Chapter Text
It didn’t take long for the Owl House to feel like home again. Though being a far cry from the home it once was, coated in graffiti and in ruin thanks to Coven Guards, Hunter and the Collector relax peacefully in the musty welcoming, telling the story of their side of the story to Luz, Eda, Raine and King. After stomping out Belos, the four travelled to the Owl House, a normal meeting location for the Hexsquad, a place they would surely check first. When Hunter came through the door with the collector, they were overjoyed to see them both, who returned the favour by happily giving the news of everybody being freed!
“And the Collector,” Hunter explaining what happened in their absence, “he had this fungus growing on him but he was saving us with his powers!”
Hunter found himself giving the Collector, once a foe, a good hair ruffle while talking.
“Was it green, tubular and grew at a fast pace?” asked Luz, in an oddly subdued tone.
“Yes Batata!” came a familiar voice from outside.
“AMITY!”
A flash of white and soon the lovebirds were engulfed in each other’s arms, sharing a hug and a kiss that was stolen some time ago. Luz finally feels safe and relaxed, a sensation once alien to her now a normalcy with Amity.
Behind the young witch came Willow and Gus, who had their own reunions with their family alongside Amity.
Luz thought back to her death, her memory of the green fungus eating her flesh away. Her final words held no meaning, not even towards Amity or her friends. In fact, she didn’t even think of her friends once while fighting for her life, even though they’ve saved Luz’s life more times than she can count.
How did you forget about your friends? Stupid, stupi-
“Luz, you’re thinking aloud again,” chirped Camila, standing in the doorway just behind Amity. Luz flushes in embarrassment, once again exposing her personal thoughts. “Besides, you just killed la beatia , cut yourself some slack. And don't tell me what happened yet, I need my Mija in my arms and a night to regroup my senses,” Luz’s mouth shutting as fast as it opened.
“Luz listen to your Mami,” shouts Eda, even though she's mere feet away. Eda and Camila, though just meeting, were a tag team. They both knew how to ground Luz back from bummerland, seemingly her favourite place these days.
“You saved us, you saved me Batata,” Amity whispers into Luz’s ear, still tightly clinging on.
Teary eyed, Luz buries her face into Amity’s shoulder, before feeling a tug of her coat.
It was their new short friend, escaping Hunter’s grasp
“Luz, I’m sorry for letting you die, I really tho-”
“WHAT!?”
The shouts came from all around the room, but the loudest happened to come next to Luz. Amity pulls away from the hug, eyes turned purple, enraged in fury.
"YOU DIED BATATA AND YOU HAVE THE GUTS TO HATE ON YOURSELF JUST BECAUSE YOU DIDN’T THINK OF ME? LUZ YOU ARE THE MOST IMPORTANT PERSO-"
Sobbing cuts Amity off, though it wasn't Luz’s tears. Amity's eyes revert and she sees the shock painted around the room, the idea of Luz being dead being so alien. The stillness in Camila's eyes is what hurt the most. Eyes so lively and caring, devoid of any emotion. Luz stood in the same stillness as her mother, Amity hoping she understands her frustration.
"I- i- I messed up ag- again!." sobbed the Collector. "Ple- please don't hur- hurt me," stuttered as they pull their hood over their face in fear.
Instead, Amity kneels onto one knee, searching for the Collector's eyes.
"You did good little one, you did good," she says, caressing his cheek. But this only sends the Collector into louder wails. Amity looks up and finds the human still standing still, an eerie sign most unlike with her normal jitters. But her lips were moving, mumbling something incoherently having her pale face slowly turn more and more red.
"Luz, are you ok?"
"-on one kne- huh? Yes I'm fine! What’s happening! Who's Luz?"
"Now's not the time to be thinking of proposing, Luz" Eda yells across the room, ensuring everybody had heard her.
That brought everybody out of shock. Hunter relaxed from his attack pose, Willow quietly shuffling away from the new cactus between her feet, quickly adding a flower to it pretending it has always been there. Gus whistles nonchalantly, counting to four on his hand while his chest moves in and out.
"ME THINKING WHAT?!" One tomato ripens.
"PROPOSAL?" The other not far behind.
Camila glares at Eda. "You're telling me my Mija died, and you not only have no reaction but also have the audacity to call out her teenage mind?"
"Relax Cam, I already spilled all of my anger killing Belos. And look around, I think calling out her thoughts made everybody turn on again"
“I so want your confidence,” Camila mumbles in response, jealousy written on her face.
Though still crying, the Collector ran to King, and muffled his sobs in his fur.
“Collector, you didn’t do anything wrong. Do you want Francois to calm you down?” says King, pulling Francois from behind the Collector’s ear.
