Archive of Our Own

"I knew someone was sneaking in and out of the Demon Realm using MY door but I didn't expect him to bring his own HUMAN."

"Uh Ma'am I can explain-"

"Of course you can, that's why you're excused, you may leave, but you!"

The woman pointed at the human boy.

"How would you... Like to buy some of my human stuff!"

"Uh.... is that all?"

"Get over here kid, I need my new customers to be away from my storage." The woman placed Krel on the other side of the shop, right next to him was a human girl still panicking holding her book with her.

"You get home other kid" She ushered the Blight to leave but he promised to stay by Krel's side "It's okay! I can handle myself." Krel sighed.

"Can I offer you a human foot filled with holes? A bar of green human candy? Oh, oh! How about this black shadow box that reflects only sadness?" Krel was unfamilliar with most of this human stuff except for the TV but the girl next to him chuckled and beat him to the punch by taking batteries and activating the TV.

As the citizens started crowding over the open TV they immediately started trying to offer their money to buy it, The woman was impressed and saw potential in one, the other seemed pessimistic.

"So what are your names kids?"

"Luz, Luz Noceda" She looked at the boy who had his arms crossed "are you gonna introduce yourself?"

"No." Luz grumbled but accepted it

"Well, Luz, that was pretty clever... for a human."

"Hah, that was mediocre at best, I can do better"

"Oh yeah? Prove it." Krel looked at Eda's collectibles to figure out something to make "Come on kid, chop chop I got another human here that's raising her hand to ask something."

Krel saw a small broken radio and picked that, "I can fix this" he scrapped together materials to repair the radio and hacked it to play his tunes.

"It sounds just about the same as Luz's here" "I am merely holding back."

"Whatever, anyways what was your question Luz?"

"Why do you keep saying Human?"

"Oh, dear child, I'm not like you. I'm Eda the Owl Lady, the most powerful witch on the Boiling Isles!" she took off her bandana and revealed her pointy ears.

Luz was shocked about her being a witch but Krel just looked tired. "I am a respected!, feared!" as she was about to finish a guard came up, "Busted!"

The customers ran away as the guard listed Eda's crimes, Luz and Krel hid behind the table while Eda was grabbed by the guard, only for both to be picked up to be taken with her.

"I did not want to be doing this!" "Wh-What? That's not cool!" Eda wasn't letting this happen "Oh, all right, all right, you win. Just let me get my stuff." and summoned a staff to swing at th guards, and got her stuff floating mid-air. The kids picked themselves up off the ground as Eda bundled all the stuff and the portal door and ushered them both to follow me.

Krel tried to walk away only for Eda to grab him "Sorry kid, but you're now wanted just for being near me"

"That is the dumbest thing I have ever heard!"

"Are you gonna tell us who you are now?"

"Still no."

Luz wanted to know who he was. "But I won't let 'em hurt you. Humans like you both are much more valuable to me alive than dead."

Eda jumped and activated her staff, putting Luz and Krel behind her as they flew off, looking back at the guard who was just disappointed.

"The ONE day I wanted to go here just to take a break!" "You can answer to me later kid, right now I got another to comfort." She helped Luz open her eyes to see the view and makes sure she doesn't fall off

"Flying staffs, crazy monsters, you're a witch! What is this place?"

Before Eda could say a think Krel started "The Boiling Isles."

"Wait why do you know tha-" "That kid's been the human sneaking in and out of my portal door, caught him with his witch accomplice but I let the witch go for other reasons."

"For your information he is my-... nevermind" Eda continued what she tried to say after Krel's rude interruption "This is the Boiling Isles. Every myth you humans have is caused by a little of our world leaking into yours." They look up to see a griffin as it barfs spiders, "I knew it!"

"Yep Griffins, vampires, giraffes..." Luz questioned Giraffes only to be told they were banished.

The three landed on the ground, Eda scaring the kids with her detatched hands only to reassure them it's a normal thing for her.

"Well, I've had enough adventure for today. This is clearly not the PG fantasy world I always dreamed about. So, can you help me get back home?"

"I certainly planned on staying here for a while."

"Only if you both help me first, Come along humans."

The kids both followed Eda to her house, it was big. "Aren't you worried about those guards finding us?" Luz asked but Eda warned them that the house had a state-of-the-art defense system.

