At Hexside, Cruz and Luz were walking up the main stairs when someone called out to them. "Luz! Cruz!" Skara called out as she caught up to the twins.
"Hey, Skara. How's it going?" Cruz asked
"It's going great. I was actually going to ask you something," Skara said. "I've gotta run, I'm meeting up with Willow. Disfruta tu tiempo a solas, hermano." (Enjoy you're alone time, brother), Luz said as she ran into the school with a mischievous grin.
"Luz! ¡Vas a pagar! (You'll pay!)," Cruz called out to her in annoyance. "What did she say?" Skara asked not understanding when Luz and Cruz spoke to each other in Spanish. "Don't worry about it," Cruz said as he calmed himself down pushing a small blush from his face. "So what did you want to ask me?"
"Oh yeah it's about this," Skara said as she pulled out a red bundle from her bag. When the bundle unruffled, she was holding a red butterfly with the words 'Skara's 15th' and covered in small diamonds. "Your birthday is coming up? Wait, is this a real butterfly?" Cruz asked in surprise.
"Yeah, my dad spared no expense on the invitation," Skara said happily
"Makes sense, you only turn fifteen once," Cruz said with a bright smile, remembering that his mom talked about how a fifteenth birthday was a very special day. "See, you get it. I was wondering if you'd want to come? It's in three days."
Cruz looked at the invitation while giving it some thought. "…I'll have to see if I can go. Not sure if Eda is going to have us delivering potions that day. If I can't go, I'll drop by earlier to give you your present," Cruz said while putting the invitation away. "I'll let you know by tomorrow."
"That sounds great! I'll be waiting," Skara said waving as Cruz went into Hexside to find Luz and the rest of his friends.
In the halls of Hexside, Amity stood next to her locker reading a book while Boscha was looking at her hands as spell circle surrounded her wrist before her nails first turned into tentacles. "Too wiggly," she said as they changed into flames. "Too obvious." The nails then turned into brown talons. "Now we're talkin'! I think today is a talons day." Boscha then gave a mock roar using her talons.
"Hey, girls!" Skara called out as she walked up to the two of them. "Time to bug out at my birthday party!" she said as she took out one of her invitations showing it off.
"Invite only, but you witches are my VIPs!" Skara said in excitement as she handed the invitations to Boscha and Amity. "Are these made of real insect wings?" Amity asked examining the invitation.
"You're the second person to notice. And they are, my dad spared no expense. You only turn fifteen once!"
"You only turn every age once, Skara," Boscha pointed out to her
"Prepare thyself to do battle like a human!" Luz said gaining all of their attentions, "Thumb war!" Luz had drawn faces on her thumb along with Willow's, as they both engaged in a thumb war. Cruz stood nearby reading a book on potions, looking for a particular recipe that he was going to make before the day was over.
"It's funny 'cause it's stupid," Willow said with a laugh
"It's so weird that a pair of humans go here now. Too bad they've already burned their social lives at the stake. Any friends of Willow are automatic dorks," Boscha said rolling her eyes.
"I mean not really. They're both actually pretty cool. And besides, I think you're just mad at Cruz because he showed you up in potions class," Skara commented as Boscha glared at her.
Before she could retort, the invitation in her hand began to molt. "Ugh! Skara! Why did you give me an invite that was molting? Gross! Give me another one," she said in disgust throwing the invitation onto the floor where a pair of Hexside kindergarten students saw it.
"An invitation Skara's party!" A blonde kindergartener with her raised in buns said as she and the other kindergartener, a small yellow bipedal demon with their ears pointing straight up and prominent fangs, looked at each other before diving for the invitation.
"I want it!" they both said
"It's mine!"
"No it's mine!" The two kids begin to fight each other over the invitation as a teacher passes by and sees them and grows happy.
"Kid fight!" The reptilian looking teacher announces as another teacher, a spider looking teacher, arrives and looked on.
"Kid fight?" they ask happily
"Kid fight!" A third teacher, the one that was usually in charge of detention, exclaimed in joy as they began to watch the kids fighting over the invitation.
"Should we be concerned about that?" Cruz asked, looking at the fighting children. "It's okay, the teachers will stop them before they can actually get hurt," Willow said reassuring him. Cruz looked on as the teachers seemed more interested in watching than actually breaking up the fight.
"I'm not so sure about that," Cruz said as activated his left gauntlet and he loaded blue pellets into the marble shooter. Cruz shot three pellets towards the kids and teachers as a blue cloud covered them.
After the cloud cleared, the teachers and kids were laying on the floor fast asleep. Luz and Willow turned to look at Cruz for an explanation. "Allow me to introduce, the Sleeping Nettle Pellet. It's a little ball filled with sleeping nettle gas. When it exploded on impact, a thick cloud is formed knocking out anyone inside of the cloud," Cruz explained as if he were advertising a product.
"Isn't that going to get you in trouble?" Luz asked
"Can't get in trouble if I don't get caught. And this little pellet leaves no evidence behind," Cruz said with a smug look.
"Ignoring how Cruz is definitely going to get caught," Luz said
"I'm not!" Cruz protested earning a giggles from the girls.
"I can't tell you how excited I am for photo class!" Luz said as she began to tickle her locker. "I can't believe you can make pictures of your actual memories. I'mma see me some baby Willow."
