Summary: How to punch your way into bonding
Eda screwed her legs on. Last night she tried seeing if separating herself would fix a crick in the neck. At most it just made getting up harder than it needed to be. That and she ended up getting branches under her skin, so that was a pain and a half to deal with. "Everybody up?"
"Five more minutes." Lucci said as he curled up next to her.
"Weh." King, with his tiny adorable arms, cuddled the boy.
She looked around for Luz, finding her nowhere. "Weird, Luz never wakes up early unless something eating her on the inside." The girl had a lot of habits she learned to pick up on. "Hey Lilly, are you up yet?" She called down as she made her way downstairs.
"Just about, headin to the kitchen for some-... Edalyn … I think something is wrong with Luz." Lily spoke up.
"How do you figure?"
"She's making breakfast."
"Don't worry ladies, I'm only using the freshest ingredients we have available for my griffon omelet surprise!" Luz shouted. "Need a lot of energy today if I'm going to solve every problem on my list!"
"Solve every problem?" Eda questioned, walking in to see the young girl next to a whiteboard as she flipped a griffon egg. "Um … what's with this?"
"Since we have the week off from school I figured i'd get in on some problem solving since I have nothing to do, so today is gonna be that kinda day for me." She responded, setting up plates. "Yours is the red one Eda, it has pepper and apple blood mixed in."
"Oooh, hangover food, my favorite." Eda smirked. "But I'm still concerned. I mean, next on your list is successfully building another portal door."
"I already have Hooty building the frame as we speak!"
"Already finished Luz!" The bird demon gestured to a wooden triangle.
"... Possible mistake on my part." The human nodded. "Oh Lilith, yours has a mix of paprika with a hint of gremlin clippings." She slid another plate over.
"This…actually looks presentable." Her sister looked it over.
"Yeah, I mean, it's not like I needed any sleep, so I woke up at three in the morning to read a couple recipes here and there. Side note, dragon teeth do NOT mix well with garlic." The girl burped a green flame. "And now I got first degree burns in my esophagus, joy."
"We really need to make friends with at least one healing coven member." Lilith muttered.
"Don't, those guys are full on jerks." They turned to see Lucci walk in with a yawn, King still resting on his head. "What's up with the decent smelling food?"
"I made everyone breakfast, and I made yours extra special, buddy." She pulled out another plate, which was actually a bowl, one that looks purple and oozing. "It started off as an omelet, but when I started adding in every poison in the house, it became more of a stew."
The boy looked at it curiously, taking a bite. "It's actually more of an goatmeal surprisingly … so, what's wrong?"
"Pfft, what's wrong, what are you talking about?" Luz did that nervous laugh.
"You're being generously kind to us even more than usual, which means you're putting your concerns over ours, which means there's something happening today that's affecting you on a deep personal level." Lucci responded.
"That's my boy." She scratched his head. "Seriously, what's up?"
"Nothing, I'm just taking advantage of the break." Luz chuckled.
Ding
"Oooh, my inside man in the Emperor's coven finally responded!" Luz shouted, pulling out Eda's scroll. "Gotta figure out Belos's plan, so Willow got me in contact with Hunter…"
That made Lucci pause. "Willow….is talking….. to that golden bastard!?
"Yeah, check it out." They held it out to Lucci.
King yawned, blinking his eyes open as he looked at the scroll. "'Stop talking to me human.' 'I swear, I will end you.' Picture of a palisman snoozing in a tiny nest. 'That wasn't for you' all caps three exclamation points … so, Golden Tool's dating plant girl? Just what I needed to wake up to."
"Like hell he's dating Willow! I'm gonna chop his head off before something happens on that front."
"Isn't that a bit hypocritical, given that you're dating Boscha?" Luz pointed out.
"Boscha has a heart underneath all that flaming aggression."
Luz stared at him. "You know, I had you scheduled in for a test fest later today, but I may need to replace that for understanding that Boscha and Hunter have similar personalities." She looked over her board. "Wow, you and Willow are more alike than I thought beyond being brutal to enemies."
"Kid, seriously, you're just stalling at this point." Eda pointed out.
"Yeah, the obsessive chart, the panicked movements, the food." King blinked. "Wait, where's my plate?"
"Right here buddy." She took out the final plate. "Eggs covered in the last batch of pancakes, along with a heaping pile of snorse bacon."
"Your denial is as unhealthy as this breakfast… I'm all for it!" King dove in into the meal.
"The irony is that horse meat is illegal on earth." The girl chuckled.
Beep Beep Beep
An alarm shouted from Luz's phone, before she quickly stopped it. "Anyway I'm gonna go double down on the portal now, help you locate Raine later Eda!" She shouted as she ran outside. "Hooty, stop trying to fit a square peg in a round hole!"
