Summary: Our highest limits …
Hooty watched as they arrived back to their titan…well, the dead one they lived in. "So King." Hooty started.
"Yeah?" The little guy asked quietly.
"Wanna say anything to your great great something grandpa's corpse?" Best to break the tension.
"Hooty has just been off this entire adventure." Luz muttered. "Was there even a point to anything back there aside from the reveal? What did we even learn?"
"That my womb donor talked with that Collector thing and inspired a cult of crazy genocidal killers." Lucci replied. "As if I needed more reasons to hate her."
"We also learned that our only hope for friends was a goner." King stated. "… Upside, I can fuel a portal door when this is all said and done, so Luz can finally go home. In fact, does anyone have anything sharp?" King asked, pulling on his fur. "I can drain a few drops in case of an emergency."
"Oooh, I'll hack up a sword!" Hooty began coughing.
"Let's save throwing up weapons and cutting ourselves for later." Luz winced. That was ironic coming from the girl who wanted glyph tattoos. "So … how about we instead try to …" She groaned. "I can't think of a plan. Lucci is nowhere near close enough to pulling what Rose could…."
"Much as I loathe to admit it, I wish she was here for this moment specifically." Lucci grumbled.
"Eda and Lilith are crushed and don't have the magic to fight Belos, and I'm still struggling to master that Pink Glyph…" Luz sighed. "We have nothing..don't we? No matter how we put it, we don't have a single clue on how to fight Belos as he is now."
"We don't even have time to figure it out." Lucci said. "The day of unity is two days away. If we waste time trying to come up with a plan, we're basically telling that bastard he's free to do whatever he wants."
"But anytime we try to fight Belos we lose." Luz pointed out.
"At this point it's lose now or lose when we're dead." He deadpanned. "Hooty, back me up."
"We run like cowards to the edge of the world!!" Running away always solved all of life's problems.
"...Let's just meet back up with mom." The boy groaned as they finally reached the shore. "She probably has at least ten percent of a plan by now. Crazy half assed plan is better than no plan at all."
"Where are we going to find them anyway?" King asked. "The owl house is gone and she and Lilith probably moved out of Bosch's house by now.
"Meh, I'm sure they'd leave a note or something." Lucci answered. "We had to follow them someway." He began walking as the ship finally made landfall.
"I'm not used to seeing Bonesburrow this empty." Luz stated as she noted the lack of people around as they walked into town. "Belos really did scare everyone into falling for that load of snorsecrap."
"Tell a lie often enough and people will believe it, and he's had four hundred years to tell the same lie." Lucci groaned. "The whole world was against us from the start, this is just us back to square-"
"Freeze!" They turned to see scouts surrounding them. "In the name of the Emperor, you will be executed!"
"....Are you people willing to die?" Luz said quietly with a straight face.
"Huh?" One of the scouts tilted their heads.
"We've been running around the past week trying to come up with a plan to save everyone, and we are really, really, desperate. And if we're desperate, then we don't have time to hold ourselves back by restraint or mercy." Luz cracked her neck. "So if you chose to fight us now….know for a fact that we will not go easy on any of you. If you happen to lose your head…then that's on you."
There was a silence for a moment. "I thought you said the talking owl was the scary one?" One scout asked. Ooh, people were talking about him!
"You have until the count of five to surrender! You can make your death's painless or excruciatingly painfu-" The man was stopped as a spike of ice was pierced right through his shoulder. "...AAAAAAGGGGGGGH!"
"That's what I was promising you…and I live up to my promises!" Luz yelled as she took out a whole handful of glyphs and jumped into the fray. "Now you bastards will have a full taste of a human unhinged!"
"When did Luz become so violent?" King questioned as she stabbed and burned the scouts.
"Sometime after the Coven's day parade…I think we've pushed her into some sort of breaking point." Lucci muttered his response as he casually punched another scout into a wall. "Luz, calm down, save some of that rage for Belos, you don't want to lose steam fighting a bunch of faceless grunts." He said as he threw his shield into all their chests.
