Work Text:
Who Cares About the Ripple Effects?
"Hero?" Luz scoffed. "Everywhere he went, people ended up suffering."
"It does get bleak," Mr. Adams, her English teacher, admitted gracefully. "But no one said his mission would be easy. And when you take into account the ripple effects of his actions-"
"Who cares about the ripple effects?" Luz argued angrily, banging her fist on her desk and drawing the class's attention. "He was just a pawn in someone else's game." She was up on her feet and gesturing now, emotions she didn't dare think about bubbling up. She climbed on her desk and added, "And he was never smart enough to realize it! If his friends and family knew about his mission, they'd know that their lives would never have been in danger if it weren't for him! They should hate his guts! And it would be better if he'd never existed!"
In the Noceda kitchen, three witchlings, a secret grimwalker, and a basilisk all took a deep breath and sneezed.
"Whoa, what was that?" Gus asked, sniffling and rubbing his nose on his sleeve before he got back to digging a packet of cheese slices from the fridge. Pre-sliced cheese — humans were so brilliant!
"What are the odds we all sneezed at the exact same time?" Amity asked as she took the cheese package Gus handed her and kept organizing "lunch meats," condiments, and vegetable slices for their lunch of sandwiches.
"That sounds … familiar, actually," Willow mused as she carefully sliced the vegetables for Amity to plate and organize on the counter.
"It's an old witch's tale," Hunter supplied absently, eyes focused on the microwave device as it counted down for the chili to heat up. For whatever reason, he and Gus had taken to putting chili on their sandwiches whenever possible. "It was a belief that when someone was talking about a group without their knowledge, they would all sneeze as hard as they could."
"Who could be talking about all of us?" Vee asked.
"Either Luz or Camila," Amity replied. "They're the only people in this realm who know about all of us."
"Hunter," Willow said, "is there any specific way the superstition says the group is being talked about?"
"Accounts vary, of course," Hunter answered, the microwave beeping for him to remove the bowl of chili. "But a lot of researchers agree that people agree on two big causes. Talking about what might have been, and negative emotions behind it."
Everyone looked at each other in silent communication. Hunter glanced at the clock and grabbed a pen, writing down the approximate time of their collective sneeze on a notepad Camila used for grocery lists on the refrigerator. He tore off the paper and shoved it in his pocket.
"We're talking to her about this, right?" Amity asked.
"To Luz?" Gus asked. "Oh yeah."
"Definitely," Willow said.
"I'll talk to Camila to cover that route," Vee offered.
"I just can't imagine what Luz would say with that kind of dark edge," Amity mused.
'I have an idea or two,' Hunter thought solemnly.
When Luz and Camila got home, they met the concerned looks of their housemates.
"What's going on, everyone?" Luz asked warily.
"Hey, Camila, can you help me with something in the kitchen?" Vee asked, her voice heavy with meaning.
"Of course, mija," Camila replied, much more smoothly. She kissed Luz on the forehead and followed Vee into the back of the house, leaving Luz alone with her concerned friends.
"Luz, this is gonna sound like a strange question-" Amity said, holding her hands up in a conciliatory gesture.
"What were you doing at 2:06 today?" Hunter asked, bluntly and without preamble.
Luz blinked and thought for a second. "I was in English class," Luz said. "We were going over some book about the Hero's Journey."
"Did the discussion go well?" Gus asked.
"Oh, uh, yeah!" Luz said with patently false cheer. "It went great."
"Did you participate at all?" Willow asked.
"Why are you guys asking so many questions?" Luz asked, starting to sweat. "I mean, is this an interrogation?"
"Luz, please," Amity said, taking Luz's hands in hers. "Please answer honestly." She swallowed. "Did you say anything … dark today?"
In that moment, Luz hated herself. She hated that she'd somehow worried her friends. She hated that her first instinct was to lie to them all. She hated that she'd gotten them stuck here, away from their families, with no surefire way to get back. She hated that she'd ruined everything.
The saddest part might be that this was not a new feeling.
