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sporksproxy · 2 years

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What if Belos figured out King is a titan ?

In my notes, I've been calling this AU 'Coven King', but I'm open to name suggestions. Might want to make a comic, please tell me if you would like to see that, I need the motivation,,

I have a couple of ideas as to how this can go down, but after rewatching a few episodes, these are the ideas that I have.

[ around 1k words under the cut ]

Like, Belos asks The Collector what they know about titans, now that he has the portal (or at least the dissembled pieces) but no way to open it. Then, The Collector starts ranting about the "big meanie" who trapped them in the disc, then talks about how they started a cult to kill all the titans. Belos presses on if there is even any blood left, and they just shrug. But, ooooh wait ! The titan did have a baby ! Of course, they were never allowed to play with it, but they miiiight know where it's hidden if given a map.

Meanwhile, King leads his compatriots to his old castle. Then Eda reveals the truth, he touches his horn piece, and runs away, confused and betrayed. Enter the Golden Gaurd, who had been sent to investigate the area (after spending Hours lost in the fog). He sees King venting outloud, dismayed by never being a real king in the first place. So the Golden Gaurd approaches and scoffs, "Nevermind being a king, you're more like a god." King doesn't trust this at first, but comes around to the idea. He starts to run off, excited to tell Eda, but the Golden Guard stops him. While not as good of a manipulator as his uncle, the Golden Guard still manages change King's mind. (some combination of "she always knew and just wanted to keep that power for herself" or "the owl lady will never be safe around you again with this new information out there" or using Belos' supposed ability to speak to the titan, and wanting to return King to his father) Hesitantly, King decides to go with the Golden Guard.

Back at the castle, King would be closely monitored, but Heavily doted on. Treatment fit for a king. During his first night, he struggles to get comfortable enough to sleep, so he asks to take a walk around the castle to help clear his mind. Even though the scouts aren't really supposed to let this occur, they struggle as it contradicts their other orders of listening to his every whim. They figure, as long as they keep a close eye, there should be no issue ! While walking, King faintly hears another kid talking, so he distracts the scouts and slips away to investigate. This is when he comes across The Collector, lamenting alone of their boredom. They quickly notice him, exploding with excitement, rambling about having a new playmate. They urge him to let them out so they can play together, and King obliges. Chaos ensues !

And.. Yeeaaahh, this au is pretty much just an outlet to let my 2 comfort characters interact in a,, less dire context.

Belos would probably be able to turn the situation around, like "oh good, you get along with the playmate I sent to free you", and King doesn't challenge this because Belos scares him. This time The Collector would believe him, as there was no dramatic betrayal beforehand. But now, Belos has to be Extra careful to keep them both content.

After the whole, freeing incident, no scout would ever be in charge of watching either of them ever again. (we don't talk about what happened to those scouts.) Leaving the responsibility to the coven's higher ups:

Kikimora, while not thrilled, doesn't outwardly complain. Although, the 2 definitely have the capacity to annoy her to the point of a mental breakdown. The Collector always finds it funny, but King tends to feel kinda guilty. She's around the castle most of the time, so she gets stuck with the task the most.

The Golden Gaurd is aversive to the task at first, but over time he grows fond of the kids and considers them like little siblings (caleb genes kick in around little bastard boys lol). Neither of them like him very much, because he's So Strict on the rules. But he does like to tell them stories from his missions, and updates King on Luz's condition when he gets the chance. Hunter is also more active in general, so he can keep up with their energy and play games with them.

We don't know much about some of the coven heads, but for those that we do:

Darius does Not have the energy nor patience, but he has been shown to be good at handling kids. Pretends he hates them, but grows a soft spot over time and sympathizes with their unfortunate circumstance. King likes him, The Collector likes freaking him out.

Eberwolf, while observant, is chaotic and mischievous. And putting 3 agents of chaos in the same room is,, ill advised.