"Hoot-Hoot Password please!" The door talked... and Eda poked it's eyes and told it to open up now, Hooty obliged and opens his mouth wide enough to completely cover the door, Luz and Eda went in but Krel tried to turn around and walk away before being pulled by Eda inside.

"Welcome to..." she snapped her fingers to light up the living room "The Owl House!"

"where I hide away from the pressures of modern life. Also the cops. Mm, also ex-boyfriends." "You live in this dump heap alone?" As Krel asked the ground started shaking "Actually, I have a roommate."

An ominous shadow loomed behind the door frame, but as the figure drew closer it was revealed to be a tiny creature with a weird skull in a bath robe calling himself the King of demons. Luz ran up to him and started doting and hugging it but Krel just stood by, King asked who they were and Eda introduced Luz but that the other one refused to say his name.

"Actually since I do need to find a place to live for a bit here... My name is Krel... Krel Tarron" "Wait, Krel Tarron? that one kid in Arcadia Oaks High that just... mysteriously appeared and got the top math scores? I heard about your sister too."

"I saw you say you were going to a summer camp, what happened to that?"

"I... This little rascal" she gestured at Owlbert "took my book here and I followed it here today."

"Huh, it's the same one that got me in here."

"They're here to help us with our little... situation."

King cheered but Luz doesn't like the sound of it, "Just let me explain."

" King was once a mighty king of demons, until his Crown of Power was stolen, and he became... this."

"The crown is being held by the evil Warden Wrath and locked away behind a magical force field that only a human can break through humans like you. If you help us retrieve his crown, we'll send you back to your realm. So whaddya say? Plus, who could say no to this cute face?" she brought up King "I mean, we're kinda your only way home."

"Fine"

"I don't really have a choice, do I?"

"Nope, now we've got no time to lose!" She grabbed the kids and ran, King following suit.

// The Conformatorium //

"The Conformatorium, a place for those considered unsuitable for society."

Krel got uncomfortable seeing the place, "Do they experiment on them?"

"What? no, they just really like to keep them in prison." King intervened "The three of us will sneak up to the top of the tower where they hold my crown!"

"And I'm gonna make sure the warden's distracted."

Luz put up her cat hoodie as a disguise, Krel just said whatever as Eda transported the two to the main hall of prison cells. The kids all looked at the prisoners, they all were locked up for stupid reasons like writing fanfics of food falling in love or eating their own eyes.

"Wait. These aren't crimes. None of you actually did anything wrong. You're all just a bunch of weirdos. Like me." "Really? imprisoning weirdos?" the prisoner told Luz and Krel to hide so they both run into an open cell and stay silent as the Warden drags a small big nosed creature out, calling it a lesson to the others. Luz opens her own cell and tries to pull on the lever but nothing happened cursing her weak nerd arms, "You do realise I am here too" Krel and Luz pulled the lever together but nothing worked. Krel was thinking about shedding his form to use all 4 of his arms but seeing the whole weirdos getting imprisoned he decided to keep looking like a human for the time being.

Eda flew up to the kids to tell them the news "Hey, I just checked. The warden is distracted, tormenting some tiny creature. He won't be coming around here anytime soon." "My crown! It's close! I can sense its power!"

Eda just pat King on the head calling him cute, "It's not fair that they're all in here. They just want to be themselves. Why does everyone think that being a weirdo is so bad?" Her question is left unanswered as they all go inside the room with a glowing pillar in the center, said pillar is the same one where only humans can enter.

"You do this" "Me?! but I-"

"You both do it more humans in the storage the better... oh and try to look for anything you want in there."

Krel entered hesitantly, not sure if his human form can fool magic into thinking he is human, before he could fully go inside Luz walked out with the crown, a "Burger Queen" crown. Krel sighed and stopped entering the pillar.

King got his crown back which wasn't really a real power crown, he picked up a small doll and called it Francois, Luz glared at Eda for the disappointing capture "Oh, look at us, Luz. King and I don't have much in this world. We only have each other. So if that dumb crown is important to him, it's important to me. And besides, us weirdos have to stick together, you know?"

"Well, I have been called a weirdo myself." Krel said in a sarcastic tone yet genuine words. Luz just grinned. "Well, we owe you one. Now, let's get out of here before the warden finds us and loses his head" "Too late." out came Warden Wrath who immediately decapitated Eda, her head landing on Luz's arms only for her to still be alive. Luz screamed but Krel seemed to not care.