"BY THE UNHOLY POWERS, I WILL MAKE IT FIT!"
"...So this is going to be a Luz emotional recovery day." Eda observed. "Unless your also hiding something."
"Nope, I was content until I learned about the Willow Golden Tool thing, but I can always kill him later." Lucci nodded. "Between my Cherry date and cutting Cuttie's head off, I feel very fulfilled at the moment. So you grab the chains, I'm going to call Amity for an intervention."
KNOCK, KNOCK
"It's like we have power over this, we must harness it somehow." Lucci muttered, walking into the living room, and Boots herself walked through, right behind her being the tackiest looking Abomination she's ever seen. "What's with the massive guard dog?"
"That would be my non-negotiable escort to the Emperor Coven tryouts." Boots growled. "Because heavens forbid I actually have the chance to say no."
"Seriously, we can just go to your house and light a match, no trouble whatsoever." Lucci offered.
"Not until I live on my own...or find a decent cave to stay in." Boots growled. "The one time I try to connect with my dad, and he brushes me off like I'm not even there."
"Will holding an intervention for your girlfrien-" King asked, before Luz ran in and got in close to Amity.
"Hold on, hold on, what's this about trying to connect with your dad?" Luz questioned.
"It's nothing…or at least that's how he sees it." Boots rolled her eyes. "Tonight's the Bonesborrow Brawl, and my dad used to be the champion. It's the one cool thing he did before joining a coven, so I thought we'd could spend the day together and actually bond for once, but no, he throws this thing at me and tells me to go to Coven tryouts."
"Then let's go in and kick but!" Luz shouted. "And bring home the championship belt to show to your dad."
"Great, now I'm conflicted…..focus on Luz, or help Amity defy her parents…." Lucci rubbed his chin, before shrugging. "I can do both."
"Wait, but how are we gonna get rid of this thing?" Amity asked. "It only responds to voice commands from dad."
"Leave it to me." Lucci smirked, clearing his throat. "Abomination, retrieve for me a cursed emerald dagger from the skull that has multiple hexing options, a drilling function, and can make beverages, with a user curse lock system."
The alarm on the head went off, making Luz flinch, before heading outside. "You know no such thing exists, right?" Amity asked.
"Which is why you're never going to see that thing again." The boy grinned. "Now come on, lets multitask."
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Amity looked over the plan. "So, I head in, win with a disguise, then head back to the mansion no problem." This sounded much simpler then it probably was.
"Exactly, you come home with the belt, not only showing off your strength ans accomplishment to your dad, it'll be the perfect getaway for you to explain how you don't want to join a coven!" Luz exclaimed. "And we all end the day feeling peachy and having no more problems to resolve."
"Except for the stuff your hiding." Lucci noted.
"I am not hiding anything." Luz scoffed. "All I'm doing is helping Eda find Raine, King search for his father, fix the portal door, help Amity be awesome, and you accept Winter."
"You were ready to cut off The golden tool's arm last time you fought, and now you're shipping him with Willow!?"
"Wait, what?" Amity was clearly behind a few things.
"If he wants to actually try and redeem himself this time, he gets one shot, unlike our other offering times." Luz stated. "Otherwise we'd never let Boscha hang out with us."
"Okay, what's going on here?" Amity asked. "It sounds like you have a lot of things on your plate today, Luz. You don't have to help me with this today…"
"No, I WANT to help you, I really do." Luz said seriously. "So come on, let's work on some cute and powerful costumes you could pull off in your sleep." Why did this girl have to be such a flatter? Now she couldn't stop blushing. "And I've gotten the perfect people for it."
"Heya mittens!"
"You brought the twins?" Amity groaned. She may have had a better relationship with them now, but she would've rather this been a more private affair.
"They're illusion experts, and hate your family with the same passion as you and Lucci." Her girlfriend argued.
"A very solid point." Lucci agreed.
"Exactly, plus we wouldn't miss this for the world. Our sister becoming a full blown delinquent." Edric wiped a tear from his eyes. "It's truly beautiful."
"If they could manage to be anything but annoying." The boy continued.
"Oh, we have something to contribute." Emira pulled off a necklace, causing a poof as it vanished … with her sister now having acne, unkempt hair, short shorts, and a bad looking vest. "Concelment stones."
Luz and Lucci stared at the girl in silence with wide eyes. "Uhh…"
"What? Mom's a slave driver for perfection. Like titan I'm gonna put in the effort for someone I hate." Emira rolled her eyes. "Ed, give yours up too."
"I don't have one." Her brother responded.
"Yes you do, you don't even change out of your pajamas have the time." She reached over and pulled on the stone under his sleeves, revealing the glasses wearing boy in a flaming tee with hairy legs and glasses, his hair pulled in a bun.