"I'll admit, I was adorable," Willow said bashfully. "It's going to be fun to be able to see some of those old memories from back when we were kids," Cruz said
"You say that like you don't have a perfect memory," Luz pointed out as she goes to grab one of her books from the locker as it begins to bite down on it. "Don't eat that," Luz said as she began to pull on it before falling onto the ground.
The locker ate the book before hissing at Luz, who simply hissed back at it. "Locker:One-Luz:Zero," Cruz said with a chuckle.
"I can't believe they'd hang out with her," Boscha said with a laugh. "It's just embarrassing. 'Oh, look at me! I'm going on a date with my ferns!'" Boscha laughed as Amity looked indifferent towards the joke and Skara simply shook her head at it.
"That could be anyone," Luz tried to reassure her
"You have to admit, Skara. That was a pretty solid impression of Willow," Boscha said
"Not really, she's not like that," Skara defended before turning to Amity. "Amity, weren't you friends with Willow?" Skara's sudden question caught Amity off guard as she gave Skara a side eye. "I'm a Blight. We only associate with a select few. Keep annoying me though, I'm happy to select fewer," Amity said as she walked away.
"Oh, I could've sworn that you guys hung out…" Skara said weakly as she looked back to see Luz, Cruz, and Willow. She gave them a quick wave before following after Amity as they waved back at her.
In a classroom similar to a darkroom, Luz, Cruz, and Willow sat in front of a desk as multiple Polaroid photos hung behind them.
"Alright, memory melon, let's pick another juicy one!" Luz said as she used a pair of gray tweezers lined with teeth to poke into Willow's ear. "Be careful with my brain," Willow said with a smile as she felt the tweezers pull at her memories.
"Ooo, who says brain surgery is hard?" Luz questioned as she pulled out a photo from Willow's brain and hangs it on the wire behind them.
"I think some brain sergeants want to have a word with you," Cruz said
"As you work, note that some prints have greater clarity than others. These are moments that evoke a strong emotional response," the photo teacher, a purple biped demon with three eyes, explained coming up to the group.
"All the colors of the brainbow." As Luz began to reach for one of the photos, a large illusionary hand with the word 'HALT' on it stops her from touching it. "But, if you damage the prints, you'll damage the memories themselves! Be extremely careful," the teacher warned before walking away.
"Whoa. Photo class is intense," Luz said
"Considering we're working with memories here, it makes sense," Cruz said as the photo that Luz had pulled out came into focus.
"Oh my gosh, Willow, you had an awkward hair phase, too?" Luz asked looking at a photo of an embarrassed Willow with her hair looking rather messy. "I knew we were meant to be friends." Luz held up a photo of herself with her hair in three braids with two bows in each one.
"Yeah I remember mom struggling to get your hair like that for you," Cruz reminisced looking at the photo. "At least my hair never got like that."
"That's true, but you do have some embarrassing moments too," Luz said holding up a picture of a younger Cruz wearing a far too large lab coat holding empty beakers as his face was covered in soot.
The girls giggles as they looked at the photo. "That's from my first experiment at school. I ended up mixing the wrong stuff and caused a small explosion. My first failure ever with chemicals," Cruz reminisced as he took the photo and hung it on his line.
Luz looked back at the line holding Willow's memories as they began to become clear. "Ooo, there's more!" The rest of the phots hanging from the wire began to develop. One was showing Willow being pushed by her dads on a swing. While another showed her feeding a spider cow, and spending a holiday opening presents with her dads. The last image showed a young Willow and Amity, with brown hair, hugging at what looked like a birthday.
Luz gasped looking at the last image, while Willow simply groaned at it while turning away. "Hey," Luz began to say as she put a hand on Willow's shoulder, "I know you and Amity have a history. Wouldn't you feel better talking about it?"
"No, I'd rather do this," Willow said as she flipped the photo around. "That's my motto, after all. 'Out of sight, out of mind.'"
"Yeah that's a human saying too. And not really a healthy one for this situation," Cruz commented as the bell screamed. As everyone began to leave the classroom, Luz stopped Willow. "If you won't tell me what she did, I'll never be able to cook up a scheme to make you friends again."
"Luz, I get it, but I don't want you to do that. No schemes, no plots, no ruses, none! Okay? Now, let's get to lunch," Willow said as she left the room.
Luz looked back at the photo before walking up towards it. "She never did mention anything about…shenanigans." Luz turned the picture back around before turning to see Cruz giving her a disapproving look.
"You really shouldn't be getting involved with this, Luz. Willow already told you to leave it alone," Cruz said shaking his head slightly.
"But we both know that they have some history together. Don't you want to help Willow to mend her old friendship?" Luz asked pointing toward the photo
"Yeah, I do. But it's also something that Willow has deal with if she wants to. We can't go and force the situation. So no shenanigans. Now come on, we're going to be late for lunch," Cruz said as he left the room.
"Oh alright, wait up!" Luz called out following after him.
"I can't believe I made him cry. Like, he's the teacher," Boscha said as she passed by the photo classroom with Amity. Before passing the class, Amity stops and looks inside before spotting the photo of herself and Willow at the birthday party. "Oh, no," Amity says with worry.