"This just happens when you get older." The four of them looked at Wrath who monologued about getting her here by stealing her pet's "Hey!" toy but at the end of the monologue he revealed his true plan... and pulled out a banquet of flowers. "You've always eluded our capture. You've always been the one who got away. I found that alluring."

Luz was disgusted, Krel too "I would not want to end up doing that infront of my own consort." "Wait you have a-"

"You stay out of this!" Wrath picked both of them up using his tentacles. "So how about it, Owl Lady? The most powerful witch of the Boiling Isles and the feared Warden Wrath. We'd be the strongest power couple ever. I mean, it's—it's not like you can say no right now." Eda just stared at Wrath and sighed " All right, Warden. You win. I'd just like to say something first. Come closer. No. Just come a little bit closer. Just... Yeah, that's good." and blew a raspberry at him. The four of them immediately escape with Eda reattaching her head and telling the magic stick to gun it, taking flight and leaving Wrath who refused to let them escape and chased them, Luz and Eda worked together to unlock all the cells as they busted out of door and stumbled on the floor.

Wrath followed them so Eda had a last resort for Luz and Krel, she gave Krel the key and told them to head back to the human realm as she made the staff fly away, but Luz steered the palisman back to the other prisoners who seemed to not want to leave, they doubted they'd even be able to leave because they always get captured for what they did.

"So, you have a different way of doing things, a different way of seeing things. That might make you weird, but it also makes you awesome. Don't you see?"

"Why are you helping us?"

"Because us weirdos have to stick together, and nobody should be punished for who they are."

Krel took Luz's words to his core, but stayed silent.

The prisoners helped Eda and King attack Wrath and Luz finished him off with her fireworks before they all fled the scene back to The Owl House.

Back at the Owl House Eda fufilled her end of the deal and offered them to go back to the Human Realm, Krel did not take the offer "I ran away from my home to here for a reason, and I have to go talk to someone out there." he said as he left the house and found Edric.

"Had fun?" "I think I found a good place to live, I mean I do get a few roommates and their door is basically the Blanks and Mother combined but... It's a good home."

"Ooh roommates?"

"Yeah, A human girl who just got here, she said her name was Luz Noceda."

Edric paused "Wait, you said Luz?"

"Yeah? what's wrong"

"Hold on I gotta check something" Edric pulled his scroll up and found the picture of the family tree he took back at Area49B

"Aha! I found it, Luz Noceda...."

He pulled up the scroll and showed Krel the image "Is the niece of Amanda Kubritz..."

Krel was shocked for a moment "Wait.. but she seemed to be the exact opposite of Kubritz, I mean she could not possibly be related to some insane woman who imprisoned creatures like us, She broke them out of a prison!" 

"She did? I guess maybe she won't be that bad but it's your call Princy."

"I'll tell her tomorrow, for now I have to go find a room to sleep in."

Edric waved as he left for home, Krel went back to The Owl House and found Luz already found a room to sleep in, "You can take the tower kid, unless you want a roommate" "No thank you... and thank you for the room"

Krel left to find his room in the tower it was underneath the balcony and it definetly needed improvement, but it was his new home, He set up his bed and slept in the Isles for the first time.

Spring has finally arrived, Anne and Aja we're delighted to finally go beyond Wartwood and find a way home, Sprig asked if they were okay after the Blonde incident, they just... looked and just said they we're fine

HP arrived with a carriage behind Bessie "Impressive, huh? This here's an all-terrain, custom-modeled family wagon. Calling it the fwagon." Aja replied with a lively as Hop Pop explained that they were all heading to Newtopia! 

"It's the beating heart of Amphibia. A bustling metropolis full of ancient knowledge, run by the wisest of newts. If anyone can help you get home, it's them!" Sprig's eyes shined as he imagined the magical place.

"I can't believe it. You mean this could actually be my ticket home? Not only that, but maybe out on the road we'll find Marcy."

"And Eli!" Aja remembered that Eli was here too but he hadn't been found yet and Aja held hope he was still there.

"You betcha. Pack your things, kids. We leave tonight."

"Anne I know exactly what I am packing" Aja pulled out her serrator 

"Oh yeah, what is that thing exactl- HOLY CRUD!" She said as Aja turned it on and it was revealed to be a weapon made of hard light.