"Bring out the Abomatron army!"
"… Still think we shouldn't use up the steam?" Luz asked.
"Yes, because they just handed us over the easiest win of the week." Lucci smirked, placing a bubble around one of them. "Now we just wait for it to explode and cause a chain reaction and…
POP
The abomatron picked its hands up….and popped Lucci's bubble, continuing to march forward with the rest. "....What just happened?" King asked.
"Latest line of Abominatrons! Guaranteed to be Manticore Menace proof!"
"Oh I call malpractice and law breaking!" Lucci shouted.
"The Emperor is the law!" The scout shouted as they began to surround them in a wall of fire. "No tricks. No schemes. No cons. Your days are finally numbered, Clawthornes!"
Hooty was about to attack … until the two kids were both grabbed, as they all began flying up. "Hang on tight, don't let go!" Eda shouted.
"Mom!" Lucci cried out. "You're still in one piece!"
"Trust me, it wasn't easy. Spent the last few days crashing in the woods with Liliy. We ended up setting up camp at the knee." Eda explained. " Every scout is on shoot to kill orders while most of the isles have made their way to the skull for the day of unity. Belos really isn't taking anymore chances with us."
"Great, as if they weren't aggressive enough." Lucci rolled his eyes.
"Glad to see you kids though. I take it the family plan wasn't that successful."
"Long story short, they want King dead." Luz explained bluntly.
"… Who do I need to murder for hurting my babies?"
"Like I said, it's a long story." Luz repeated. "It's better to say it with everyone around once we've landed."
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Lilith watched as Edalyn came back with the kids. "Lucifer, Hootisfer, I'm glad you're in one piece. I was concerned that you might've ended cut in half from your mostly tactless approaches."
"Nah, we're good, it was king that they wanted to chop into tiny pieces!" Hooty respond lay loudly.
"Keep it down, bird brain, we're still trying to lay low. Don't go shouting out location." Eda chastised the demon.
"I think the loss of his body just shorted out his brain power." Lucifer noted. "He's been out of it this whole trip."
"You're implying that he had brain power to begin with." King rolled his eyes.
"Would you care for a Veel sandwitch?" Lilith asked. "… We're out of griffon eggs."
"Great, just add to the pile of life getting flushed down the drain. Not only is the isles gonna blow up, we're gonna die starving too." Luz slumped to the snowy ground. "No plan, no army, no sword, no nothing."
"Yeah, exactly what's the dealing on that?" Eda askedad they all huddled around the fire bees for warmth. "Why was King's life in danger?"
"Because they were a clan of Titan trappers." The little boy explained with an annoyed groan. "And guess who shares the same face as the skull up there!"
Eda and Lilith looked at King, and then to the background, where the skull of the titan was in the distance. They looked back and forth, for a minute, blinked, and continued to look back and forth for another two minutes, before it finally clicked on their minds. "You..,.you can't be serious.." Lilith gasped.
"King is a Titan." Luz stated. "The last of his kind, and they want to sacrifice him to the Collector, who is a friend to Belos, meaning that we really ARE alone with nobody but our friends backing us up." Luz slammed her head on the ground. "Please tell me Boscha was able to warn Hexide."
"Last we heard, yeah, but the school's gone quiet, and we haven't made any contact with anyone else, being in hiding and all." Edalyn answered.
"King is a titan." Lilith repeated, her mind still on that mind blowing revelation.
"Yes, I'm a little guy who's going to become a big guy someday, we've established that." King rolled his eyes.
"King is a titan…my youngest nephew is a god…I've eaten Ice scream with a god…" Lilith was beyond words right now. "I…I am not worthy!" Instincts rooted deep inside of her told Lilith to prove her loyalty by bowing.
"Can … can we not do this, please?" The great and mighty King told her. "I rather not be treated like some sort of god right now."