"Why do you look like you've seen a ghost? Is there a ghost in photo class? Are they cute?" Boscha asked trying to look into the classroom before Amity uses her hand to try and block her vision. "Yep, just a super cute ghost. But they're all mine!" Amity exclaims quickly before shutting the door and running towards the photo. "Ask if they have any friends!" Boscha called out
"Willow, I'm sorry," Amity apologized as she grabbed the photo of the two of them. "But I have to do this." Amity spun a small spell circle creating a small flame before bringing it to the photo and burning the image of herself. Before the burn could continue she quickly blows on the embers extinguishing them before putting the photo back.
As she begins to leave, the embers on the photo reignite and begin to spread out. As Amity was about to leave out the door, she hears the flames from behind her and begins to panic. "Oh, no. No, no, no, no!" Amity says as she goes up to the photo. "Um, uh…" Amity begins to blow on the photo again trying to stop the flames but instead, the flames begin to spread onto the rest of the photos. "Oh, come on!"
In the cafeteria, Gus is sitting at a table with a large cork board with the title 'WHO TO INTERVIEW'.
"Hey there detective," Luz said popping up from behind the board. "Are you solving a crime, or about to commit one?"
"Sadly, this is one problem crime can't solve," Gus said looking rather stressed out
"What's eating away at you?" Cruz asked with concern.
"My interview for journalism class is due tomorrow! I'm supposed to choose someone: interesting, accomplished, and noteworthy. People aren't meant to be all those things! Curse your need for perfection, Gus!" he cried out as Luz gave him a box of apple blood.
"Okay buddy, okay," Luz said as Gus sank into his seat. "I don't really think any people on this board would give you much of an interview. And sadly, I don't really know anyone who would fit those three either," Cruz commented as he began to drink some of his own apple blood.
"So Willow-" Luz began to say before noticing something was wrong with her friend. "Whoa, are you okay?"
"When did it get so hot?" Willow asked, sweating profusely before grabbing her cup of water and drinking it. After drinking it, steam began to come out of her mouth before she reached for the pitcher of water next to her and pouring it on herself as more steam came out. The three look at Willow, Gus looks at her in confusion as Luz and Cruz both give her a look of concern.
Steam came out of Willow's ears as she adjusted her glasses back on her face. After putting her glasses back, Willow's pupils dilate, becoming completely black. "Uhh, hi! I'm Willow! Remind me of your names?" Willow asked in confusion, extending her hand out.
"This is serious journalism, Willow," Gus said turning away. "Clowning around will get you nowhere."
"I'm-I'm serious. Who-who are you?" she asked in a slight panic.
"I'll admit, this amnesia spin has piqued my interest."
"Gus it really seems like she's forgotten us, like her memory is-" Luz gasped as realization hit her. "Like her memory is gone!"
"Guys, photo room. Now!" Cruz exclaimed standing up.
Inside of the photo room, the door burst open as Gus rushed in. "Hexside Free Press! What's going on here?" Gus announced as Luz and Cruz followed closely behind with Willow stumbling in.
Luz and Cruz gasped as they saw Amity blowing on the photos desperately trying to put out the flames. "…Hi," Amity said nervously after noticing them in the room.
"What did you do!" Cruz cried out in exasperation
"You destroyed Willow's memories?!" Luz exclaimed
"I saves as many as I could," Amity said trying to defend herself as she held up two photos before a small flame landed on the photos and disintegrating them. "Ugh! Why would they make memories so flammable?"
"Why did you even destroy them in the first place!" Cruz said with a frown visible on his face
"I didn't mean to," Amity said
"You didn't mean to do that?" Cruz asked, pointing towards Willow who was leaning on the door frame wiggling her fingers.
"Have I always had this crazy thing?" Willow asked as she began to gently slap her own face. "Blap, blap!" Willow walked up to Amity and Luz before putting an around both of them. "Eeee, heee, heee, I can tell we're gonna be good friends!" she said before falling onto the ground.
Cruz facepalmed when he saw Willow hit the floor. "We've gotta get some help for this."
At the Owl House, they had taken Willow to Eda hoping that she would have some way to help their friend. "So, this is the Owl House," Amity said looking around.
"Yep," Luz confirmed proudly
"And you…sleep here?" Amity asked the Noceda's
"When the night critters allow me to," Luz said.
"I sleep over at the tower in the back, no night critter over there," Cruz said
"So, you set Willow's memories on fire and erased everything. Even minor damage can have huge effects!" Eda explained as Willow stumbled onto the couch.
"Ahh, a chair for sitting!" Willow said as she flopped onto the couch face first. She did a hand stand on the couch before flopping upside down.
"Yep, her brain's burned up real good," Eda said pointing to her head. "Damage like that can change everything about a person. Willow may never be the same."
They all turned to look at Willow, who had finally sat on the couch up right. "I got it!" Willow said in excitement before noticing the sleeping King. "Ooh, a furry fruit! I'm gonna peel it!" she said as she picked up King and started to pull on his back fue waking him up.
"What? What is happening?" King asked in a panic as he tried to escape.
"Nap time," Eda said as she created a small spell circle and launched it towards Willow, putting her to sleep on the couch.
"Sleep spell," King said as he let out a yawn and began to sleep.
"I didn't cast it on you," Eda pointed out with her hands on her hips. "Yeah, who cares," King said with a yawn.