"You had that this whole time?!"

"I had to keep it a secret remember? it also has a transduction feature so I can always look like a human." she said as she transformed back. "Well Aja make use of your four arms and start helping the kids, Anne since you don't have a lot to pack, could you give Chuck the spare key when he swings by?"

Aja left Anne to deal with that, She had to pack up her own things... which also wasn't much but she did have her three weapons, she decided to test using all three weapons at once, spear in one hand, scythe in two and her serrator in the last one. She looked at her old dummy and started attacking it, She pierced it with her scythe then stabbed it with her spear, before activating her serrator's blaster and blasting it's head off.

Polly arrived at the scene and her eyes lit up immediately "Aja what is that cool thing?" "It's a serrator, an Akiridion's weapon at the age of 10" She demonstrated it as it shifted from Spear, to Sword, to Shield, to Blaster. "That is the most destructive thing I have ever seen"

"Well it is only used to ensure peace and... it is the only thing from Krel."

"Can I at least shoot it once?" Aja looked at her as she used her big adorable eyes, "Alright but only once" Polly jumped in cheer and grabbed Aja's serrator, she messed with the buttons to figure out the blaster setting, she got it soon enough and she prepared to blast... until Veggie monsters rose from the farm.

Aja and Polly ran to check what happened and got back to the Plantars and Anne, "Oh, wow. How could this have happened?" she said as Polly was pulled away "Anne why are you using that tone?"

"No time for that, Polly's in danger!" 

"All right, everyone, action time!"

The family took action and slaughtered each veggie mutant, Sprig saved Polly who still had Aja's serrator and she immediately used her one shot on a turnip and killed it, afterwards she gave it back to Aja mid-air.

"We did it! And the house is undamaged!" the ground trembled as she said that, out of the tremor came a giant veggie beast that towered over them and instantly knocked the Plantars out, It tried to squish Anne but Aja saved her and held all 3 of her weapons out.

But it ignored her, it focused on the house and trashed it, the Plantars looked at the destruction with devasatated voices, Anne and Aja looked at the Monster with fear... then Anne felt rage "The house. Everything I worked so hard to protect. Oh, you just made a big mistake, buddy." Her left eye glowed blue, Aja's right eye glowed the same hue but neither noticed the detail as they stood their ground to the monster.

Anne dodged a stomp on her own and started climbing the monster while Aja took on it's feet, she shoved her scythe in deep... too deep, as she pulled it out it snapped off and broke the weapon, She just stared at it for a while to the point that Anne took down the Monster.

Aja focused on the now broken scythe as she kneeled on the ground and mourned it, Anne approached her slowly "Just as I felt like I was getting used to it, It just broke..."

"Aja I-"

"It's okay Anne, you guys fix the house, I have to figure out how to deal with... this." The last of the time shroom stuff from the well was used to fix her spear and Sprig's slingshot, She couldn't fix it now... but maybe...

"I have an idea." Aja ran to get some materials and started messing with the pole from the scythe, she was not the tech wizard Krel was but she definetly was smart, She attached her Serrator sideways to the top of the broken pole and added buttons to the side to activate the serrator from a distance.

She tested it out to make sure it worked and as she activated it, the sword option pulled out and recreated her old scythe, now with Akiridion tech, She turned it off and checked if she could just pop it off and it worked as usual, She put it back and went to check on the Plantars... and the already fixed house.

"What did I miss?"

"You missed out on this little guy"

"I grow tulips"

"Alright kids, It's a weeks journey to Newtopia so we better get going!"

"Hey, Hop Pop. I was thinking... wouldn't it be a good idea to bring the music box with us on the trip?"

"Oh, uh... No, no, no, no. Uh, it'll be safe with my contacts for the time being." they left the answer at that and headed for the road.

The second they left the valley they we're now in uncharted territory, They looked out to the magnificent view that was bright to the point of blindness.

"It's even better than I could've dreamed. Full speed ahead, Hop Pop! Keep driving and never look back."

"Hold on, Sprig. Look back here for a second. Now that we're out of the valley, things can get dangerous fast. So... from now on we're gonna follow Hop Pop's Rules of the Road. By me, Hop Pop." He pulled out a Book and placed it on the table, all four kids groaned at the sight "Another huge book? Seriously?"

"You kids got a problem with books?"