Raine would be good at it, using their bard magic to calm the kids down, and their gentle disposition works well. However, their near immediate act of rebellion takes them off the list.

Terra Hates children.

Adrian thinks little of children, but as displayed in his mission at Hexside, he tries to find art in it. Both the kids unwittingly insult and mock him in that no filter way little kids do, and his ego is SO wounded. nearly throws down with a couple of 5th graders.

Emperor Belos himself often has to fill in when the others are busy and Kikimora is off crying in the bathroom. Probably the best at it, given his years of experience with The Collector's antics, and his titan trump card for King. Is easily annoyed, but forces himself to swallow it and put on a good act.

The Collector becomes very attached and protective of King. They're never seen seperate from each other, sometimes to the annoyance of King. After all, this is the first real friend they've had in hundreds, if not thousands of years. And contrary to popular belief, children do have a level of empathy and emotional intelligence naturally. So with someone there that they value, I think they might be able to change for the better. Maybe !!!

I might talk abt the other ideas I've had for different timelines involving the concept, but I've rambled enough for now,,

Oh, and here's the first doodle I made inspired by the AU !

and I'll throw in an alt doodle from before I rewatched echoes of the past,,

#the owl house #toh #toh spoilers #the owl house spoilers #the owl house au #emperor belos #golden gaurd #the collector #toh king #toh hunter #kikimora #enzo gabriel #bro i just wanna see their ANTICS #coven king au

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dragonkingz159 · 2 years

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Alright, ramble part 2 for Squid House Au.

So let's talk about Eda, the infamous criminal of Inkopolis and the most (and only) vocal protestor against Belos Ink. I have no idea how to squidify her title The Owl Lady. So if you have suggestions that aren't the "Squid Lady" I'm all ears.

So to reflect the fact that Eda and Lilith were candidates for the Emperor's coven in canon, they were potential idols similar to the squid sisters but were going to be backed by Belos Ink. a massive corporation. Unfortunately, Belos Ink. switched the terms of the auditions and was only going to sign on one of them. Eda refused to compete against her sister and forfeits her position after they successfully knocked out the rest of the competition that is. Of course, her decision was multifaceted, she was also wanting to switch genres and possibly form a band with Raine but due to a lack of communication between Lilith and Eda, Lilith purposely infected her sister with a terrible illness she bought out of fear of living in her sister's shadow for her entire life. So yeah Lilith got the Idol position and sponsorship.

Speaking of let's discuss Eda's curse. Let's have it cause her ink to be unnaturally thick and have a near sludge-like in consistency. It also forms hard chunks if she doesn't drink her "elixirs". Which as one could imagine would cause her a serious amount of pain constantly and would also affect her ability to shift between humanoid and squid form. Basically, Eda is unable to easily switch between the two due to her sludge-like ink and the amount of pain it causes her to try. This means she can't turf, she can't use ink weapons, and she can't use the super jumps or sewer fast travel.

To reflect the owl beast, her squid form could also permanently change to the splatoon 1 Kraken special? Maybe the pain blacks her out and she reverts to her "instincts" but that feels iffy and a bit ableist. So a pin in that for now.

Other random ideas.

Eda's house is a houseboat. A somewhat ramshackle cobbled together houseboat, but a houseboat nonetheless. She is constantly on the move around the outskirts of Inkopolis, it is just as cluttered as canon and her "home dock" is little more than an abandoned cove filled with trash with a single-standing shack that is more storage shed than not.

The houseboat itself is guarded, piloted, and inhabited by Hooty. A very large eel. Quite literally he lives in the walls. Eda has no idea how long he actually is but considering he can reach the storage stack on the beach and still mostly be in the boat she doesn't really want to know.

Luz adores everything about the houseboat, Hooty, and the junkyard. Eda's profit margins skyrocketed once Luz got her claws on a tool kit and made the trash actually functional. Eda is not much of a tinkerer but she is handy and fixes most of her own stuff. Willing to point out to Luz what would actually function and what would likely explode.