“H- how did you do that?” stammers the Collector
“Magic!" proudly announces King. "My big sis taught me some cool tricks from the human realm!” he says, while placing Francois into the Collector’s hands, calming down the sobs.
“I can, hold him?”
“Collector you’re my friend, and that means you’re Francois’s too!”
A smile peeks through the hooded boy's teary face.
The rest of the traumatized decided on a hug, with Luz at the center of them all. Though being a tight squeeze, leaving many uncomfortable, the hug brought a sense of normalcy and belonging. They were all home, and alive to tell the tale. But somebody was missing…
"Lilith" Eda remembers, mumbling under her breath. "LILITH WHERE ARE YOU?" She looks back at the kids, while dashing to the door. "Stay back, I'm going to go find-"
A hooded figure crashes into Eda, causing a white box, carried by the intruder, to be sent flying back towards the door. Fluffy orange hair peeks out of the hood, and a certain raven palisman staff in the witch’s hand.
"LILITH YOU'RE ALIVE" Eda cries out, the moment her anger of the crash wore off that is.
"OF COURSE I AM! DO YOU REALLY THINK A LITTLE HIKE WOULD KILL ME?" Lillith hugging Eda. “You see, when I was the head of the Emperor’s Coven, I embarked on so many hikes through the kne-”
“Blah blah blah, Lily I know you were alive dummy. I was just going to come pick you up from your rest point at that rock down in the fore-”
“Oh shut up Eda, at least I achieved my childhood dreams!”
“That’s saying your dream wasn’t to be the most powerful witch in the isles! Because that’s what I was! Eda the Ow-"
“Well at least I had a well pay-”
"Eda, Lilith" said Raine accusingly.
Eda recognizes the smirks on everybody watching, particularly Raine. Even the Collector was in a smirk, who has an identical smirk to King’s.
"I think we should stop," says Eda.
"Ah, alright,” Lilith noticing the same. “I'll have better comebacks the next time we battle."
"We'll see about that!"
"Now, where is that Hootsifer?" ignoring Eda's response.
"Right hereeeee, hoot hoot" a voice creeping from behind.
A glass shatters just behind the sisters. Both turn to see the heart of the house, covered in blood. Apple Blood, that is, a bottle thrown by Camila in fear of the house demon.
But Hooty shows no care, before tightly suffocating his Lulu and Eda. Luz grabs Amity and Camila, who were both in a mixture of fear and disgust of the tube. While this both helped with their feelings, this also prevented Amity from trying to kill Hooty again!
"So about my death" Luz started, trying to change the subject away from the monstrosity in front of them. "I was wi-" two hands slam into her mouth.
"Not now Mija, I told you I need some time to process the rest" said Camila sternly, before pulling away and letting the lovebirds be.
"Same here for me Luz, I dont want to hear about losing my batata just when I got her back." Amity lowers her voice "and you thought I was proposing? You gotta wait a bit longer cutie!"
And that shut the tomato up good, only getting more red with every kiss planted on her cheek.
"WILLOW"
Willow snaps out of trance, vision blurry but everything else seems alright. She must’ve dilated when the Collector mentioned Luz dying, she normally loses control when her emotions get out of hand. Her nose picks up a scent, connecting it to the fragrance of a flower, one she cannot think of. It's sweet, yet endearing, a welcoming and warm scent, like tea in the human realm. What flower is this she wonders, before looking up and seeing Hunter's face, mere inches away.
A squeak leaves Hunter, ear tips red and slowly infecting the rest. But nobody moves, it's almost like time paused for them. The once hated man, face hidden behind a gold mask. Why should he hide his face, she wonders, looking at his stubborn yet sweet expression with eyes so full of life and energy. His hazel eyes, no longer the red they once were before Flapjack’s passing, is all she could look in. She saw her future in them.
Meanwhile Hunter stares at his Captain, the girl once striking him out of the sky just to ask to join a team. His little flower, smelling of fields and roses, wait roses? Captain never smelled like roses, but why now?
They both lean in, almost instinctively knowing the other will match, and-
A bright flash startles them, causing them to pull away, their breaths still felt on each other’s cheek. Gus stands near, a guilty look on his face, rubbing one foot against the ground. Unbeknownst to the pair, the Collector was leaving for the cosmos on his shooting star, temporarily becoming a real supernova. King stood closest at the door, while the rest waved from behind. They don't know when the Collector will return, but King knew they would meet again. The unlikely hero of Bonesborough, saving everybody in the crown from a deadly free fall. All while a deadly fungus grew up his arms. Hunter was proud of the little guy, and a bit ashamed of himself for not saying goodbye, but he was preoccupied with somebody else. He looks back to Willow, who’s eyes weren’t waiting, rather glaring at Gus.