"The teacher started talking about how the hero's journey might be full of bad stuff, but that ripple effects bring out more good than direct harm." She scoffed. "Like that guy knows what it's really like." The floodgates had opened, now. "I mean, look at me! I came in and tried to be a hero and everything went terribly!" She was beginning to cry now, months of repressed self-loathing and guilt exploding. "I finally made amazing friends and I ruined their lives!" Now she was shouting. "Who cares about the ripple effects?!"
Luz quieted down and rubbed her eyes, trying to fight off the stream of tears before she realized that everyone else was quiet, too. She looked up and found everyone, including Vee and her mama, looking at her with shock.
"See, there it is," she said with a bitter smile, as she waved her pointer finger toward each of them. "That's how all of you should look at the stupid girl who ruined everyone's lives."
"Luz Carmelita Noceda," Camila said in a stern tone, walking forward with all of the presence of the most righteous mama bear. She held Luz's face in her hands and brushed her thumb across her daughter's cheek. "I don't ever want to hear you say that again," she whispered, her own eyes shining with unshed tears. "Mi bebé. Mi preciosa lucecita. Don't you ever say you ruined anyone's lives. Because that is las mentiras del diablo." Camila had never been a regular goer of Mass, but she did believe that evil tried to break the good and pure. And a devil or not, she refused to let its hooks into her Luz. Not if she could help it.
She wrapped Luz in a motherly hug and held her close, trying to convey all the love she felt for her daughter in that simple action.
"But it's true," Luz wept. "I ruined the Boiling Isles …!"
"Do you really think that?" Hunter snapped, his hackles raised in the fury reminiscent of an elder brother. "Do you really see so little in everyone else? How can you be so smart and so freaking stupid?!"
"Hunter!" Amity tried to intervene.
"No, Blight, she needs to hear this!" Hunter snarled. He stomped forward and leveled his finger at Luz. "Listen and listen well, Human. I know what you think you did, just like you know about me. We said we'd tell everyone when we were ready and it's been too long. We're cowards, yeah. But no longer. They're learning now."
"Learning what?" Gus asked. Had anyone been looking, they would have seen a glint in Gus's eyes that was more determined than curious.
"So will you tell them, or me?" Hunter asked, calmly, quietly, dangerously. "Your call, Luz."
"I-" Luz's voice failed and she retreated into herself.
"I'm a grimwalker," Hunter said, boldly and in front of everyone. His face was pale with fear, his eyes wide with suppressed panic as nervous sweat beaded his brow. "It's like a clone. All of the Golden Guards were. We're copies of someone Belos once knew, someone who may-" He coughed. "Who may have … been a … witch hunter."
Luz stared at Hunter, floored by his actions. She'd assumed he would tell her secret.
"Luz found out at the same time I did and I asked her to keep it a secret," Hunter added. "She's been carrying that for a while now." His lips twisted with regret. "I just didn't know what to think. What you all would think." He ran his fingers through his hair and clutched at his scalp. "Not when I was finally happy. Like a stupid, selfish, fake."
"Hunter, stop," Willow said, taking his hands from his head and wrapping her arms around him in a tight hug. "You're Hunter to us. No one else. And we love you for being you."
"You're one of our best buds," Gus said, joining Willow. "Nothing's gonna change that, ever."
"You're one of us," Amity agreed kindly, placing a hand on his shoulder.
"It's not like you're the only thing Belos made in this room," Vee added tightly, resting her cheek on his shoulder.
"It's not your fault where you came from, Hunter," Camila soothed, wrapping one arm around the group hug while keeping the other around Luz.
Gus bit his lip. "I already knew."
Everyone looked at Gus, who broke away from the hug a little to tap his earring. "I saw some of Belos's memories during the fight. Flashes mostly, and secondhand rage and grief. But I saw someone who looked like Hunter, saw him get killed … and then saw Hunter's hand rise from the ground." He smiled sadly. "But it doesn't matter, man. You're still you, and you always will be."
Hunter was quietly, openly weeping, the greatest burden on his soul lifted. He looked at Luz with a steady gaze. Waiting.
