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Amity paced around the deck of the airship, everything was happening so fast. Hunter and Luz had switched, Gus helped Luz with her stupidly smart plan that could get her killed. Luz would do anything to protect them, save them from pain.
Amity slumped against the side of the ship, they weren’t getting there fast enough! Luz could be hurt, dead even! Amity felt like a failure. She couldn’t protect Luz! Luz always made sure everyone was okay.
The second they were close enough, Amity was the first on her Palisman and racing to her girlfriend. She had to have living, breathing proof that Luz was safe!
The group snuck in, Hunter knew of a window that was broken and never fixed. Hunter led the way through the halls, occasionally glancing down at his sigil with a frown as the yellow veins continued to crawl up his arm.
The halls were empty of life, all the guards down below to deal with The Day of Unity.
“This way.” Hunter led them down a series of twisting halls until they reached a point where Hunter held up a hand to halt. He seemed to falter, Amity guessed it came from his time as the Golden Guard.
However, when the voices registered in her head and she peered past Hunter she froze where she was standing.
“What should I call you? I mean it’s been super long in the Human Realm. Great Grandpa? Gramps? Great, Great, Great, Great, Great- uh how many ‘great’s was that?”
Amity had to shake her head a few times to believe what she was seeing and hearing, because there was no way Luz could be standing there with Belos and talking to him as if he were a friend. This had to be an illusion, some sort of trick!
“‘No need for all the titles, just Grandfather or even Philip would work just as well. I’m just glad our family kept the tradition alive.” Belos sounded genuinely happy. Amity simply gaped as Luz lounged on the throne casually.
Amity didn’t know what to do, she just stood there dumbfounded with her friends, something in her wanted her to accept it was Luz, because they got Luz perfectly. Even the voice!
The rest of her wanted to run in there and scream at Belos to give her girlfriend back. There was no way her sweet, funny, kind Luz. Would willingly be near such a monster.
There was no way Luz would betray them, everything they had couldn’t be fake! It couldn’t be fake! Amity hugged herself, this had to be a trap! A trick with illusions! She didn’t want to believe it. She wouldn’t.
“Amity? What’s going on?” Willow whispered, startling Amity as she was pulled out of her thoughts.
Hunter let out a gasp as the sudden movement caused the door to swing open and deposited them in a heap at Belos’s feet.
—
Luz hummed subconsciously, she was perched on Phillip’s throne while he continued his preparations with the door that would take them home once everything was over.
“Philip?”
“Yes, Luz?” Philip fixed up his ponytail, Luz would have to give him a makeover when they got home. She wondered if Philip would let her mess with his hair. She could think of a few styles that she wanted to try.
Hopefully her mom wouldn’t be too mad when she brought a century-old relative home with her. That, and her friends and girlfriend. Luz smiled fondly at the thought of Amity. She would finally be able to guarantee the safety of those close to her!
“What do you think-“ Luz’s question was interrupted by The Collector. She had been trying to play with him so he wouldn’t be so bored, and it mostly worked out.
“Luz! Luz! Luz! You’re here! We can play again!” The Collector cheered, their shadowy form was multiplied across the walls leading in an echoed chorus.
“Hey buddy! I’m sorry but we’re a bit busy. Maybe a round of tic-tac-toe later?” Luz tried to negotiate with the god-like child she somewhat considered a little sibling.
“Aw. Okayyyyy, but we gotta play all the games I want! My rules!” The Collector retreated to wherever the child went, but not until they gave Philip bunny ears. They disappeared with a giggle when Philip turned to see
Luz’s head snapped towards the entrance when the door creaked open with a loud and drawn-out groan of old unoiled hinges.
“Huh? Guys! What are you doing here?” Luz looked down from the throne where Amity, Hunter, Willow, and Gus were splayed out in a heap. Hunter looked terrified, halfway between kneeling and just plain cowering before Philip. Luz frowned, Hunter and Philip would need a lot of therapy later.
“Hunter. How lovely for you to drop in with your… friends.” Philip looked mad, he hated it when people dropped in uninvited, but these were Luz’s friends! He’d get over it.
“Luz! We’re here to save you!” Gus looked so relieved to see her, Luz felt bad about causing all her friends so much worry. She was their friend!
Luckily they wouldn’t need to worry after this! Amity wouldn’t have to deal with her parents, and she could spend more time with all of them after the spell was complete to make it up to them!
“Get away from her you monster!” Willow entrapped Phillip in a plant before he could react further. Luz frowned at Willow’s harsh commentary, Philip wasn’t a monster! He was a human like she was!
“Guys! It’s all fine! Everything is okay now!” Luz jumped down from where she was sitting.
“Not until we stop the Draining Spell! Come on, we need to find a way to stop it!” Willow grabbed her arm and yanked her away from Philip’s plant prison.
They were being irrational! Couldn’t they see this would help in the long run? Why weren’t they listening to her?
“Oh, there’s no way to stop the spell. Not without The Collector at least.” Luz shrugged, she was going to tell them later, but now worked just as well! Maybe they’d understand?
“What?! What do you mean there’s no way to stop it?! How can you be so calm about this?!” Gus looked around wildly, as if the solution would simply be somewhere in the room. “Why are you just standing there?!”
Luz realized that Hunter and Amity weren’t saying anything. Did they hear her before? Or were they hurt? Luz looked over at the two from behind Willow in concern. Amity looked stunned, Hunter was obscured from view.
Luz put a reassuring hand on Willow’s shoulder. “Guys, the spell is a good thing! We’re saving you guys!” Luz tried to reason with her friends, why weren’t they seeing it her way? She was helping them! Willow shook Luz’s hand off her shoulder with a look of betrayal.