"You know …" Luz started. "Maybe that's the answer …"
"What?" The little guy asked.
"With you being a Titan, that actually opens a couple of doors for us." Luz nodded. "Case and point, Lilith's worship."
"You call that a point?" Lucifer asked. "Her being a subservient slave?"
"Correction, the word of a genuine Titan to the word of Belos speaking on behalf of a dead one." Luz concluded. "We go up to the crowds, announce King's true nature, and throw Belos's plans out of whack."
"Two big problems with that. First being that everyone is already getting ready for the day of unity at the skull." Eda explained. "The only way to stop everyone would be for King to order everyone to cut off their own arms, that's going to be a hard pass for most."
"I can do so right now if you want!" Lilith offered, pulling out a knife.
"…Crazy zealots aside…" Hey, she was perfectly sane. "Second reason is how you'll prove to everyone that King is a titan. We know, but a large crowd that's been fed a lie for hundreds of years; it's gonna take more than words to make them believers."
"She's got a point there …" Lucifer noted. "Although Luz had a point about doors. Maybe not socially, but physically with Titan Blood." He explained. "If we can get him inside of a bubble and combine it with King's blood, we could pretty much just delete him from existence like Luz's sword."
"Uh huh, and how likely is Belos going to stay still long enough for you to bubble him?" Eda once again retorted.
"Well what do you suggest?" Her god asked of them.
"I will go in as a sacrifice while the rest of you lay waste." Lilith bowed.
"… Less crazy plans?" Luz said bluntly. "Like seriously, that's even more implausible than bubbling Belos."
"I may have Something." Eda sighed. "Before they were brainwashed, Raine told me the coven heads are important for the day of unity, which means they're important to the draining spell. It'll be a close one, but if I keep Belos on his toes long enough while the rest of you distract the coven heads, we'll stop them from completing the draining spell."
"That's still a crazy plan." Lucifer argued.
"And it's still the only one that works!" Hootsifer shouted. "Other than running away."
"Look, I know that not every detail is ironed out and we're all stressed. Which is why, as the designated leader of the flock, I thus decree today a mandatory family day." Edalyn stood up. "We go out and do something fun, take a load off our shoulders, and then flesh out the details of our plan."
"… Is now really the time for a family day?" Lucifer asked. "And you know it's weird if I'm the one saying that."
"Come on kids, you more than anybody deserve a break during the end of the world. It'll just be for a couple of hours, it'll be fine." Eda said. "King, back me up."
"I do want some time to think…but I think I'd rather do it by myself." King began making his way out of the cave. "I'll meet with your guys later."
"He seeks solitude. I must make sure his path is untainted." Lilith nodded in seriousness.
"That's not what he meant by wanting to be alone." Lucifer groaned. "Normally he vent this to Fracious, but he was taken when the emperor's coven raided the scaps of our house."
"Wait a minute … maybe there is something we can do as a family!" Luz exclaimed. "They confiscated Francois, right? So we pull a heist and steal, go back, and grab whatever weapons and important trinkets they have laying too! That way we're both fun and productive!"
"We can steal my organs back!" Hooty shouted. "And then I'll eat them for power ."
"That's the spirit, a good ole heist like in the old days." Eda smirked.
"I guess we can stockpile an arsenal." Lucifer muttered. "Okay, let's do this."
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King trudged in silence. Couldn't really get that far given that it was him walking in the coldness of the knee. Although that didn't stop him from wanting to get away from Lilith as fast as possible. The lady was getting kind of creepy with her titan worship and it was super unnerving.
Every step that he took, every single step was on top of a corpse of his own kind. Someday…that was going to be him. He was going to be this massive giant that everyone lived on. But not before he'd grow up super big and super old, unable to be around family anymore as he'd outlive them all … except maybe Lucci. The details on that were a bit blurry.
It was just too much to take in all at once. Suddenly the idea of being this big and scary demon was less of a dream and more of a nightmare. He would be big and scary, people would be afraid of him…and King hated the thought of that.