"I helped Philip meet the Collector," Luz said hoarsely. Everyone looked at Luz in shock, now. "There was this time pool and I wanted to talk to Philip about building a portal, and I- I taught him the light spell! I introduced him to the Collector, I set everything in motion!" She was hugging herself, more tears pooling in her eyes. "I'm so sorry, everyone."
"Why would you hide that, Luz?" Amity asked.
"I was scared," Luz revealed. "I thought you would all hate me for it."
Everyone was quiet before Vee broke the silence. "Hunter's right," she said matter-of-factly. "How can you be so smart and dumb enough to believe that?"
Luz looked at Vee in surprise. "What?"
"Luz, girl," Gus said, "after everything we've been through, everything you've done for all of us, how could you ever think we'd hate you?"
"By causing the Day of Unity and getting you all trapped here?" Luz asked bitterly.
"Belos caused the Day of Unity," Hunter said firmly. "And if it hadn't been you who helped him find the Collector, it would have been some other helpless sap. Belos tricks people, Luz. It's what he does." He laughed somberly. "He did it to everyone on the Boiling Isles for years. He did it to Lilith and to me, and we did horrible things under his orders." He met Luz's eyes. "Do you hate Lilith? Or me?"
"No!" Luz shouted. "No, you were-!" She blinked. "You were tricked."
"See?" Hunter prodded.
There was silence until Willow broke it. "And for the record," Willow said, hands on her hips in a motherly, almost Camila-like fashion, "I happen to appreciate the ripple effects a certain human hero brought to the Boiling Isles." She released a shuddering breath and held her stomach as if she were going to be sick. "Luz, you saved all of us. Everyone in this room."
"What are you talking about?" Luz asked, and her eyes were wide with shock at the words.
"Do you remember the day we met?" Willow asked. Luz nodded, and Willow frowned. "Then you clearly haven't given it enough thought." She lifted her glasses and rubbed her eyes before she blinked them open and looked at Gus. "Gus, can that mirror only show memories, or can it show thoughts, too?"
"Uh, I haven't tried much," Gus admitted.
"Try it now," Willow gently commanded. "Try to show everyone what I'm imagining."
Gus blinked before his eyebrows arched in realization and he nodded. He removed the mirror from his ear and traced a small circle that he tapped on Willow's forehead, Willow's eyes glowing with Gus's cyan magic. Magic swirled around them in a spherical curtain, hiding the living room and replacing it with a forest of the Boiling Isles.
Willow stood there, her hair unbraided and her uniform the orchid of the Abomination track. "You can do it!" Willow said to herself, just as Luz remembered from that fateful day.
Luz's first sight of Willow and Amity's interaction played out just like that day, from Willow healing a flower, to Amity arriving and talking down to her, to Willow's furious bout of magic that had thorny vines writhing. But unlike reality, the vines didn't snag Luz. No, they just kept raging until Willow broke and fell to her knees to weep bitterly. The Hexside bell screamed and Willow stood up, wiped her tears away, and barely managed to scoop up her lackluster Abomination to wheel it into class.
The background changed into the Abomination class, with Professor Hermonculus berating the class. Willow brought her Abomination up to demonstrate as ordered, but instead of Luz masquerading as one, Willow humiliated herself with the real deal. Extra homework was assigned, Amity showed off her perfect project and made her feel worse, and the Abomination students picked on Willow for their upcoming month of extra homework.
Smaller scenes flashed by of Gus, still prior to witch puberty, trying to encourage Willow with no success, Boscha and her crew mocking Willow for not being able have a moonlight conjuring, Willow's continued depression in the Abomination class as Boscha and Amity and so many others continued to mock and bully her …
Hunter came to Hexside during the club fair, and passed over Willow and Gus to find other students to press-gang into the Emperor's Coven.
It was all heartbreaking.
Then came the day that the scouts — including Amity — arrived before the Day of Unity. Willow was pressed into the Abomination Coven with her heart clearly shattering into even smaller pieces as she was permanently forced into a magic track she hated and was terrible at.
Then the Day of Unity came, and Willow's magic was ripped away from her by the Draining Spell, along with everyone else.
The scene shifted one last time to Philip stepping through the portal with a satisfied grin.
