to Hexside in a week or so, you know, get them some new witches. You might just find one for yourself, kid.” As the Owl Lady winked at the human girl, Luz couldn’t help but squeal at the thought, leaping to her feet and hugging her mentor.

Hunter let his body crash into the bed beneath him as he let out a tired sigh. The day had gone by quicker than he had expected, and his report to Belos on the capture of the Gold and Silver Brothers had been more mentally taxing than he expected it to be. But, as he had promised the human, he’d kept out what she told him of what the two demons’ plans really were. The thought of them impersonating him to rob the castle sent a small shiver down his spine.

Sitting up in his bed, he felt something shift in his pocket. Grabbing at the item, he remembered the remnants of the sandwich that she had given him, and he couldn’t help but smile at the thought. She was as stubborn and annoying as he had expected her to be, but he couldn’t deny that she was at least a little endearing. As he bit into the sandwich, he tiredly peered around his sparsely decorated room.

He should have been happy just to be back in his room this early into the evening, his uncle rewarded his work with an early night, but all Hunter could think about was how quiet it was without someone to talk to, or more specifically, someone to incessantly talk into his ear.

His gaze soon fell onto the window beside his bed, and he gently pulled against his eyelids to get a clearer look at his bright pink eyes. Hunter let out a grateful sigh at the thought of his mask, as it hid the small blush her compliment had put on his cheeks.

With a grunt he pushed the window open to try and cool off from the day. The whistle of the wind was pleasant, and Hunter watched the clouds pass him by, mentally noticing when they looked like certain objects or animals, until his thoughts were interrupted by the voices of a group of scouts being carried on the wind.

“Hey, did you hear about the Golden Guard today?” Hearing his title being mentioned, Hunter focused his hearing, but didn’t lean out the window, not wanting the scouts to see him and leave.

“Oh yeah, he and some new scout caught the Gold and Silver Brothers right? I tell you, I know a lot of shopkeepers that’ll be thanking him for that.”

“Yeah, if they ever bump into him, dude’s like a hermit, I never see him outside the castle unless he’s working.”

“I’ve never seen him without his mask, hell, I don’t even know what the dude looks like, or even his name.”

“The kid you mean, I’ve heard his voice, he’s probably only a few years older than my little brother.”

Hunter glared slightly at the scouts’ words, feeling a small twinge of indignation as he listened in on their conversation.

“Well he can’t be that bad, dude got a girlfriend after all.” Hunter barely heard the shocked exclamations from the other scouts as he began to choke on the awkwardly swallowed piece of sandwich.

Coughing and spluttering, Hunter slammed his fist into his chest as he tried to dislodge the food. When it finally fell through and he got his breathing back, he tried to calm his erratic breathing and heart rate as he turned back to the window, where the scouts were still hurriedly talking over each other in their surprise.

“Yeah, I’m telling you guys, I was there. It’s this new scout we got, Ray, I think her name was.” Hunter felt his cheeks heat up at the thought, and shuffled closer to the window to listen closer. “I was there for the stakeout, though, if you ask me, for those two, it was a date, or something. It was just him and this new scout girl, alone on a rooftop, she came down to buy the both of them lunch, and you should have seen him when he caught one of the demon brothers. ‘Where is she? Where’s Ray?’ He was saying.” Hunter briefly recalled the other scout that had come up to the rooftop with Luz and pressed his hands to his face as his blush spread to his ears. “I’m telling you guys, he was actually acting like a teenager, it was hilarious.”

Hunter made sure that when he shut the window, it was with enough force that the noise would carry down to the group of scouts, even through their laughter. With a groan, Hunter dragged his hands down his face, his mind flashing through the memory of the day that had passed and focusing on all the things he didn’t even register at the moment.

Luz’s laughter as she clung to him when they flew on his staff, their back and forth on the rooftop that became almost friendly, the worry he felt when he realized that the Luz that had returned to the rooftop was one of the demon brothers disguised as her and the relief he felt when he saw the genuine her clinging to one of the strange glyphs she used to cast magic. He paused as he remembered the few times their masks got close to each other, and when she looked into his ‘unique’ eyes to confirm it was him.

Shaking his head, Hunter forcefully crushed the empty sandwich wrapper in his hands to expend the sudden tension that had built up in him from the thoughts racing in his head. Throwing the wrapper into the nearby bin, Hunter let out a tired sigh that turned aggravated. These thoughts he had meant nothing, he and Luz knew why he had actually brought her out on his mission, what others thought didn’t matter.

Despite Hunter telling himself this, he couldn’t help but peer into the reflective gold-like metal of his mask and wonder why she was so curious about what he looked like under it. He couldn’t stop the memories from the day pouring back into focus in his mind now that they had started, and he began seeing certain moments in whole new ways. Like how soft her hair felt when he was trying to push it back into her hood, and how, without the mask, he couldn’t deny that the muted silvers and grays of the scout uniform seemed to emphasize how bright and colorful she herself was.

WIth an annoyed sigh, Hunter shook his head, trying to put the memories of the day behind him, but all it resulted in were him remembering all the times she called him by that silly nickname she had given him. Peering out the window again, Hunter couldn’t help but wonder if he’d see her again, and if she’d still use it.