"Snails for your thoughts, little guy?" Kings attention was turned to a Coven scout, except he was only wearing the mask. Everything else was a leather jacket, and all the accessories of a biker's uniform.
"Huh?" King asked. "Wait, you wouldn't happen to be Steve, right?"
"Steve seems to be a magnet for you guys." The man admitted. "Even when he's not on the clock...or in the Emperor's coven at all."
"Wait, you quit?" King asked. "I thought all you scout types were all about kissing Belo's butt."
"After a while it became more about if you quit you died." The man shrugged. "That's why I got this bike." He looked up at the sky. "Riding around in style before they find and turn me into ash. I thought being in the emperor's coven would make my life complete…but it's no where what I thought it would be."
"I can relate to that." King muttered.
"I mean, yeah they say Belos talks to the Titan, but what does that even mean really? Why should he know what the Titan wants? Maybe the titan's just like you and me, a confused guy wandering around trying to make sense of it all."
Well, that was one way of looking at it. "Maybe the Titan didn't want people living on him when he was gone."
"Exactly! In the end, nobody really knows, and we're all just putting faith into something we probably don't understand in the slightest." Steve kept going. "Like, what does Belos mean by paradise? Is it his version of paradise? Would we just get bored with everything being perfect all the time? There's just too many questions for me to be comfortable with."
"Do … do you ever wonder why we're here?" King asked. Steve seemed to be the only one asking the important questions right now.
"More than anyone could imagine … I just learned to be happy with whatever answer I can find." They took off the helmet. "From family, to helping others, to just being happy." The man sighed. "I thought being a scout was the best thing ever…but the job…there's so many regrets I have I wish I could take back."
"Same … I would have treated Francois and the others with so much more respect …" And he abused them, thus they had to be put down. "I thought being a big scary monster would be everything I could ever want…but it's not. That's not how I want people to see me."
"Me either." Steve smiled. "... So I got invited to this little gang. If you're interested we can join up together."
"I don't know, the world's about to end and kind of thought I'd spend the last few minutes alive with my family, you know, hugging each other as we all die."
"Oh, they can join too. It's this whole 'anti coven' thing that's trying to stop the day of unity. Not sure how that's going to work, but something's better than nothing, am I right?"
King blinked at that. "I can't be this lucky. Something is bound to ruin it."
"King!" He turned and saw Lilith come in with an aggravated Hooty. "Stay away from the Titan, Coven Scum-wait, Steve?"
Steve blinked, turning to King. "You're a Titan."
He sighed. "Yep …"
The former Coven Scout was silent for a moment. "Between you and Lucci, the Owl Lady has a weird habit of kidnapping demigods."
"IT'S A TRICK! I SHALL SMITE HIM DOWN WHERE HE STANDS!" Hooty shot himself forward and tackled Steve head on.
"NO! TEA PARTY FLASHBACKS! THEY'RE ALL COMING BACK TO ME!" Yeah, this made more sense given their lives.
"...So what is it that you wish to do now, my titan?" Lilith ignored the scene and bowed to him.
"Look, could you not? I told you to not treat me like a god, but it's like you're doing everything you can to make yourself subservient. Is this like a thing you had when you worked with Belos?"
The woman actually blinked in surprise, before looking introspective. "… I think the lack of parental attention as a kid might have made me need to be complemented by higher powers."
"Well stop it, please. I rather have sarcastic aunt/nephew banter than…whatever this is." King groaned. "Steve said he's now a part of an anti-coven gang trying to stop the day of unity. I think it's too good to be true, but we don't really have many options now, do we?"
Lilith looked even more surprised. "When did you do that?"
"ALL MY BONES ARE BEING BROKEN!" They should probably stop that at some point.