"Uuhhh…" The two continued to stare at the two … before turning to her.
"I'm just as surprised as you two." Amity answered, grabbing the stones. "You mean I could've gotten away with half-assing my appearance this entire time?"
"You're the one who keeps saying she wants nothing to do with us." Edric shrugged. "We just thought you preferred spending an hour getting ready in the bathroom."
"Wow…I have severely misjudged you guys….like….wow.." That was something to contemplate later. "So … why two?"
"If one stone makes us look good, two will give you whatever disguise you want." Emira patted her on the back. "Unless you just plan on splitting it with one of your friends"
"No need, I got my own." Lucci held his nose, and held in his breath, before making pink fur pop out of his skin. "Tiger Philanthropist is making his second debut!"
"... I can't even be disappointed, at least you have a disguise." Amity noted. "Luz?"
"Nah, I got my own too." She messed with her hair, making the bangs cover part of her face as she took out an old letterman jacket. "Eda gave me her old grudgby jacket. Thinking about making it a part of my permanent look."
"You can pull it off." Amity nodded. "Hey King, you joining!?" She called out.
"Nah, I'm gonna join Eda in potion making." The little guy explained from the bushes. "We're gonna force Warden Wrath to blabber all his secrets!"
"Good, we beat him up during the brawl, and he'll be ready for them! Win, win, all around!" Luz cheered. "Come on, Amity, disguise time! I want to see what my awesome girlfriend puts on. Mama needs photos for the scrap book."
"Yep, on it." Amity looped the two stones around her neck, focusing as she could feel the glamor kicking in. "Introducing … I still don't have a name."
"Purple powerhouse?" Luz suggested
"Amethyst Witch?" Lucci threw out.
"The Mighty Mittens!"
"... I'm just gonna stick with Abominable Danger." Amity muttered
"You know, this really feels like it would be up Willow's alley." Luz brought up. "Given her sports kick and all lately."
"She apparently wanted to spend the weekend with the Melon dog we keep forgetting about." Lucci answered. "It's weird, Gus's prism's been more relevant lately. I thought we would've forgotten about it by this point."
"Maybe it's because the Prism never leaves his side and no wall on the planet can stop the lasers?" Luz suggested. "Anyways, we have a brawl to win, and that's the ONLY thing we need to focus on today!"
They watched as the girl ran ahead. "...Okay Lucci, what's wrong with Luz?" Amity asked.
"That's what we've been trying to figure out all day." Her friend groaned. "I think it has something to do with her phoon, she seemed pretty desperate to shut off the noise from it."
"Maybe we should just withdrawal…"
"Can't, we're in too deep right now. If we don't do this, Luz is just going to think you're giving up your chance to stand up to your dad because of her." Lucci explained.
"Yeah, she would." Amity sighed. "You have your healing spit ready to fix her recklessness?"
"Depends if we can use her injuries as an excuse to sit down and confront her problems."
"Oooh, I can help with that!" Emira threw her hands up. "I need to practice my healing spells, so use me as an excuse so you two can have time to break down those emotional walls."
Lucci looked at her sister, and chuckled. "Honesty is a pretty good look on you, Blight." He walked off, leaving Emira slightly red in the face. "You should wear it more often."
"....Did that just…" Emira asked. "..Did he…?"
"I think he did." Edric answered. "Is this what it's like to be on the receiving end?"
"Oooh, is someone steamed?" It felt nice to watch them squirm for a change.
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Edric walked through the forest, gazing at the fallen leaves. There wasn't much for him to do, considering everyone else already had a role in the plan, so he decided to take a walk … a very lonely one. "They just needed my stone. Not even that, they could've gotten away with it with just Emira's, and she managed to add something new to the group…what's wrong with me?"
"Squaaaaaaa." It's not your fault, you just can't use your particular set of skills for this misadventure.
"Yeah, but what skills do I even have?" He asked. "I still haven't picked out the other tracks I want to take, and Illusions aren't my specialty with Gus making crazy stuff going on."
"Squaaa." Weren't you all set with Potions and Beastkeeping?
"Yeah, I was, but am I really good with that? I know trivia about it, but actually execution.."
"Squaa." It helped you get into the Basilisk lair when everyone was taken.
"That was one time…"
"Squaaa." And the monster school incident you talked about, saving the kids from the beast keeper room.
"At least you're with me, Batric." He petted the palisman.
"Alright, I got the berries, and it only took fifteen scratches that made me bleed." He turned to the voice, looking through some trees to see the Owl Lady and her pet messing with a pot. "Side note. I think I'm allergic."