"Books are not very common in Akiridion 5"

"Yeesh what kinda civilization are your parents running Aja?"

"One that definetly had very few of these." she picked up the book with ease.

"Now, the only way we'll get to Newtopia in one piece is if we follow these rules. Like this one here. Rule number 98: Never strike a heroic pose on the fwagon. It's a sign of hubris that invites disaster." he stared at Sprig who was doing a heroic pose.

"That should keep your sense of adventure in check. All right, kids, let's stick to the rules, and we should have a safe and completely uneventful trip. Okay, thanks. Byeee!"

Sprig and Anne complained a lot about the rules, Aja just sat down and rested, but got woken up by Hop Pop "Rule 235: All limbs inside the bed when dozing off, you never know when something pulls you out of your sheets, so get all your limbs in the sheet."

Aja groaned and did as HP said, but left two of her arms out

"I said ALL Aja, that means your extra set of arms."

Aja sighed and put her other two arms inside. "Are we there yet?"

"Rule 50: no questioning when we get to the destination, we get there when we get there." "And what is the point of that?"

"If people were impatient they would drive the driver crazy!"

They passed multiple sights and couldn't go to any of them because of Hop Pop's rules, Each time they could've seen something magnificent.

The last straw came when they passed the runes of despair, Sprig wanted to go so Anne told him and Aja she had a plan, "Hey, HP. I've never ridden in a wagon for this long, and I'm definitely gonna hurl. Can we stop for a second?"

"Dang it, Anne. How do humans cope with such unreliable innards? Let me know when we can start moving again."

As the fwagon stopped Anne, Sprig, and Aja made a run for it to the Runes.

"Okay, pretty sure Hop Pop's onto us. So let's take some quick selfies and get out of here." but as Sprig touched the door it opened and swallowed all three of them.

They landed at the floor and brushed themselves off, as they did they took a look at the new environment, "Lively... this seems... so advanced."

"I'M GONNA TOUCH EVERYTHING!" Anne just smirked cheekily as she watched, Hop Pop chased down after them and started scolding the kids for breaking so many rules.

Sprig ignored his lecture and prepared to pull a lever, Hop Pop tried to stop him but Sprig did it anyways. Nothing happened for a few seconds until the lights started glowling blue.

"It looks... like Akiridion tech just.. more primitive."

"Maybe Akiridions have been here before Aj, you never know."

The building began it's process and began its assembly line "Guys, I think this is a factory. But what the heck is it making?" They listened as it required additional materials in the glowing access point... underneath Hop Pop where he immediately got eaten by the ground and placed in the assembly line.

They watched Hop Pop go through the factory, losing his clothes in the process. "Sprig, lets try to shut this madhouse down, Aja get Hop Pop out of here" While Aja broke in to get Hop Pop back and Spranne both tried to fix the console HP got a power wash and enjoyed it until it clamped him to the ground and prepared to compress him.

"Hop Pop!"

"Maybe there's something in the book that can help. That kind of thing's worked before." Anne and Sprig looked into it but the words kept repeating insert disc. Aja struggled to keep the hydraulic press from squishing Hop Pop. Sprig was extremely confused and couldn't think of a good idea to fix it, so he shoved the book into the hole and jammed the system.

It freed Hop Pop and the four of them immediately ran for their lives out of the factory. An explosion occured that launched the four of them out and they could finally rest.

"Come on, Hop Pop. The danger's clearly... Levers! Am I right?" HP was unamused "I know. I know. We should've followed the rules."

"You think?! You know, you two should be more like Polly. I told her to stay put, and look where she is. Where's Polly?" They looked over at Polly who was driving offroad with Bessie, she stopped and looked at the four of them "All right. I'm sorry, okay? That's the last time I break a rule, I swear."

"To be honest I run from the palace all the time, I really need to start following rules"

"Yeah, us too, HP. For the rest of the trip, we'll follow all the rules."

Hop Pop sighed "Hang on a sec, kids. Maybe this only happened because I was being too strict with you. We've never taken a trip like this, and I just wanted it to go smoothly. So what do you say we set aside the rules for a bit and make a stop or two?"

Everyone gasped and asked where they're going in excitement, Hop Pop kept it a secret as they went.

They got ice cream and went back to the road where they continued their journey. Anne started eating the cricket bits after getting used to them for so long.