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Eda flew the kids to the Coven Scout base, an awkward feeling resting in her gut. "Did you have anything weapon wise in your apocalypse bunker?" Luz asked, focusing on the problem that she so desperately wanted them to run from. "I feel like between you and Celine, we might actually have enough to prepare for a full mad max scenario."
"Mad what now?" Lucci questioned as they snuck around the supply room. Apparently it wasn't that hard to break in. A couple of shoddy Scout disguises was all it took to go in undetected, something that made Eda even more uneasy. She was waiting for the other shoe to drop at some point.
"Apocalypse world where we ride around a desert in tricked out and weaponized for transportation, food, water, and a search for the mythical oasis."
"Oh, so basically pirates with those metal earth monsters instead of ships." Lucci guessed.
"Exactly!" She grinned. "And if we're lucky, we get mutant super powers!"
"I wouldn't consider that lucky. I do not pull off turtle shells." Eda grumbled. "You know when I said you kids could do whatever you want, I was thinking more of a beach day type deal."
"Beach days are overrated." Lucci responded dryly.
"They only cause misery, suffering, and sandy shorts." Luz deadpanned.
Eda winced. "Or we could, you know, try palisman bonding?"
"Hoot." As long as Luz wasn't involved.
"Hhss." As long as we bury the human alive.
"Don't worry Luz, I'm sure when your palisman comes along, it'll smother you with all the love that none of ours have shown you." Lucci tried to comfort.
"At this point Philip has justified the hate of my entire species." The girl shrugged. "So do you think our stuff is to the right, or further down?"
"They raided our shambled house a while ago, so probably further back." Eda answered, still unsure about everything. Yes, she came up with a plan, but she was in no way confident that it would work. Normally she'd be find with that…but she had kids. Every single instinct she had was telling her to get them as far away from the boiling isles as possible, but she didn't know how. These two were too stubborn, they would throw themselves into the line of fire without a second thought, and the owl lady needed some way to drive them away from that.
"You kids go ahead. I'm gonna go see if they have a weapons vault." Eda said as she began walking away from them, trying to think of something, anything, to get them to back off.. She couldn't bribe them….well, maybe if she had some Lion Lickers she'd be able to convince Lucci, but those were gone. Maybe convince them to run away with their girlfriends and repopulate after everyone was dead…no, then she'd have to think about her kids growing up even faster than they already were.
What was she going to do!? Anything they tried was going to result in certain death. What to do, what to do, what to do? She might as well hand herself over-"We still have no sign of the Owl Lady, Coven Head Whispers."
"Raine?" She asked herself, noticing a tower in the middle of the room. Climbing up, she peeked her head through the window, and saw a captain speaking to a crystal ball…one that had her ex on the other side.
"Find her. She's too crafty to let something as big as this slide. Find her, and no matter what, report to me and me alone. " Raine demanded.
"Yes sir." The Captain saluted, walking away, and leaving the ball … unattended.
Taking a glance, Eda slowly moved closer as a new plan formed in her mind. She grasped the ball, connecting back. "Okay, you could not have found her that fast."
"I don't know." Eda took off her mask. "I think I'd recognize my own face."
" Eda!? What are you doing over there!?" Raine examined, nearly falling over backwards from their shock. " And why are you wearing a scout uniform?"
"Trying out a new look. I think I can pull it off, but my skin's a pale snow already without the cloak, so it might be a tad much." She started off with a joke to ease the tension. "Whatya say rainstorm? Can I work it or what?"
They shook their head after a few seconds of staring. She still had it. "Not the time, you need to listen to me."
"I get it. The emperor's not holding back and it's coven or die, and I've burned every bridge I've ever had in the underworld." Eda groaned, going back to serious mode. "I know my number's up, but I also know that some piece of you still cares about me, others you wouldn't have let me go during the coven's day parade."
Raine flinched. "What are you suggesting?"
She sighed. "I'll turn myself in. Just get my kids out of the Isles, alright?"
" Wait, what..?"