"Is there anything we can do?" Luz asked
"She's right, we can't leave Willow like this," Cruz pointed out
"There is one way, but it's terribly dangerous and partially illegal. So you're in the right place!" Eda said enthusiastically.
"We'll…something being illegal never stopped us before," Cruz said
"That's the spirit. I'll send you into her mind to fix the damage," Eda explained.
"Be still my fantasy loving heart, I have always wanted to do this! Thank you, Boiling Isles," Luz said happily looking up.
"That's a thing? Actually, now that I think about it, that makes too much sense," Cruz deadpanned
"It won't be easy. You have a lot to fix in there, 'cause it's a mess! Yep, whoever did this to Willow showed unbelievable disregard for her safety, downright despicable," Eda said as Amity looked away guiltily.
"Oh, right, it was you. Anyways, Luz, Cruz, who's going in with you two?" Eda asked as Hooty opened the front door.
"Maybe I can help! I'm pretty good at getting stuck in people's heads!" Hooty suggested
"Absolutely not," Cruz said shooting down the idea immediately
"He's right, Hooty. This is someone's brain, not a night club," Eda said creating a spell circle closing the door. "Three max."
Luz looked over to Gus who was pacing in front of his cork board nervously. "I'm running out of time. Ugh. I'm in total free fall!" Gus said as he looked over at a pile of books. "Must I turn to forbidden sources?" Gus asked reaching for a book titled 'Raising the Dead' before the pile of books all growled at him, scaring Gus and knocking him onto the floor.
"Gus…has a lot on his plate," Luz said with concern
"Yeah, and he's not doing too good with the time crunch," Cruz pointed out
"Amity, you have to go with us," Luz said
"Willow…might not want me in there," Amity said skeptically
"You set everything in there on fire!" Luz pointed out, "You have to help."
"She's got a point, Amity. You made this mess, you've gotta help us fix it," Cruz said, crossing his arms. Amity looked at the twins before letting out a sigh.
"Okay, I'll do what I can," Amity said as Luz extended her hand towards her. After a slight hesitation, Amity took it as Cruz put a hand on Luz's shoulder.
"Alright! Bold choice, taking the girl who caused the mess," Eda said as she created a large spell circle under the three and summoned a white and gold bell.
"Whoa," Luz said taking the bell
"When you're done, ring that and I'll cast you back," Eda explained, "Oh, and an eye out for her 'Inner Willow'. She's the gatekeeper of emotions and memory. She might help ya."
Eda lifts her hands into the air causing the spell circle to encase the three in a pillar of light. "Now, here…we…go!" As Eda lifted her hands again, the three became particles of light that she directed directly toward Willow.
As the three land in darkness, Luz cries out in surprise almost falling over. Cruz looked around not seeing anything but the black void.
"Oh great, it's the-" he began to say before being cut off as a large flash of light blinds the three forcing them to shield their eyes. As the light dims, they look around and notice that their standing in a large forest with a picture hanging from each tree. As they look around, they notice all of the pictures are grayed out from the fires.
"Where's her Inner Willow? Do you really think it'll help?" Amity asked as they were walking around.
"Not sure, maybe we have to call out to it," Cruz said
"Maybe, but for now, we'll have to start fixing stuff on our own! Hmm, now let's see…" Luz said as she walked up to one of the paintings before blowing on it, scattering all of the dust.
The picture is showing a damaged image of a fort on a beach. As Luz goes to touch the image, her hand goes through it. "Hey, I found something magical. I'mma put my face in it!"
"Try not to break anything," Cruz called out as Luz laughed and entered the photo completely. "I swear, le digo una cosa y no escucha (I tell her one thing and she doesn't listen)" Cruz said, exasperated as Amity walked up towards the same picture.
"Luz? Luz!" Amity called out looking around. "Where'd she go?" Cruz pointed towards the picture that Luz had jumped into as Luz popped back out.
"I think I found the memories! Let's go," Luz said as she dragged Amity into the photo.
"This reminds me too much of a certain video game," Cruz commented as he jumped into the picture. They all landed at a beach face first before sitting up from the sand.
"And welcome to Willow's beautiful….memory?" Luz said as she looked around the memory that was in grayscale with burn marks all around.
"This just looks all kinds of wrong," Cruz commented looking at the scorches
"Lake Lacuna," Amity said looking around at the damage. "This is where Willow and I took swimming lessons! The ash must be from the fires." Amity gasped as she saw something. "Our fort! In the dunes!"
The group ran up towards the fort as Amity began to take things off of it. "One time Willow wanted to play hooky from our swim lessons, so we built this!" Amity said as she handed a plank of wood to Luz.
"Forts, hooky, Willow. Can words get any cuter?" Luz asked
"Not sure if playing hooky is all that cute," Cruz said with a chuckle
"We knew the swim teacher would be on the prowl, but Willow said she'd protect us with an illusion spell," Amity said as she admired the fort with pride.
"Wha? It's like a little doghouse for angels!" Luz exclaimed happily
"At least call it a club house," Cruz deadpanned at the name
"Wait, but something is missing," Amity said as she looked down and spotted a flag with the letters 'AW' on it. She smiled fondly at it before putting it on a small flowerpot that was tied to the top of fort.