Eda met Raine under similar circumstances to canon, during a school tournament. The last event was a surprise turf war challenge with too many players. Course Eda and Raine disturb it with their unique sense of flair which eventually leads to their relationship.

Eda was a bit of an underground music artist, who sold her music through CDs, she keeps a couple hidden around her stall and her home. Not that anyone but her has a CD player anymore. Her music isn't considered "fresh" since that seems to be dominated by hip hop, pop, and various rap styles. Meanwhile, most of her music is similar to old blues singers or stuff like When can I say I love You by Kyle Fleming or I suppose anything by Crane Wives but especially Never Love an Anchor or The Hand That Feeds. Nevertheless, Luz and her friends are enamored with the one CD they found under the couch.

Her relationship with Luz basically starts with her trying to teach this Octoling how to survive in the city of Inkopolis. She was planning on dropping her off on her own in the Square after their deal but Luz wanted to learn from her and find her own "style" since this "fresh" stuff made no sense to her. Eventually, the two fall into this pseudo-mother-daughter thing where neither is willing to admit that the other is their mom/daughter since they think it would be a step too far but act in all ways like a mother/daughter would act. But quietly to trusted friends or through song they admit to it.

Oof this has gotten long. I got some ideas for Philip/Belos and how he fits into this whole AU so my next post is probably going to be all about Belos Ink. and Hunter. Possibly the Collector and Lilith as well?

If you got any questions or suggestions let me know by submitting an ask. Really want to know what you all think Eda's sound should be. Also, check out ggladiolus, they are the ones who inspired this whole shebang.

#the owl house au #the owl house #toh #the squid house au #eda clawthorne #luz noceda #raine whispers #but not really?#I have some ideas for palisman but like its stretching #Hooty #okay but seriously eel hooty is genius and terrifying all at once #splatoon #splatoon au #Eda was almost an idol #Lilith is one #lilith clawthorne

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thefreakishmuffin · 2 years

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Lunter role-swap AU

I said I was going to expand on my Lunter role-swap AU, and I intend to deliver! The link to the original post with some basic notes can be found here. Here are some notes for Luz I've jotted down for it (I’ll do Hunter in another post):

(Warning: ANGST!)

Luz

Luz was born as a powerless witch in the Boiling Isles to unknown parents. No one could ever diagnose exactly why Luz was incapable of performing magic, as she was otherwise perfectly healthy. For some reason or another, magic just never seemed to work for her.

She had always adored the book series The Good Witch Azura growing up, and always dreamed of being like her. She longed to be a powerful witch who spread light, good, and happiness around everywhere she went. But felt that, without magic, this was impossible.

The poor girl was consistently bullied both because of her interests and her inability to do magic.

But one day... Everything changed...

She had started hearing rumors about the infamous ‘Eda the Owl Lady, the most powerful witch on the Boiling Isles’. A very young and optimistic Luz began to wonder, if this Eda person was the most powerful witch in the area, than perhaps she could finally help her get a handle on magic! Besides, if the most powerful witch on the Boiling Isles couldn’t help her, who could?

Luz, being as impulsive as she is, decided to throw all her eggs in one basket and set out to find Eda the Owl Lady, a woman she’s only heard about by word of mouth. And eventually, she did find her. She found The Owl House.

(Important to note that the Eda she meets is the Eda at the beginning of the show’s canon. Meaning that this Eda still has all her magic, isn’t too keen on having an apprentice, and hasn’t developed any ‘maternal instincts’ just yet).

When Eda meets this girl, she’s initially thrown off. Who is this girl? How did she find out where she lived? And why does she want me to teach her magic? These were all questions going through her mind.

Luz begs and begs Eda to please teach her magic, explaining to Eda how she can’t do magic naturally and was hoping that somehow she could help her. Eda keeps trying to deny her help, but Luz is persistent. Eventually, Eda gives in. After all, this could be an interesting challenge.