"I know the day of unity is going to kill everyone, and I've lost everything. I don't have magic, a house, or any friends. The only thing I have left in this world are my kids, and I'll be damned if I let anything happen to them!" She cried, pounding her fists on the table. "Get them far away, Put them in a bunker, I don't care, I just want them safe! Please Raine…please?"
Her ex looked at her sadly for a minute, before sighing. " A transport will be there in ten minutes. Be ready by then."
She nodded, shutting off the crystal with a sigh of relief. This was it, her chance to keep them safe. Eda finally had a solution to everything- "Mom….what did you just do?"
…Maybe she shouldn't have been yelling all of that out loud.
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"Mom….tell me you're just playing a joke on your ex." Lucci said with horror as he and Luz watched mom get off from a conversation with the bard head. "Tell me it's all part of the whole family bonding thing you want us to have today." Lie to him, for love of titan just lie to him like always!
She stayed silent for what felt like an eternity. "Lucci …" That tone didn't hold any jokes or mirth. "We were never getting out of this alive." She spoke. "Between the Emperor Coven, the Heads, Belos … there was no way we could hope to save the Isles."
"No …" Luz looked broken. "There has to be, there has to be a way to-"
"Luz, I want to be naive just like you, but that's not an option!" She shouted. "Sometimes, you just can't fight, alright? Sometimes you can only run away."
"Then why, why can't we run away together?" Lucci asked, his voice beginning to crack.
"They locked down every port. You saw how fast the Scouts caught up when you showed up. The only way off the Isles is through the deal I just made with Raine." Mom looked away. "So get ready to move in about eight minutes. I'll get them to look for Lilith and King, and you'll all be safe…"
"No." Luz read his mind, stomping her foot firmly on the ground and looking at the crazy woman in the eye. "We're not going anywhere. If the only choice we have is to run or fight, then we're going to fight."
"It's a fight you're going to lose!" Mom shouted.
"Don't care." Lucci stated, feeling his fist tighten. "I'm sticking with you no matter what." He turned his back. "Whoever's going to pick us up, I'm stomping on their heads and destroying their transportation. No one's taking me away, ever."
"I wasn't giving you a choice." Mom closed her eyes as she entered harpy mode, arming herself with Owlbert as she flew right into their faces. " I'm more than willing to knock you unconscious for your safety."
"Glad we're on the same page then." He growled, placing a shield underneath Luz and lifting her into the air. "You go high, I go low!" He began focusing his power, letting fur, claws, and horns form all over his body.
"Right." She pulled out ice glyphs, trying to freeze over mom, all of which shattered as the woman flew through them.
" Don't fight it kids, I'm doing this for your own good!" She attempted to grab Luz, but Lucci threw a bubble into her stomach, making her back away.
"Splitting apart our family is not what I call anything good!" He yelled, going semi-manticore more and swung his tail at her, only for his mom to catch it and fling him into a tower of boxes.
"It hurts, I know, I know what it's like to be separated from family!" She screamed. "But there are some problems in life you can't tackle Lucci!"
"Snorseshit! I've been told over and over how impossible everything was going to be for me since the moment I came here, and I'm still standing!" Luz shouted out, using a plant glyph to tie up mom's wings, and pull her to the ground. "The curse, basilisk, ancient temples, crystal devils, the entire world has been against us, yet this is the moment you tell us to quit!? When we've come so far!"
"We already pushed our luck way too far!" She broke out of the vines, holding Luz. "This isn't a problem we can win against, Luz! Every option just leads to all of us dying!"
Lucci ran forward … and for the first time and his life, sent a punch to his mother. "How many times do I need to get it through that thick feather brained skull, ILOVE YOU! You took care of me when you didn't have to! You put your own happiness aside for mine!"
She tackled him. "And I'm doing it again! There's no situation where we come out of this unscathed! I'm keeping you safe like I've been doing, so let me do it one last time!"
"I am never losing you! I will take on the emperor, the titan trappers, the titan, my own past, just don't leave!!"