"There," Amity said as a flash enveloped them. "We're back!" she said looking around.
"I think fixing the fort fixed the memory!" Luz said as they all looked at the photo again which began to play the memory.
In the memory, a young Amity and Willow run into fort while laughing. "Ugh! The seagulls are back again!" Young Amity said annoyed
"Don't worry, I'll get rid of them!" Young Willow said as she cast a spell making the fort disappear instead of getting rid of the seagulls. The seagulls attack the two as the fort reappears as the two girls began to yell defending themselves.
"Willow!" Young Amity cried out
"I'm sorry! I thought I was getting better!" Young Willow said as the swim teacher appeared and dragged the two back towards the class.
"Willow was a…late bloomer," Amity said as the memory ended
"We know, but now she's more like a great bloomer!" Luz said
"She's definitely someone I wouldn't want to make angry," Cruz said
"This place is like a theater showing her most important moments! Now, let's fix some more!" Luz said as she ran up to the picture that showed the birthday party. "The picture that started it all. Let's do it next."
Amity visible panicked as Luz began to climb into the photo. "Wait! Uhh. You want important moments?" Amity asked as she gestured towards the photo with with Willow's awkward hair day picture. "This one might be about a crush!"
"Hmm, don't mind if I do!" Luz said as she climbed into the photo while laughing.
Amity let out a sigh of relief before noticing that Cruz was giving her a knowing look. "I get not wanting to revisit certain memories, but putting this off won't help anyone at all. At the end of the day we'll have to see it," Cruz said as he climbed into the photo following Luz.
Amity looked slightly nervous as she climbed into the photo following the two. As she climbs into the photo, a large fiery foot steps on the ground.
A few moments later, the three come back out before they enter more. Starting off with the three fixed a swing set, restoring the memory of Willow at the slayground with her dads where Willow was swung too far and kicked her dad, who simply laughed it off.
The next memory restored, after Amity put a book back on the shelf, was one where Willow and Amity were chased out by a librarian after being caught reading, 'Weapon of Love'.
A third memory was restored after Cruz put back a sign for a 'Roller Ghoster'. This memory showed Amity waving to Willow to climb onto the ride before it started.
Young Willow began to scream on the ride before she yelled out, "I don't feel so good!"
"We don't need to see how this one ends…" Luz said as she turned the image around
"I agree, rather not see something like that," Cruz agreed
"Yeah, Willow threw up a lot that day. That's when you knew she was havin' fun," Amity said with a small smile.
"Ew…" Luz said earning a nudge from Cruz, "I mean, aw."
Amity looked away from the image looking rather downcast. "Hey, you okay?" Luz asked with concern
"Yeah, I just…I can't believe I almost erased all of this. I really messed this up," Amity admitted
"It's true that you made a big mistake, but the important thing is that you try and fix it. It's always a good way to start an apology," Cruz said with a smile.
"He's right, so don't worry. We've gotten really good at fixing memories! I won't rest until we've got this all sorted out. Repeat after me: 'We can fix this together'" Luz said to Amity, who simply blinked in surprised as a response. "Come on" Luz encouraged her.
"We can fix this together," Amity said as she brushed her hair back with a blush visible on her face.
"Heck yeah we can! I know some of these memories must be painful for you, but, what happened to you guys? And why are you trying to hide it?" Luz questioned
"From the memories we've seen so far, you two looked like you were inseparable," Cruz pointed out
"I just…" Amity began to say before noticing a large pink fire humanoid monster stepping out from behind some trees.
Amity gasped when she spotted it, "What's that?" Amity asked pointing towards the creature. Luz and Cruz turned towards to where Amity had pointed but didn't see anything.
"That's called a tree, Amity. Very funny," Cruz said unamused
"Look, if you don't wanna talk about it, just say so," Luz said as she began to walk away.
"No, I actually saw something!" Amity insisted. "At least I…I think I did."
"If you need me, I shall be fixing this memory of a ball pit," Luz said as she climbed into the memory
"Wait, that's not-"
Luz popped back out of the image with an eggshell on her head. "It's eggs! It's full of eggs! Why is this memory full of eggs?!"
"Yeah, that one's hard to explain," Amity said as she ran up to the image.
"I doubt It'll make sense even when we fix it," Cruz said as he jumped into the image.
After a few moments, the three came back out after having successfully restored the memory. "We're getting pretty good at fixing these," Amity said as they emerged and Luz removed an egg from her head.
"Yeah. And there's only one last memory to fix. The one you're suspiciously avoiding," Luz said looking over towards the birthday picture.
"Me? Avoid? No. But let's skip it! Where's Eda's bell?" Amity said as she tried to grab the bell with Luz stopping her by using one of her hands.
"Amity, you gotta stop being weird. We have to fix all of them," Luz pointed out
"She's right you know. Eda told us, that we have to fix all of them to completely restore Willow's memories," Cruz pointed out
"Unless…there's something in there you don't want us to see," Luz guessed as Amity crossed her arms defensively.
"Look, we're not here to judge," Luz said she placed a hand on Amity's shoulder, "We're just here to help Willow."
"Help? All you're doing is prying into your friend's lives!" Amity snapped as Luz looked down in shame. "Well did you ever think maybe it's none of your business?"