"Good…about getting the berries I mean, I'll focus on the allergies latter. Now all we have to do is wait for the skin badgers to come and fall into our trap." The Owl lady laid the fruit down in the middle of a rope trap. "Hey tri-eyes, you got the stuff I asked for?"
"The next time you ask me for help, don't crash into my window and pick me up in the middle of getting ready." Boscha groaned as she dumped a couple of vials into the pot. "The only reason I didn't turn you to roast Roc is solely because you're Lucci's mom."
"Right, as if you could do that to begin with." The Owl Lady rolled her eyes. "Now we'll have enough ingredients to half our hunt. So, get ready to tackle some skin badgers."
"Really?" They asked.
"Look triangle eyes, it's hard for me to accept you in my sons life, but if you want to get on my good side, we need to work together."
"Honestly, my plan was to ditch our families all together, but then Lucci gave that public speech about living with you until you died …"
"Why did I put off giving Lucci dating advice?"
"Because romance never works well for you and you were hoping to keep him oblivious to how it actually works to avoid awkward conversation?" The little guy responded.
"You know just because you're right doesn't make you less annoying."
"Meh, it helps the pain." The guy said, scratching himself. "So do we get him to blabber before or after he gets totalled by one of the kids?"
"After, the potion takes a while to make anyway." The woman shrugged. "Now to simply wait for them to take the bait and strike them then."
Edric looked over the trap. "... That's not gonna work."
"Huh?" The owl lady turned to him. "You calling my work shoddy?"
"No, I'm not trying to offend you, it's just that….skin badger prefer shushrooms instead of goreberries." He explained, leaning down. "Plus your rope's too weak to hold it down, you need to double reinforce it with magic." He casted the strengthening spell on the rope. "You know … because of the talons and fangs."
The whole group looked at him. "How are you smart? I thought you were the rebellious prankster that didn't care to learn anything." The furry guy asked.
"It's just … hobbies, when I don't have stuff to do." Which was whenever Emira was busy. "Just something to wean away the boredom, nothing more."
"Hm, I guess I'm more rusty on Beast Keeping then I thought." The Owl Lady rubbed her chin, before coming up to him. "Say, Blight boy…"
"Edric."
"Not going to remember that, too similar to Eda." She bluntly stated.
"Is there any non-family name you care to remember?" Boscha questioned.
"You barely remember any names outside of Lucci's." Edric pointed out.
"There's a difference between being unable to remember and being unable to respect." The girl rolled her eyes. "Lucci, Luz, Willow, Gus, Amity, Celine, Skara. Anyone else I shut out."
"As I was saying…!" Eda coninuted. "We could really use your help gathering ingredients. Your Beast keeping know-how would be greatly appreciated.
"It would?" That was surprising. "Yeah, yeah I can help." Edric smiled. Maybe today he wouldn't be useless.
"Do we have to bring him into this? I don't need anymore people trying to steal my boyfriend!"
"Relax tri-eyes, I just tease, that's all it is." The kid was too cool for him anyways. "So, since fire bees detect warmth, how about you and me hold close to trick them?"
"... I'm gonna deck him."
"Just don't knock him unconscious, we still need to pick his brain." Eda responded.
"No one has ever wanted to do that before." Was this what it was like to feel useful?
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"Oh, it seems the Tiger Philanthropist is down! And now he's being pinned under the might of the ten ton terror!" Let them think that, put on a show, give the fishing line a little leeway as the prey gets confident … now!
Lucci pushed, sending his opponent rocketing into the air. "Unfortunately for you Terror, the only thing I fear is being caught for tax evasion!" He stretched his arms out, and began twirling his opponent rapidly like a tornado. "And if I were you, I'd be concerned about your financial situation, after you pay off all the medical bills when I send you to the infirmary!" And proceeded to let go, making the man fly far out into the forest.
"OOOh! What a turn of events. Just like debts with shady back alley gangsters, you think you got them off your tail, they pop back up when you least expect it and hit you where it hurts!"
Lucci blew kisses to the audience, throwing some fake snails as he ran to the gang. "Am I awesome, or am I awesome?"
"It's a little less impressive against these guys." Amity noted. "Besides Wrath they tend to go down easy when you actually try. I blinded the guy with construction magic fairly easily."
"Yeah, and I just had to use an invisibility and fire glyph for the guy with the axe." Luz laughed as she was being healed by Emira. "Either we're the most badass kids on the Boiling isles, or the standard's of strength with adults is really low."
"Isn't it both?" Lucci smirked. It was pretty fun being awesome. "So Luz, given that we don't need to plan, and you can't run while being healed … what's up?"
"What's up is that I think I should spice up the competition a little with a few more glyph combos." Luz deflected. "I got a lightning glyph and bard glyph…with the right combo, I could probably make my own thunderstorm glyph with those two."