Willow was crying silent tears as the vision ended. She took a deep, fortifying breath before looking at everyone else. At that moment, she had to admit to having some idea of why Luz kept the truth about Belos and the Collector from them. She had just shown Camila and Vee … and Hunter … a vision of what she had been before.
Weak, broken, half-a-witch Willow.
"Luz, I love Gus like a little brother," she said, calmly and quietly, "but you are the friend who has made the most difference in my life. That first day we met may have gotten crazy, but it convinced Principal Bump to transfer me to the Plant track, the track I love." She took Luz's hands in her own. "You pushed me to discover my real strength, to face my fears, to love myself!" She sniffled. "The moonlight conjuring, the grudgby match …" She sobbed a breath and the tears flowed again. "The memory thing."
"Willow …" Luz said, her tears beginning to fall, too.
"You were the one who made it so that Amity told me the truth," Willow continued. "You were the one who pushed us to try and rebuild our friendship. You were the one who changed her, changed both of us, to make it even possible." She lifted a hand and leveled her pointer finger at Luz's nose.
"So don't you ever ask me who cares about the ripple effects."
Willow bit her lip and silently added that if she had been branded into the Abomination Coven … she might not have made it to the Day of Unity to die.
"She's not the only one, Luz," Gus said. He performed the spell on himself …
The dome of magic returned, showing himself — his shorter, soft-faced, pre-witch puberty self — and Willow on the day of the Abomination incident. Gus tried to console Willow when he saw the tear steaks on her cheeks, but she shook him off and headed for class, leaving the round-cheeked Gus watching with concern.
Then came the day Mattholomule had joined the Human Appreciation Society.
On that day, Matt's conniving wound up securing him the presidency of the HAS, and Gus was kicked out on the first order of business. Sure, he kept up his studies where he could, but he'd lost most of his acquaintances. He watched from afar as Willow slowly spiraled, and even witch puberty wasn't enough to boost his spirits.
After the pixie incident where Willow was hurt, there was no one to pull Gus from his funk. His self-esteem got worse, he never discovered the Looking-Glass Graveyard to reaffirm his love of Illusion magic, and never became friends with Mattholomule as evidenced by images of him mocking Gus in the halls …
"What's up, Augustus?" Matt jeered.
Gus never got his nickname without Luz.
Then came the day the scouts invaded — including Amity — and Gus dispeled Adrian Graye's illusion. But when Graye prepared to brand him and Gus panicked and produced that shifting labyrinth, Hunter wasn't there to save him. No … Hunter was there to capture him. The Golden Guard subdued Gus and Graye branded him with the mark of the Abomination Coven, suppressing Gus's illusion and dispersing it.
"Well, that was fun," Graye jeered. "Now on with the show." And everyone at Hexside was branded.
Then the Day of Unity came, and Gus's magic was ripped away from him by the Draining Spell, along with everyone else.
The scene shifted one last time to Philip stepping through the portal with a satisfied grin.
Gus wasn't crying as the illusion ended … but his eyes were red and his lips were set in a thin line. It was clear he was working very hard to keep his composure.
"Luz, when Willow introduced us … it was a dream come true. I never thought I'd actually meet a human, but you made that happen." He chuckled and brushed his eyes. "But far more than that, you gave me another friend, too. You believed in me even when I did crazy stuff, tried your best to support me and Willow … Everything Willow just said and more."
Gus launched himself into Luz's arms for a hug, finally letting the tears fall. Luz let just one roll down her cheek as she held Gus tight. Everyone was silent as Gus got it out of his system and calmed down enough to use magic again. He and Willow looked expectantly at Amity, both of them having the best idea of how much Luz had impacted her.
"Batata," Amity said, taking Luz's hand and knitting their fingers. "I think you know what's next."
Gus cast the spell again …
"I suppose I was wrong," Amity said, her hair green and her expression icy. Willow, stained in Abomination goo from her failed presentation, tensed up before turning to look at her. "You couldn't get a passing grade, could you?" Amity turned on her heel away from Willow … and her lips tightened with pain. Even after all these years, as easy as it had become to slip into the role of a cold, uncaring bully, it still hurt.