"Hey! Are you being serious right now?" Cruz snapped back. "We're in here fixing your mess! If you hadn't burned down Willow's memories none of this would've happened. I get some things are hard to remember, but it's not worth hurting people to forget."
Amity was going to retort before she noticed a certain smell in the air. "Is something…burning?"
The three turned and gasped as they saw pink flames destroying all of the memories that they'd already fixed. "Look!" Luz said pointing towards the pink monster as it reappeared and began to run towards the screaming trio.
"Hide, hide, hide!" Amity says in a panic as she pulls Luz behind the egg memory tree with Cruz running close behind. The pink monster stands in front of the tree before it jumps into the egg memory and begins to burn it.
"Oh no! That thing is burning up all of the memories!" Luz exclaimed in a panic.
"How come Inner Willow isn't helping out with this thing," Cruz said with worry
"Please call Eda, I don't wanna be here when it comes out!" Amity said in a panic as Luz began to ring the bell…as absolutely nothing to happen.
"Oh that's not good," Cruz said before Amity grabbed the bell from Luz.
"Why. Won't. She. Answer!" Amity exclaimed as she rang the bell desperately.
"Yeah…she's not super reliable," Luz said
"What a time for her to do this," Cruz said flatly as the flame monster began to emerge from the memory. "Run!" Luz said as they three ran from the painting.
The three watched as the pink creature moved from memory to memory burning them all up. "Why is it destroying all the photos?" Amity asked as they watched it cautiously
"I don't know," Luz said as she looked around and spotted the photo of Willow with her dads at the swings. "That one hasn't been burned." Luz saw that the photo with Willow and her dads opening presents was left completely untouched. "Or that one!" She gasped when she noticed that the photo of Willow and Amity at the library was burned starting with the image of Amity. "Amity, that thing isn't after any photo. It's after you!"
The monster turned and growled as it looked at Amity. "What?!" Amity said in confusion as the monster ran towards the trio.
"Wait…now it makes sense!" Cruz said in realization as Luz and Amity looked at him.
"Run! I have an idea!" Luz said as she began to push Amity towards the beach photo.
"We can't go in there, I'm in there!" Amity said with worry. "Just trust me!" Luz said as she pushed Amity into the photo as she followed behind with the three landing on the dirt.
Luz stands up as she began to draw a large ice glyph on the sand. "Time for a swimming lesson!" Luz lifted her hands before slamming them on the glyph activating it. As the pillar of ice began to grow, the monster leapt into the photo landing on the ice pillar and sliding into the water.
The three come from around the pillar and notice the steam coming from the lake where the monster had landed. "Woo! Teamwork, baby!" Luz exclaimed happily as she hugged Amity causing her to blush.
Luz noticed that Cruz had the same look from when he was putting pieces together. "Cruz, what's wrong?" Luz asked
"I think I just figured out what that thing is," Cruz said with a frown
"What is it?"
"It's-"
"Guys," Amity interrupted, gaining their attentions as a shadow was standing in the lake, obscured by the fog. When the fog lifted it revealed…Willow, with pink flames surrounding her as she looked at the three.
"Are you…the Inner Willow?" Luz asked as Inner Willow's eyes turned completely purple.
"I was," Inner Willow said with an echo as she began to walk towards them. "Love, sadness, fear." As Inner Willow began to walk on the sand, it left a trail of burned footprints. "I used to be a being made of all emotions. But ever since you set Willow's mind on fire, all I can feel is anger!" Inner Willow let loose a burst of flames that began to burn down multiple trees around them along with the fort and its little flag.
"Please! Stop!" Luz pleaded
"You're just destroying all of the memories!" Cruz cried out
"But Amity wanted this," Inner Willow said as she summoned the birthday memory and grabbed it with a hand made out of flames. "Every moment she touched, I'm going to burn!"
"You're just hurting Willow. Why are you doing this?" Amity asked
"Still haven't figured it out yet?" Inner Willow asked as she got close to Amity. "Then I'll show you!" She summoned a pink hand grabbing Amity by the waist and throwing her into the memory before turning to the Nocedas
"You wanted to know everything, right? Then come take a trip down memory lane," she said extending a hand.
"You're saying it all creepy, but I like the sound of-whoa!" Luz began to say as she was grabbed by the cowl and thrown into the memory before looking back at Cruz.
"…Just do it," Cruz said, accepting his fate as the hand grabbed him by the arm and threw him in as well.
Inside of the memory, Amity lands on a bed bouncing off of it and landing on her feet. Luz quickly flies through the air crashing into something, as Cruz comes in flying and crashing into something else close by.
Luz and Cruz walk over to Amity rubbing their heads. "That was so not fun, my arm is going to be so sore later," Cruz said grabbing onto his shoulder.
"Where are we?" Luz asked looking around as Inner Willow floats into the memory. Amity quickly hides behind Luz and pulling he back a bit.
"You said I was hurting Willow? I was just finishing what you started!" Inner Willow said as she released a burst of flame causing the memory to start playing.
"You have to get out, Willow, now!" Young Amity said as she and Young Willow enter the bedroom.
"Wait, why?" Young Willow asked feeling hurt.
"Because-because-"
"Is it because I can't do magic?" Young Willow asked grabbing onto Young Amity's hand. "Amity, I'm-I'm sorry I got us in trouble at the beach, I just-I can't get the spells right."