"Luz seriously." Amity rolled her eyes. "We need to talk about whatever's bugging you. We can take it." She said seriously.
"Nothing's bugging me, seriously, it's fine."
Beep Beep Beep
The girl instantly reached for her phone, pressing something. "Absolutely nothing."
"Luz, you know that I'm the last person to care about earth stuff, but I care about you." Lucci said. "Whatever's on your mind, I promise to accept and do my best to understand."
Her eyes darted around, before freezing on something. "Say … remember that Emerald dagger hexamawhat thing you talked about?"
Lucci rolled his eyes. "Don't deflect with something not real."
"I'm not, because the abomatron came back with something." She pointed behind them.
"Wait, what.." Lucci turned…and there it was. A giant emerald dagger covered in hexes and curses. "... Say what we want about your terrible dad…and I have…several times….but he can make a heck of an abomination." He grabbed it. "So should I keep this or sell it?"
"We didn't give it money, so it's probably stolen and being looked for." Amity noted. "Side note, the plan is ruined and this guy is going to drag me to tryouts unless you tell it to stop."
"Got it, giving it orders now." Lucci began to stretch out his vocal chords again. "Stand down walk into the forest, and stay completely still for the next ten hours."
The abomination nodded, activating its little alarm at the top of its head; which weirdly sounded like Luz's phone when he thought about it.
Beep Beep Beep
Luz ran up and kicked the red alarm to the ground, kicking it over and over. "Why won't you leave me alone for one minute today!?" The girl made a ice club from her glyph and smashed it to the ground. "Just! One! Second!!To! Process!"
They all stared at the panicking girl. "... Do you wanna talk about that?" Emira questioned.
"No, I'm fine! I'm fine, I'm completely and totally fine!" Luz shouted.
"Luz, no you're not, you've been acting weird all day because you're trying to ignore your pain." Lucci countered.
"I'm not in pain!" She screamed. "All I want to do is to have something to focus on, alright! Something so I don't have to focus on something I can't fix!"
"Why is it possible for you to fix my problems; but not for me to help with yours?" Amity accused.
"Because I've lived with it for the last ten years of my life!" Luz shouted back. "Now can someone tell me what that red flashing light was, so we can just focus on something else!?"
"That was just the signal to show it accepted the command." Amity groaned. "But now that you destroyed it, dad's probably on his way over here right now."
"Alright, I'll go guard the area and make sure he doesn't get near here." Luz began walking away.
"She does know she's going in the opposite direction of the entrance, right?" Emira asked.
"She's probably too grief stricken too notice otherwise." Lucci brought up. "Wanna go and keep pushing on to get to the root of the problem?" He asked.
Beep Beep
They noticed the phone on the ground, still beeping. "She even forgot her phone….oh titan, I shouldn't have picked it up." Amity winced.
"Relax, there's nothing we haven't seen before." Lucci rolled his eyes, grabbing it. "Just sort of reminder about …" He trailed off.
Anniversary
Meet at Gravesfield Graveyard
Pick flowers with mom
Lucci stared at the message in muted shock, before looking up. "We really can't fix this."
"You can't." Emira said. "But that doesn't mean she should be alone right now." She picked the two of them up. "Go to her. This is clearly more important than any grudge against our folks."
"Right." Amity shook her head. "Let's get going."
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Luz paced back and forth. Find Alador, stop him, let Amity win, help Lucci come to terms, work with King to find dad, help Eda fix Raine, get the portal door working. That was what she needed to focus on, there was a lot to focus on. She didn't need to focus on anything else right now, just helping her friends out. If she could cure an entire school from a deadly virus, then anything was possible. She could be a useful and unselfish girl that made people's lives better instead of making them worse with every second she knew them.
Just fix the problem and your little issues will go away. Fix your friends and you will be fixed. Be unhappy so that everyone else could be happy. You didn't matter, they did, and their feelings were too important to have them think about your feelings.
So just focus on the situation at hand, and keep the issues for later. "Luz?" She turned to see her friends standing there.
"What are you doing!?" She asked. "Amity needs to win, and Lucci is going to murder any Blight over the age of twenty as overkill!" She tried to fix the problem as efficiently as possible, with her as a guard.
"Luz, there's more important things in the world than getting revenge against people who deserve it." Lucci responded. "You're not feeling okay, and we want you to admit it yourself."
"It's fine, there's more important stuff right now." She waved off. "Like Belos, and the Golden Guard, and Raine, and the portal door …"
"You left your phone behind…we saw the reminder." Amity said, presenting the device.
"Ah …" Luz gently grabbed it. "Could we … just not." She held her head. "Thinking about it hurts and I just want a distraction … please?"