"Lucci, I know I taught you to never respect authority, but for once in your life, ignore my stupid advice and listen to me now! I have no plan! I have no magic! I got nothing! I can't keep anybody safe!"
" I have you! You have us! That's more than enough for me, fuck being safe!"He screamed. "If the world's going to burn, then let us burn in the fire together!"
"Is that so?" A purple fist crashed into Lucci, sending him flying. "Well well, if it isn't the Manticore Menace, here to be burned." Spoke some bitch in a Captain uniform spoke as two Abomatrons stood by, Luz held in one of their hands.
"Let her go!" Both he and mom shouted at the same time, finally getting them on the same wavelength, rushing forward at the abominations.
Which proceeded to crash into a pink barrier. "I heard you can heal anything … abomatron?" They started. "Until the two of them surrender, apply pressure to the spine."
Lucci desperately continued to hit the pink barrier to no avail as he could see the fist close tighter and tighter. "Dang it …" Luz cried out as he could see her sweat.
"The second I'm out of here I'm ripping off your head and turning your brain into play doh, you coven bitch!" He continued to pound on the barrier.
"The human would be dead by then, and at least have the honor of eliminating one of the thorns in the emperor's side before my death."
"Don't worry about me!" Luz screamed. "I got caught, just run!"
" We're not leaving without you, Luz! You're part of my family too!" Mom shouted, trying to claw her way out.
Just think of something. Just power through. Just … just … there was nothing … he was failing to save Luz from a simple abomatron … what was he going to really do against the Emperor?
Psssss
A vial was thrown into the room via a window, smashing everywhere as a thick mist was spread everywhere. "…Mom, is.."
" Nope, I really don't have anything to do with this…though it's making me kinda of sleeeeepy riiiigggght nooooow.." Mom yawned.
"Sleepy?" He gave the air a good sniff. "Sleeping needle fog potion."
"Fog what no.." The captain fell over, falling asleep instantly.
"What's …" Luz passed out, as the abomatron fell over in a goopy mass.
"…What just happened?" He asked himself, his resistance to poison making him the only one still awake.
"Raine told us that there would be trouble, so we figured we needed sleeping neddles in case you were in a more fighting mood."
"... What?" Lucci couldn't help but ask as he turned his head…and saw freaking Darius and Ebberwolf!
"Grr." WHAT!?
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Luz looked down at her hands … her useless, pathetic hands.
No sword, no magic, no palisman…heck Belos beat her in the glyph game by a fucking marathon… she was just a liability holding everyone back. She even got caught by that stupid abomination, and now she was probably getting hauled away to some prison cell while Eda and Lucci were getting petrified, or worse. It was the boiling isles, there were so many new and incredible ways to get screwed over.
Eda … was right. There was no way to win without sacrifice … so, maybe Luz should put in more effort. She was already the reckless one causing trouble and bringing Belos to the world … why not this?
First she needed to get the hell out of this truck. Looked like they stopped, so she needed to go out guns a blazing and set fire to all their faces and make a run to the skull.
She heard footsteps, slowly readying her lightning glyph, combining it with the fire glyph to add extra heat to the shock. The click of the lock signaled her move, as she tapped the glyph, aiming it at her enemy. The door opened as the blast went forward. "SUPRI-"
ZAP Fwosh
And suddenly, Willow and Gus were electrocuted and on fire. " Aaaaaaaggggggh!"
"Sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry!" She apologized and for out an ice glyph to pour son on them to take out the fires.
"Hah, that may be the only time I've actually liked the human screwing up." She looked up behind her, and saw Boscha smirking down on her. "Priceless. It's days like this I'm blessed with a photographic memory."
Great, her friends busted them out, and she hurt them … wait. "Lucci, Eda! They're being taken to the Emperor! We've gotta help them or-"
"Kid, we're alright." She turned her head again, and saw Eda…with Darius and Ebberwolf…and Raine!? "Raine picke d us up when we got knocked out. They're on our side!"