"Well, yes, that-that is why!" Young Amity said as she ripped her hand away from Young Willow. Cruz looked at Amity with disbelief, not thinking that their friendship could end so quickly for no other reason. "Because you're a weakling! You can't do magic so I don't wanna be your friend. Now, go!"
Inner Willow made the image disappear into dust as Young Amity's scowl was replaced with Amity's resigned expression, while Young Willow's tearful face is replaced with Inner Willow's furious expression.
"Then you let your new friends pick on her for years. All because you thought she was weak," Inner Willow said as she began to float. "Well, now I can erase all that pain. After all, out of sight, out of mind." Inner Willow's pupils turned pitch black and purple flames began to surround Amity.
"Amity!" Luz said with worry as the flames began to rise up
"Wait! Please," Amity pleaded as the flames stopped and disappeared. "Before all this started, there-there was something else."
The sound of something slamming into the door was heard before it opened. "Amity," the stern voice of Alador was heard as a Young Amity is seen facing her parents.
"What is Willow doing here? She wasn't on the guest list for a reason," her mother said in reprimand
"But she's-she's my best friend," young Amity said earning a surprised look from Inner Willow
"Nonsense, Blights only associate with the strongest of witchlings. You can choose a new friend from one of the suitable companions we invited," Alador said as an image of a young Boscha and Skara appeared, with both Witchlings looking bored.
"But they're mean!" Amity said looking away as she crossed her arms. "Just because you work with their parents doesn't mean I have to like them!"
"Good children don't squabble, dear," her mother chastised. "Sever your ties with Willow, and if you don't…"
"Then we will," Alador finished causing Young Amity to gasp
"We'll make sure the girl is never admitted into Hexside. Now go, and try not to make a scene." The door closes again as all of the color in the room fades.
"Willow, you were never too weak to be my friend. I was too weak to be yours. I can't take back what I've done, but I can promise you this," Amity reached into her pocket taking out Skara's invitation, "I won't let Boscha and her gang pick on you ever again!" She began to tug on the invitation before stopping. "I'm not actually gonna rip it because it's a real butterfly, but you get the gesture, right?"
Inner Willow turned to her with a smile and tears forming in her eyes. "I do," she said grabbing onto Amity's hand. "I think Willow should keep her memories of you. The good, and the bad."
"Me too," Amity said with a smile. "Then if it's okay, Cruz, Amity, and I still have some work to do," Luz said as she and Cruz joined their side.
Inner Willow nodded as she brought the three back into the forest, now completely restored. Luz hands Amity the memory as she hung up the birthday picture back onto the biggest tree when they hear footsteps behind them. As they turn around, they see Inner Willow come out from behind a tree holding Young Inner Willow's hand.
Amity waved at the two as Luz cries tears of joy with Cruz placing a hand on her head. As Young Inner Willow turns to leave, she walks face-first into a tree. She giggled as she ran off with Inner Willow waving before following after her.
"Good job, Amity. If you ever need help with anything, just ask us and we'll be glad to help you out," Cruz said with a smile.
"Thanks, I'll do that," Amity said with a grateful smile
"So, does this mean you and Willow are buddies again?" Luz asked
"I'm not sure," Amity admitted
"Well, why don't we go and see?" Luz said as she pulled out the bell and rang it.
The three felt a pull as they were dragged out of Willow's mind with a puff of smoke surrounding them, as Luz and Amity were holding hands while Cruz had his hand on Luz's shoulder again.
As the bell disappeared from Luz's hand Amity let go of her other hand and Cruz let go as well before he looked around and saw a giant mess.
"Whoa. What went down here?" Luz asked looking at the mess
"Did a storm hit or something?" Cruz wondered
"And where's Gus? What did you do with Gus?"
"The kid's fine. He's just dead to us," Eda said grumpily as she crossed her arms before she and King walked away.
"Those are very mixed messages," Luz called out to them in confusion.
"He's outside with Hooty," Cruz said looking out the window, "So we'll have to see how long he'll be fine sanity wise."
The three looked over at Willow who had started to wake up. "Willow! Do you know who we are?" Luz asked gesturing to herself and Cruz.
"A pair of friendly scarecrow?" Willow said sitting up while taking a pause. "Ha! Just messing with you, I remember everything!"
"She's back folks! Our girl's back!" Luz said as she and Cruz gave Willow a hug. "We're gonna hug you so hard you'll never forget us again!"
"Glad to see you're safe," Cruz commented
Amity turned toward the door about to leave. Luz looked towards her as she opened the door, Amity saw her and gave her a shy wave before taking a step out.
Willow turned toward Amity before saying, "I remember what you did too." Amity stopped as she looked at her. "What you did in there." Willow pointed towards her head, "I can't say we're friends, but it's…a start."
Amity waves to her with a smile as she leaves and closes the door behind her. From inside the house the muffled voice of Willow is heard. "Luz, question: how did Amity happen to see the photo I hid in class?" Willow asked
"You said nothing about shenanigans," Luz's muffled voice said in her defense.
"Luz…I'm positive that I specifically told you no shenanigans," Cruz's muffled voice deadpanned.