"Luz…you always go above and beyond to help your friends..why can't we be the ones doing that for your for once?" Amity said. "Why can't I do that? I'm your girlfriend, it's my job to be there for you…I WANT to be there for you."
Luz looked at the two of them, before sighing, flopping to the ground. "It all started when I was a kid … dad was the best. He got me into fantasy, he had this wild imagination, we had multiple games together." She went on. "And one day we moved to a new town, away from my friends. They said new opportunities … but the truth was he just … needed a new hospital."
She let the silence roll on. "And then … he passed away … in a hopsital bed." Luz took a breath. "After that Mom broke down and I tried to be there for her. She knew him longer than me, so clearly she needed it more. I was lucky I had Centi. She was just a rock I could talk to all the time and vent. We could just cuddle and talk with each other. Then from there on out, we would pick flowers on his birthday and sped the whole day together."
"And now the day came back, I can't be there for mom, who's so broken she's drinking, and Centi's in a bubble because the Isles would never accept her. And no matter what I do, I can't fix my situation … so I thought 'hey, why don't I be a rock and help everyone just like I helped mom, and Centi helped me'. That's gotta lead to some good, and I don't have to focus on something unfixable that was my fault."
She laughed brokenly. "What a bang up job I did though, huh? I was so stressed and worried about helping everyone that you saw through the cracks, and you spent the whole day worried for my well being when we were supposed to focus on yours." She cackled. "Just one big Luzer right here, never doing anything right."
"..,I'm sorry Luz." Lucci sighed. "I want to say I know what it feels like…but I never even knew my dad… or my womb holder to even know that level of pain…I doubt I'll actually ever get that chance."
"Don't be … life happens." Luz chuckled. "I learned it way back on earth … people only get to be happy when I'm not." Her mom, Connie, the school.
"Is that how you think it is with me?" Amity placed her hand on Luz's.
"Well lets go in order. Your mother is even stricter than before, your father is probably going to ground you, I got you fired from your happy job, and we haven't even gotten to me nearly endangering our lives every time we open the diary, or how I gave Belos the portal door to do who knows what to the world. Or how I let the Golden Guard go with a warning." She laughed. "I just wanted to help you with your dad because I don't have one anymore, but all that happened is you getting mad at me for keeping to myself.
"Luz, yes, I got upset, but one screw up doesn't mean you messed up my life…besides, you know how my parents are…if anything, I'm jealous that you can have any good feelings for yours at all." Her girlfriend stated. "And if I cared at all about my life being in danger, I wouldn't be friends with Lucci. You're the best part of my life Luz. Never doubt that for a second."
"Like I said before, Luz. I never knew who Rose or Pink Diamond or Greg what's his name. I don't have any feelings or memories of them, thus I have no attachment." Lucci went on. "But you have memories of your dad. Those memories are important to you, so your feelings about them are important too." He hugged her. "The last thing I would ever tell you to do is ignore them."
She turned to them. "But … there's so many things going on …"
"And we will get to them when we get to them." He assured her. "Especially once I figure out how to make hexagons."
"For now, the only thing we want to do today is help you." Amity hugged her from the other side. "So we're going to pick flowers and spend the rest of the day together, no other distractions."
BOOM
They turned to the fiery smokey explosion happening from the arena. "... I'm sure they can handle themselves." Lucci nodded.
"WE CAN'T HANDLE OURSELVES!"
"….You know how dramatic King can be." Lucci continued. "It's not like mom or anybody else is crying for help."
"For love of everything, where is Lucci!?" Boscha's voice shouted. "Wasn't he supposed to be fighting!?"
"As long as he's away from this mutated menace, everything is fine!"
"Stop saying that! Nothing is fine about this!" Edric shouted.
"Guys, we should help them." Luz said.
"Luz, Eda and King can handle themselves." Amity said. "Right now, it's focusing on you day."
"Guys.." She sniffed, hugging them. "You're the best!"
"No, you're the best!" Amity hugged back tighter.
"We're all the best!" Lucci yelled as there was a familiar bright pink glow covering all of them. A glow of warmth and friendship.
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Alador stared at his two oldest children. "So … would anyone like to start?" He asked.
"No, no I don't think so." Emira shook her head.
"So no one cares to give any insight to the abomination that's supposed to be looking after Amity, or the massive twenty foot monsters rampaging all around, or the fact people are calling out for help from the 'Abominable Danger' to help them?"
"No…?" Edric asked more than answered. Why was he in pajamas? And shouldn't he have shaved.
"And neither of you are going to tell me exactly why you're at the bonesborrow brawl, after I specifically called it a disastrous and mindless waste of time I wanted no one to participate in any shape or form because it represents the most moronic and shameful part of my past?" Back when he was…. associates ….with Darius.