She brushed it from her mind and left to join Boscha and Skara for lunch.
As the illusion kept on, it showed Amity stressing in her room over quizzes and tests before showing her perfect results to her mother. Odalia would shrug and leave, Amity's faint look of hope dying every time.
It showed Edric and Emira playing tricks on Amity, stressing her out even more with no real friends to turn to.
Then came the Emperor's Coven tryouts, which Amity passed with flying colors. Edric and Emira looked remorseful and each tried to hug her goodbye, but she rebuffed them after their years of insensitive cruelty. Odalia actually looked proud and Alador certainly did … until a scout captain led Amity away for basic training.
What came next was a horror show of death-defying boot camp. Hunter had, on a single occasion, told the group what scout training was like. The duels, mazes loaded with traps, even a trial that dropped prospective scouts on the top of a mountain to see who could make it down alive! Gus's illusion showed ideas of how that could have gone for Amity, and she barely survived. Not to mention she was alone, without even the shallow friends or poor relationships with her family.
When she passed, beaten and bruised and half-dead, she was given her first assignment: to brand every student of her former school with a coven sigil to prepare for the Day of Unity. Her mouth was twisted with revulsion at branding her classmates, and even her siblings. All under the derision of Adrian Graye.
Then the Day of Unity came, and Amity's magic was ripped away from her by the Draining Spell, along with everyone else.
The scene shifted one last time to Philip stepping through the portal with a satisfied grin.
Luz herself is openly weeping now. Of what is impossible to say. Joy at how much her friends care? Sorrow at these shadows of what might have been? Horror that her friends have clearly put so much thought into these dark reflections of their lives …?
"I guess I'm next," Hunter says, and lowers his head to surrender to Gus's spell.
The spell created the image of a ship at sea. The Boiling Sea. The Simmering Shoals, to be more exact.
On the deck of the selkidamus ship, the Golden Guard stood with one foot perched against the railing as he leaned an elbow on his knee, the other hand holding his ever-present mechanical staff. His face was hidden behind his famed mask, his eyes tracking behind it for any sign of his ordered quarry.
"On the starboard bow!" Captain Salty shouted, and the crew manned their positions.
The selkidamus made itself known, swelling and firing spines at the ship and the crew, actually decapitating one sailor even though it was merely a minor inconvenience for the clam-headed demon. After blasting the spines heading for him out of the air, the Golden Guard leapt into action and blasted the beast with red magic. The selkidamus howled with pain and submerged to flee, but the Golden Guard would not be dissuaded.
He leapt on his staff and followed the shadow of the aquatic creature to its lair. He snuck in quietly and found the beast licking its wounds. A squeak caught his attention and a baby selkidamus waddled toward the older one — It's mother? — and nuzzled her muzzle.
"Shit," the Golden Guard said, sudden guilt rising up. But he steeled his nerves and prepared his staff. The mother selkidamus noticed and roared, ready to protect her young.
"I'm sorry," the Golden Guard — Hunter — said. And then he cast the last spell he needed and the selkidamus wailed in pain … before going darkly silent.
Find me more palismen. I can depend on you, right?
Hunter whistled whatever tune came to mind as he piloted the airship he'd used to snag the nest of palismen from Hexside school. Part of him was concerned about crossing the Bat Queen, but they had no idea that it was him or the Emperor's Coven. And if they did, they couldn't do anything in reprisal.
And the palismen? They were made of wild magic. They were facinat- They were dangerous! And going to a worthy cause. It was fine …
Hunter grunted as the airship jolted when something big landed on it. What the-?! It looked like a dragon made up of hands and fingers! The beast demon unfurled a long, barbed tongue and lashed at the airship, tearing a hole in it and sending the machine falling to the ground.
After a moment of darkness, Hunter was splayed out over the ground, staff gone, and the hand dragon loomed over him. Find the rest of him and have yourself a nice little snack. The memory was tinted red as the dragon attacked-!
A possibility.