Amity walked past Hooty and Gus' interview. "My first word was hoot. My second word was hoot-hoot. My third word-"
"Hooty, you gotta stay on track here, buddy!" Gus interrupted
Amity stopped walking as she took out Skara's invite and let it unfold. She smiled as she let it fly away before she continued to walk again.
"Here's a song I wrote! Bored bored bored, bored bored bored," Hooty began to sing
"Augh! I can't take this anymore!" Gus threw down his notepad and pencil in frustration before leaving.
"Here a hoot, there a hoot, somewhere else a hoot hoot, hooty-hoot hoot!" Hooty continued to sing.
Three days after the incident, Cruz landed outside of a large house after following the directions on Skara's invitation. As Cruz landed, adjusted his duffel bag that was holding the present before knocking on the door. After a few moments of waiting, a tall dark skinned man with messy gray hair opened the door and stared at Cruz.
"Oh…hi," Cruz greeted nervously as he realized who the man was. As Cruz was shifting nervously under his gaze, the man eyed Cruz's staff cautiously before speaking, "Who…are you?"
"Oh, right. Nice to meet you, my name is Cruz Noceda. I'm a friend of Skara's from school," Cruz introduced himself extending a hand out. The man took his hand and shook it. "That's right, I'm pretty sure that my daughter's mentioned you before. I'm assuming you're here for the party, correct?"
"Actually, I wanted to talk with her real quick. I've got her present with me," Cruz said gesturing towards his bag.
The man nodded in understanding before turning to look into the house. "Skara! You've got company!"
"Coming!" Skara said from upstairs as footsteps were heard. After coming down the stairs, and a smile beamed when Skara spotted Cruz.
"Cruz! It's so great to see you!" Skara said as she walked up to the door. "Dad, this is Cruz. He's the human friend I was telling you about."
"Oh that's right, you're the human that's at the top of the potions track at Hexside. I've heard a couple of things about you and your talents. It's nice to meet you, my name is Shaun," Shaun said introducing himself.
"Nice to meet you too, sir."
"Dad, do you mind giving us a second?" Skara said as she tried to push her dad back into the house. "Alright, but if you need anything I'll be around," Shaun said as he walked into the house leaving the two alone.
"Sorry about that," Skara said turning back to Cruz
"Don't worry about it. I think he's a little weary of me, he was focusing a lot on my staff," Cruz said holding out the staff.
"Yeah, he's like that. He's pretty protective of me. He's been like that ever since my mom… passed away," Skara said shocking Cruz
"So your moms… gone? I'm sorry I didn't know," Cruz said weakly. "It's totally fine," Skara said waving it off, "It happened a long time ago, I was only five when it happened so I'm already used to it just being my dad and me. Sometimes my grandpa will show up when he's not busy with coven work, but it's mostly just us two."
"Oh, that does explain more about why he'd act that way. You're dad is trying to focus all his attention on you now. I think that's pretty good," Cruz said with a smile
"Yeah, it really is," Skara said with a fond smile before clearing her throat. "So, what did you want to tell me?"
"Oh, right!" Cruz said remembering why he'd shown up and took out a large box from his bag. "Here you go. Happy birthday, Skara!" As Skara grabbed the box she felt the weight of it as she lifted it a bit.
"It's pretty heavy. Do you mind if I open it?"
"Not at all, it's your birthday gift after all."
Skara opened the box happily tearing off the blue wrapping paper and when she opened it, she noticed a brand new lute inside. It was made out of wood with a yellow hue on it with a flower design at the center behind the strings. Skara looked at the lute with an awestruck look on her face as she held it.
"It's…beautiful. How did you know I wanted a lute?" Skara asked
"Well, I remember you mentioned how you've always wanted a lute a while back. And I figured, maybe you didn't have one. So I decided… why not get you one," Cruz said with a bright smile. "Oh and that's not all." Cruz reached into his bag and pulled out two potions, a blue one and a green one. "If you pour this blue one on your lute and your harp, it'll act like maintenance on the strings."
"That's so great! The usual ones I get are always out of stock. But what about the green one?"
"Oh, this one? Try pouring a bit on your lute's string and playing something," Cruz suggested as he handed her the potion. Skara took the cork off the potion and poured a bit onto her string as she watched them glow in a green hue before returning to normal.
Skara smiled at Cruz before returning her attention to her lute and played it. The surroundings around the two seemed to come to life as the sound of the lute began to fill the air, with flowers and birds dancing in reaction to the music, and no emotion other than bliss ran through the two.
As Skara stopped playing her music a bright grin spread across her face as the joy from the music was still present for her.
"That was amazing! I've never felt my music play so smoothly before! Thank you Cruz, this is such an amazing gift!"
"I'm glad you like it. Hearing your music is always a treat to me. I don't think I've ever heard anything more beautiful," Cruz said with a bright smile before he felt his scroll buzz. As he looked at his scroll he failed to notice the heat rising to Skara's face as a blush formed on her cheeks.
"Looks like I've gotta go, Luz says I'm falling a bit behind on my deliveries. And I've got to get to the market to meet up with Morton. I'll see you at school, Skara. And Happy Birthday." Cruz said as he got on his staff and flew off in a slight hurry.
"I'll see you later!" Skara waved to him as he flew off towards the market. As Skara watched Cruz's retreating form, she couldn't help but ponder why her heart continued to beat as the heat didn't leave her face.