"There's … nothing much to say." Emira spoke.
He turned and saw the fuzzy thing land next to them. "Ed, you made the potion to turn this guy into a giant mutant, any ideas!?"
"He did what now?" Alador glared.
"I heated up the potion by using more fire bee honey, maybe by cooling him down we can render the potion inert from inside Warden Wraith!" His son exclaimed.
Edalyn landed next to him, in a particularly strange but fascinating semi-demon bird form. "If we just need ice we can get Luz. Where are she and Boots, they were up for the next match, right?"
"She is what now?" Alador questioned.
"Things got…emotional…and they disappeared along with Lucci." Emira told the woman. "It was pretty messy, I honestly don't think they're going to come back here anytime soon."
"Let me get this straight." Alador sighed, sending forth an abomination hand to hold back the beast. "My daughter went to the brawl even when I told her not to, and my other two children not only solicited the lie, but created a giant monster." He pressed Wrath further, though the tentacles made it difficult to hold down. "I raised you all better than this-"
"You didn't raise them at all, you dense oblivious jerk!" The abominations he was using suddenly flew up into the air, his control on them suddenly being zapped away as it when to one singular source. It looked like Eda's harpy form, but the feathers were more of a violet abomination color, looking like it was constantly dripping goop from the wings. It stood eight feet tall and had three eyes, each one a different color, one of which being Amity's shade of gold.""The only raising you do is agreeing with your wife! Any other time, your children don't exist to you!"
"…..Is this another one of your monsters?" Alador turned to Edalyn
"Actually, I think that's your daughter and my son … or my son and Luz?" Wait, what?!
"Hey mom. I'm Amuck, nice to meet you! Wow, we're a three way fusion, the possibilities. Aww, it's so nice to meet my fellow siblings. I think I'm getting a headache from a five way conversation. Just be lucky you and Amity don't have a fusion to add to the catastrophic melody. Hey now, melodies are Bohemion's theme. I'm a … lets call it love!" They laughed as their head splattered across the air, spinning around.
"…I don't know whether to be more mad or more confused at this." Shalisha's daughter stated blatantly.
"Imagine how I felt when Lucci did it the first time." Edalyn muttered. " So you wouldn't happen to have some ice glyphs on you?"
"Ice you say?" They chuckled, curling their legs into springs. "Lets do this cool and crazy!" The thing jumped into the air, gliding with wings. "Glyphon, Pudding, set up some aerial bombs like Luz remembers! Oh this is definitely going to be big. "Multiple abomination feathers began to shoot from their body, falling down as they shifted into strange symbols.
"Cool, semi liquid feathers." Edric observed.
" Got that right bro! A little piece of me moves however I want!" The …thing… danced in the air as it dodged Wrath's tentacles. " And with my knowledge of glyphs, I can craft the perfect trap for our dear dumb warden with but a thought."
Purple Ice began to form around the monster, trapping it as the frozen liquid began to glow pink. "... It's still going to explode, isn't it?" Emira questioned.
" Sorry, still working out the kinks to make it explode on command, and the increased magic output this Body has doesn't help." Feathers came out of it again as the stretched over everyone to act as a barrier. "This should protect us from the epicenter though.Cover your ears just in case."
KABOOOM
An explosion rocked the area, destroying the barrier that protected them all, followed by a pink glow, as his child fell to the ground, along with the human and the Clawthorne boy. "That … was … amazing!" Amity shouted.
"My head feels so much clearer, that took the load off tremendously." The human giggled. "Thanks guys, I needed that."
"Cool … cool … glad you two had fun." The boy nodded. "Side note … tri-fusion is draining … and I can't feel my limbs."
"Good, that means I'm free to do what I want to you." Shalisha's kid grabbed the boy by the arms. "Today was weird already; so I won't count this against you, but we are going to reinforce the rules now that you can do it with more than one person."
"Please be gentle, I feel numb all over." Why did seeing this give Alador the strangest sense of dejavu?
"What is going on here?" Alador asked out loud.
"I'll tell you what's going on, dad." Amity marched up to him. "I ditched Coven tryouts and I'm not going to take them again. I had a fun day with my friends, and I'm going to take control of my life and you're finally going to listen to what I have to say for once!" Amity yelled
"Mitt-"
"Look here, dad, this is how it's going to be for now on." His daughter pointed up at him. "I'm not going to be mom's puppet and I'm not going to take your distant and obvious face any longer! I'm not going to join a coven, I'm not going to help the family business, and I AM going to keep dating Luz no matter what you have to say about it!"
He took a moment to process that. "You don't want to join a Coven?" He questioned. "Wait, you have a girlfriend!?" How could Alador have missed THAT!?