"….We're not being punked, are we?" Luz said with disbelief.
"Strangely enough, everyone else said the same thing." She turned to see Celeine standing next to Matt. "Hey human, welcome to the resistance. A futile but worthwhile attempt to take on the Emperor."
"…huh…?" Luz was still trying to wrap her head around the good fortune.
"It took me a few minutes to believe it was real too." King nodded, standing next to some biker dude whose arms were broken.
"Matt, what are you doing here!?" The biker guy explained.
"Me. What are you doing here Steve!? I thought you worked for the Empeor!?
"Wait, that's Steve!?" Lucci shouted, standing in a far off corner right next to Skara and Viney. "... When did you own a bike?"
"Since I quit the Emperor's coven…was on a journey of self discovery but joining a resistance is good too, given that the end of the world is coming." The man shrugged. "Whats been going on with you guys?"
"... Existential crisis stuff." Luz slowly nodded. "Wow, almost everyone is here."
"Even my mom!" Skara shouted, hugging a woman.
"I blame you all so much for dragging her into this." The woman glared.
"I know, I know." Raine sighed. "Believe me, I didn't want to bring Hexide in, but Adrian's attack pretty much cemented their inclusion."
"Attack, what are they talking about?" Luz asked.
"When you and Lucci were gone, it was announced to the whole isles that all students from every school were to enter a coven and be branded." Gus explained, shaking off the snow. "Naturally we weren't for that, so we beat the emperor's coven's butt."
Luz raised an eyebrow. "Don't you think we should get every school to join forces if that was the case?"
"Can't." Skara spoke up. "Saint epiderm wants to stay in the Emperor's good graces and already got the brands, and Glandus was too territorial to even let us explain."
"We at least have more of a plan than we did previously, so best not to look the gift snorse in the mouth." Lilith signed.
Luz felt herself smile. Things were finally turning around … the heroic climax was hopefully at hand. "Please tell me we have a cool rebellious resistance name."
"I did have the perfect name for our group..but some of us got picky about it." Raine glared at Darius.
"What? I can't help it if the little ones just so happen to have a better name." The man smile smugly.
"Covens against the throne would have been awesome." Raine grumbled.
"... Would have matched my hoodie." Luz noted.
"Trust me, I thought about it for a second." Willow smirked. "But me and the other Hexide kids held a vote, and majority ruled for 'League Against Witchhunters…"
"You made it LAW…." Lucci sniffed, wiping his eyes and hugging the plant girl tightly. "Thank you Willow…you're the best."
"My skin … now my bones …" She creaked. "Love…hurts so much.."
"Speaking of which, where's Amity?" Luz asked. "Figured she'd be at the frontlines of this."
"She said she had some business to take care of at home." Boscha answered. "Said she was gonna burn it all down."
Lucci instantly dropped Willow and gasped. "Without me!? The hypocrite!" He began ruffling through his hair, pulling out matches and old rags. "Give me five minutes, I'll be there and burn down blight manor in a snap."
"He definitely has your pyromania, Eda." Raine gave Eda a glare
"I wasn't that bad in highschool." The woman defended.
"Yes you were/Grr." The coven heads and Litlh said at the same time.
Luz began laughing. "Please, let nothing ruin this."
"Alright, I came back from inventory." A familiar and annoying voice spoke up. "We have enough materials to make some potions for …" He trailed off, gazing at every Clawthorne. "I swear I'm on your side, everyone here can vouch for me."
Lucci gave the longest stare, bubbling a fist. "I believe you…but I'm still knocking you out." And in a flash of pink, there was a hunter-sized hole in the walls.
"I am going to pretend that was a one time thing." Darius spoke with a twitchy hand.
"Long as gap tooth isn't trying to skin my boy alive, i think we'll be good." Eda laughed. "Let's get this rebellion a'rolling!"