“We? Luz, who are you? What happened to the Luz Noceda I love?!” Amity spoke up with tears in her eyes, there was a swirl of grief, anger and something else in her voice. Luz blinked away the shock, her own tears starting to form at seeing her girlfriend upset.
“I’m still me, Amity! But I’m not really Luz Noceda. My full name is Luz Wittebane-Noceda, but that’s a mouthful so…” Luz trailed off when she saw the hurt looks on their faces. They were hurt? She was hurt! She did this for them, what did they want from her!
Willow just stood there in shock, slowly backing away in horror as Luz frowned and burned a hole in the plant-cage to free Philip.
They didn’t understand! This wasn’t going how Luz wanted, they were supposed to understand and come with her to the Human Realm after!
“Luz is correct, Wittebanes have been hunting witches for years. Now, we will finally fulfill that goal. She insisted you be spared, along with the rest of her friends.” If Luz didn’t know better, she’d think he were bragging about their family history, Luz let a small smile slip.
“Then what about Hunter! He has a sigil!” Gus cried, Luz realized Hunter hadn’t said anything because of the draining spell’s effect on him. He was half-conscious, splayed out on the floor where he was previously kneeling.
“Oh, I guess we’ll need to cut his arm off to save him. Do you think that would work?” Luz turned to Philip who nodded.
“I believe it will. I don’t know why you insist upon saving them when they clearly will never understand us.” Philip sighed, shaking his head.
Luz frowned, why was Philip being so pessimistic? “They will understand, I’ll make sure they do!”
They must’ve not been paying attention because suddenly Gus’s voice rang out from behind them.1
“I don’t know what trick you’re pulling, what illusion you can make that I can’t see through, but you better give Luz back to us before I destroy this door.” Gus was standing by the door, the one Luz knew was the only thing that could take her and Philip back home.
“Gus! Come back here! Don’t risk yourself!” Willow called for Gus. “Luz! Stop this! Please!”
“Gus, step away.” Luz took a step forward, Gus held up the fire glyph threateningly. “Gus, please-“
Luz was interrupted when a vine-like slime came for Gus. Philip’s cursed form! Gus made a mistake threatening the door. Luz felt a spike of fear in her heart as Gus didn’t run away.
“Philip! Don’t hurt him! He’s bluffing!” Luz shoved Gus out of the way of the door, Philip’s curse was unpredictable.
“Luz, please. We cannot reason with the unreasonable!” Philip rested a hand on her shoulder.
“You’re right…It’s easier to ask for forgiveness than to ask for permission, yeah?”
With that, Luz threw down a glyph combination that she and Philip figured out together that could create sturdy stone.
A cage loomed over her friends, who were now huddled together. Willow and Gus were making an effort to protect Hunter. She really did need to cut that sigil off.
“Good idea, Luz. I will make the final preparations for our departure.” Philip went over to the door, carefully checking the door over for anything that needed to be fixed from Gus’s stunt.
“Luz! Look at me! I’m free!” Luz whirled around, King was hanging on the child-god’s shoulders. The Collector, now free, was literally bouncing off the walls in his new form.
“Collector! You’re free, as promised.” Belos said with a smile that was more of a grimace then anything.
“Nuh uh! King said you were lying about setting me free! So King let me out instead! He wants to play with me! He has a new cool game called…. Uh what was it called?”
“T-the Owl House….?” King squeaked.
“The Owl House! Oh yeah, I need to…” The Collector looked down on the draining spell from the window before moving the moon with a ‘boop’.
“No! Collector, we had a deal!” Philip snarled.
“But King could do it faster! I didn’t wanna wait! Now, I gotta make an Owl House.” The Collector seemed completely unbothered.
“Collector! You just ruined everything! Everything!” Philip hissed. “I’ll do it myself then! Draining spell or not, witches will not threaten humanity!”
Philip suddenly fell to his knees, turning into his cursed form. Luz watched in horror as he ran into the rock cage, Luz threw down a plant glyph to stop it from crushing her friends.
The Collector frowned at Philip. “Nuh uh! You’re not gonna steal my players! If you wanna play tag, you play by my rules now!” The Collector stopped a clawed hand from coming down on a waking Hunter and three terrified witches.
“You’re it.” The Collector grinned and sent Philip flying into a wall, sending him splattering like mud on the road. Luz stumbled back in shock, after finding her purpose and almost completing it The Collector ruined everything within moments. This wasn’t fair! It was her destiny! She was supposed to save her friends and leave!
“Okay… Oh! Owl House! What does an owl look like again? I guess I’ll figure it out!” The Collector started to pull apart the castle, Luz looked to the door. There was still time to leave, the witches were probably dead anyways with The Collector on the loose. Maybe she did succeed after all.
“This way! Let’s go!” Luz plastered the Titan blood on the door and opened it, she smiled at the sight of the Human Realm.
“Guys! We gotta go! Come on! I can still save you guys!” Luz dragged Willow and Gus through the door, Hunter being practically carried by the two as they stumbled through the door.
“Amity! Let’s go, we can get out of here!” Luz offered a hand to her girlfriend with a smile.
“I’m not going anywhere with you. I need to fix this! You’re destroying my home! Everyone’s home! So many innocent people and creatures are going to die!” Amity argued, Luz looked away. She couldn’t look Amity in the eyes.
“Look at me, Luz. Is this really what you want?”
Luz stepped forward, letting the tears fall from her eyes. Amity was right, she didn’t want this.
She wanted her girlfriend and friends with her in the Human Realm!
“I’m sorry, Amity. I hope you can forgive me one day.”
With that, Luz fell back into the portal with a struggling Amity in her arms, watching silently as the door shut when the frame broke once again.
“Welcome home, everyone.”