"Why did that last part surprise you more?" Edalyn questioned
"Between Park and Heiryonmous I always assumed she wasn't interested." Alador rubbed his head. He was getting hit with a lot in a short amount of time. "Amity, I thought the emperor's coven was your dream.."
"It was never my dream. It was just what mom wanted, and you just went along with it every single time it was brought up, just like every with every decision she makes." Her youngest groaned. "Have you ever noticed I dyed my hair differently, because it's been like that for over two months and you haven't said a word about it once."
"Of course I noticed. Abomination purple, right?" Alador let out a deep breath. "Amity, I wasn't trying to ignore you or pressure you, I just thought this was the best plan for your future.."
"Well, maybe I don't like your plans for my future." She reiterated
"Well, what do you want?" He questioned.
"I want to be a wild witch and live in the woods with my girlfriend as we grow old without kids." She hugged the human.
"…You don't want-how long has that been a thing?" He was learning so much about his daughter.
"Ever since Lilith showed me that all adults are untrustworthy around children." She answered. "Which was all the way back in the Covention."
"That long?" How much has he been missing this entire time? This..he barely knew his daughter…heck, he didn't even know that much about Edric and Emira! "Clearly there's a lot that I need to work on…"
"Understatement of the decade.." Amity rolled her eyes.
"But I promise that'll change, I sweat to titan." He tried to give her a hug…
The girl instead shook his hand. "It's a start." That….that really stung. Was he really that bad of a parent?
There was a groan from the warden. "Wabasa …"
" Okay, enough emotional blathering, now I want some freaking answers." Edalyn groaned as she lurched over the Warden. "Tell me the truth!"
Wrath seemed to squirm as their lips trembled. "I LOST MY JOB!" The man cried out.
"... What?" Edalyn looked stumped.
"Between you guy's constant break ins, and snatching people's lunches whenever I starved myself too much, I got fired!" Wrath exclaimed. "The prize money from this tournament was to help support my kid!"
"....Why am I suddenly feeling bad for the head chopping creep now?" The human asked.
"Only half of them enjoy head chopping. The other half are just doing a job." Emira deadpanned.
"He tried to force Eda to date him….like seriously, I'm getting very mixed messages about this." The human responded.
"Forget all that, and tell me what the Emperor is planning!" Edalyn shouted.
"I don't know, that stuff is reserved for the Coven Heads alone." He answered.
"Great, went through all this trouble for nothing.." The woman groaned. ".. Then again, mutation potion can sell big. Blight Boy, make another caldron, tri-eyes, call your moms, tell them I got something they can sell."
"Yes mam, miss Clawthorne!" His son saluted
"Your son has a real talent for Wild Magic you know."
"I…I didn't know." Just how much did he not know?
========================================================================
Odalia stared at Osran. "So, what can I do for the Coven Head?" She questioned. It wasn't like she directly interacted in Oracle products, why make when you could sell?
"I am here to deliver a parchment from the Emperor." He spoke, handing her a paper. "The Emperor has overruled the court case of a 'Tiger Millionaire' due to the service the Abomatrons have provided to the dwindling Coven Scouts." The man spoke. "Additionally, you are to provide twice as much as you manufactured previously for the day of unity."
"Of course, anything to repay the generosity of the Emperor himself." As if the boy thought he would manage to deprive the Coven System of its advancements. "I assure you we at Blight industries will manage to make Coven Scouts a thing of the past with our Abomatrons." She smirked. "Although, I believe that mere monetary payment won't be quite satisfactory anymore."
"Oh, you wish to ask for more?" Osran questioned.
"Yes, while I don't dwell too much on using my Oracle magic beyond helping with advertisement.." And controlling her children. "I still occasionally use it, mainly to help plant marketing and to foresee our stocks, and from what I gathered…by the time the day of unity comes around…there's going to be a significant decrease in population on the Isles."
Osran stared at her silently. "That is correct, yes." He didn't even try to deny it.
"So it's true…the Emperor is going to wipe out most of the inhabitants of the Isels…so that he and the coven heads can live in Paradise." That had to be the only exploration.
"That is what he told the Coven Heads." The man nodded once more.
"So genius, getting rid of all undesirable in one fell swoop, and fooling those simple minded plebeians." Oldalia cackled. If she played her cards right, every single nuisance would disappear from her life. "I want in. I provide the abominations, and in turn, me and my family get the same reward as the Coven Heads."
"Very well." The man nodded, walking away. "I shall tell Belos now."
"Have a swell and pleasant day." She waved off, watching him leave. "I did it….I am the greatest business witch in history." Why wouldn't it have worked? She single handedly carried this company. Now she was on her way to becoming royalty!