Then it fizzled and reformed to Hunter running with his staff from the dragon, activating a spell to teleport toward Latissa. He confronted the scouts and showed them his staff for entry before locating Kikimora and bringing charges of treason against her, having her arrested and retaking the palismen.
Soon enough, they arrived at the castle and Hunter handed over the nest.
"Well done, Hunter," Emperor Belos said from behind his mask. "I knew you could do well."
Because he was secure in his place with the emperor, Hunter never went to Eclipse Lake. He never felt compassion from Amity that reinforced his connection to Luz. He didn't have Flapjack and so never got to speak with him. Not that he would have had the chance if she had never met Luz and would eventually become a newly-recruited scout.
He did however have his encounter with the coven heads where they rescheduled the recruitment meeting and Darius spoke down to him. He compared Hunter to the previous Golden Guard who was the man's mentor and sarcastically gave Hunter the task of finding new scout recruits to earn back his cloak.
Because he didn't have a staff, Hunter used magic to disguise his mechanical one as a palisman staff. He met Willow and Gus just as he had in reality and played flyer derby with the Emerald Entrails. These memories were tinted with faint pink, which Gus knew meant they were deeply treasured — he wondered if Hunter hadn't imagined this day differently because he couldn't bring himself to do so …
But when the Entrails were taken away by Darius, Hunter's fear of Belos kept him in line. He didn't go after them. Darius ended up letting the kids go, but his budding relationship with his new friends withered before it could begin to take root. Darius looked upon him with even more scorn from then on.
Then came the events of the mind spell.
Hunter found out who he really was and fled from the hooded rebels who had pulled him out rather than continue their plan. He fled to Hexside just as he had in reality. He encountered Gus and tried to rescue him from Adrian Graye, which forced a tense truce between them.
But the Emerald Entrails had only experienced his betrayal. They didn't rescue him from Graye. Hunter was able to escape when Gus lost control of his magic and watched as Willow and the Emerald Entrails were beaten at the hands of the Abomi-ton and the coven scouts … including Amity. He desperately wanted to help, but knew he couldn't do anything.
He fled into the woods for the following week, grappling with his self-hatred.
Then the Day of Unity came, and Hunter's life was ripped away from him by the Draining Spell, along with everyone else.
The scene shifted one last time to Philip stepping through the portal with a satisfied grin.
The dome came down one more time and everyone looked at Hunter. He blushed under their scrutiny and looked away in shame at some of the things he might have done. Besides hypotheticals, he also recalled things he had done and bit his lip as tears came to his eyes.
He grunted as Willow crashed into him with another hug, tears streaming down her cheeks behind her glasses. Gus hugged him, too, and everyone else fell in for yet another group hug for their resident bad-but-sad boy.
"Vee?" Gus asked as they all separated. "Do you want a turn?" He lifted the earring.
"I don't want you to see what would have happened to me," Vee said, holding a hand over her mouth as tears of her own started to flow. "But I can try to explain. I would have either been caught by the Emperor's Coven and experimented on for the rest of my short life, been in hiding until the Day of Unity, starved to death, or been killed by scared witches and demons." She shuddered and curled into herself before taking a deep breath and looking Luz in the eye.
"When we first met, I said I resented you for leaving such a good life, Luz, but that I was also glad that you did." She smiled wanly. "I'm still glad you gave me the chance at a safe life, Luz." She took Luz's hand. "But now I'm even more happy, because I got such an understanding sister out of it. One who convinced Camila that I wasn't a monster and that I was worth saving."
Luz blinked and looked around at all of her friends. Friends who had suffered so much … and that she had helped without ever realizing … just by being her.
"Thanks, guys," she said with a small, sincere smile. "I-" Her breathing hitched as she tried to hold back the last tears she had in her. "I love you guys."
"We love you too, Batata," Amity said warmly.
"In different ways, of course," Gus added with a chuckle.
"Mi niñita," Camila sighed with pride. "Now, after such a happy-sad time, how about dinner?"
Everyone cheered and steered Luz into the dining room, also steering conversation away from what they had all seen and to safer, more innocuous topics. Such as upcoming Halloween.
All the while, Luz felt hope kindle in her heart for the first time in … too long.