"So…" Gus begins with a guilty laugh, spinning his hand to form a wall protecting the pair from the light. "You may kiss the bride!"
"GUS YOU LITTLE" before Hunter stands up and chases after the fleeing illusionist.
Willow watches as her dork chased after her best friend, feeling giddy inside of what just happened.
She looks down at the roses beneath her, neighbouring the cactus she made just before. She takes both plants out of the cracks that allowed them, and moves them to their own pots. A little vine was created and tied in a bow, wrapped around the pot. Happy with the result, she turned and found Luz and Amity watching the process unfold, eager to see the result.
"Who's that for?" asked Amity, pointing at the sharp human realm plant. Willow took plenty of notes and samplings of human plants, being able to take this info back home for further analysis and consumption!
"Uh, Eda? Maybe you guys if you want it?" Willow said, focused on adding little flowers to the bow. The once sharp and prickly cactus now has a happy home with a cute look, reminding her of somebody. Well maybe Hunter wasn't always a prickly bo-
"OMG I WOULD LOVE IT WILLOW!" Luz exclaims, cutting off Willow's thoughts.
"You just want to delay explaining your death, don't you?" Amity replies, which Willow immediately nodded to in hopes of hiding her blush. Wait, did Willow almost kiss him?
"You heard Mami, no explaining until after our beauty sleeps"
"But-"
"No buts, I'm going to sleep."
"NO! Wait come back batata!"
Willow listens to the pair as they ascend the stairs, still bickering. She looked at the rose bush she created, and smelled the plant. This is for you Hunter! She hides her giddy thoughts inside, enjoying the show Gus and Hunter providing like the rest of the adults. She almost kissed Hunter, the Golden Guard. He may not be the Emperor’s right hand anymore, but in Willow’s eyes he had a heart of gold.
Soon after Gus was captured and tickled, everybody retired to their homes. Though all were reunited with their families, alive and well, they haven't enjoyed the luxury of spending time with them.
Hunter followed Willow, rose bush in hand, not yet knowing where Darius lived quite yet. Going to the Park's home, he didn't know anywhere else he would feel safe. Living with Willow brought a sense of ease and comfort in the human realm, no reason it would change in the demon realm.
Gus kicked along with them with the intention of being the best wingman. Though tired from all the chasing around the Owl House, he would be the best annoying wingman they could ask for! He would ultimately split up from the pair, going to his home and spending a night with his dad, finally able to sleep in his own bed after a summer in the Human Realm. The time there filled his bucket list with check marks, even getting a human bucket to boot.
Raine decided to stay by Eda's, now armless, side. They hope to help Eda adapt to her new lifestyle, returning the stolen time between them and help around the house. And they also wanted to see her owl form again, for no particular reason.
With Gus on Emmeline, and Clover hovering between Hunter and Willow, they departed from the Owl House with no fear. A task once impossible with coven guards swarming, now normal for the isles. The Human Realm might've been safer, but now they are home.
Amity decides to stay back with Luz, still worried about her death. But with Luz in arms, she's comforted knowing she's safe and in her protection. After returning from upstairs, finding all the furniture was removed minus Eda's nest and some sleeping bags that they grabbed, they place their bags on the hard wooden ground. With Hooty back in the door, the life force in the house was restored, opening up previously inaccessible rooms filled with Eda's human realm goodies, furniture and items alike. Still, it would be some time before the Owl House is in its former glory, and a bit longer until they find the coven storage room with her red couch.
"Are you sure you want to sleep on the ground, Mija?" asks Camila, noticing visible discomfort in Luz and Amity’s faces.
"Of course Mami! It's the Owl House, just, slightly empty, and no blankets…" with a tinge of doubt in Luz's voice as she jumped into the sleeping bag.
Amity's face lit up. "Or, you can come over to my home! We can have a sleepover, plus we have some spare bedrooms, mom always had rooms ready for business partners."
"Really? What if your mom is-" Luz began.
"Dad already kicked her out, all the security is set to keep her out," she beamed!
"Amity, are you sure you can have us over?" Camila asks cautiously.
"Of course! Luz knows the way, she’s slept over dozens of times when my parents were out! I'll go run ahead and warn Dad and the twins! I wonder if Edric got a healing potion yet," voice trailing as she exits the Owl House.
Luz ran to the window to watch her batata leave, while Camila looked at Eda with a glare.
"What? You let her stay for a while, she would do the same for you"
"You allowed Luz to stay over without her parents' home?"
"Of course! Don't worry though, I gave Luz the talk!"
"EDA!" Luz suddenly looking back, flushed and reminiscing about the horrors of Eda’s talk.