She stays with Eda and King for a few months. But unfortunately, no amount of training works. Luz still can’t do any kind of magic. Eda tries to convince Luz that perhaps she can just stick with potions, as that doesn’t require magic to be cast, but that isn’t good enough for a now frustrated and troubled Luz. Despite how she felt about Luz before, Eda has now come to care for her and wants her to be happy.

One night, Luz and Eda get into a huge argument about Luz not being able to do magic, and Eda being unable to teach her. It eventually turns into an all out screaming match where emotions explode at the surface. Luz, after all this time, still wants nothing more than to be like Azura, but now believes that this dream will never come to fruition. She falls apart, feeling like a failure, and feeling like she will never have a place in the world.

During the argument, when Eda loses her temper, doing all she can to restrain the Owlbeast during this emotional outburst, she says something. Something horrible. Something that wounds Luz deeply, and leaves her devastated. Something that Eda deeply regrets.

Feeling hurt and betrayed, Luz runs off, abandoning Eda, The Owl House, King, and the last bit of hope she had for herself and her future.

And it’s then that things take a drastic turn...

Somehow, she runs into Emperor Belos (or he finds her, Idk). The Emperor listens to her story and plight, and offers to take her in as an apprentice, promising Luz that, while he may not be able to teach her magic, he can give her magic.

She takes him up on his offer, and she receives a staff with artificial magic, as well as a new uniform and title: The Silver Guard. She becomes his right hand.

Luz still wants to do heroic deeds and help others, but Belos insists to her that she’s being heroic and doing good by helping prepare for the upcoming Day of Unity.

And you know what? That’s where I’m gonna leave it for now...

Stay tuned for a post on Hunter!

#toh #the owl house #toh lunter #the owl house lunter #toh luz #the owl house luz #luz noceda #toh luz x hunter #the owl house luz x hunter #toh au #the owl house au #toh lunter roleswap au #the owl house lunter roleswap au #toh goldenlight #the owl house goldenlight #toh eda #the owl house eda #eda the owl lady #edalyn clawthorne

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drabbles-of-writing · 4 years

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All Powerful Coven vs. One Flirty Owlet

This is part of my Four Years AU

AO3

Masterpost

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Amity Blight was quick to gain leadership in her Coven group.

Keene had been the previous leader, but happily gave the title over to the young girl. She was determined to climb as high as she could in the ranks, and even he would admit, he was impressed by her dedication.

And, well, Emperor Belos had commanded it. Nobody knew the true reason why, but Amity seemed very nervous that day.

In total, their group had eleven members. It used to be ten, but a young upstarter by the name Laris had recently joined and was learning the ropes.

From day one, the group had been tasked with one thing; to capture the residents of the Owl House. Specifically the most recent troublemaker, the Owlet.

Of course, there had been many challenges in doing so.

But you don’t get into the most powerful coven in the Boiling Isles without noticing a few things. Well, most people don’t at least.

Like Amity’s sudden drop in capability whenever the Owlet was around.

“That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard,”

“No, listen,” Invada insisted, tapping repeatedly at a paper filled with barely-readable conspiracies. “Eda the Owl Lady has a secret network, and the Blight’s are in on it!”

“The Blight’s wouldn’t touch the Owl Lady if it would save their lives,” One of the Coven rolled her eyes.

“Eh, Amity might,” Another one shrugged, shuffling the cards in his hands. “If she needed to, that is. Or an excuse to see that Owlet,” He added with a smug look.

“I’ve said it once, and I will say it again,” The first one groaned, thunking her head on the table. “Amity would never date someone like that. The Owlet is only doing that flirting to throw her off.”

“And it works,” The second said, his smile unyielding.

“And that’s another thing!” Invada continued. “Amity is in a relationship with that thief, I know it!”

“A crush? Maybe,” The second member admitted. “But actively dating? Yeah, no, there’s no way she’d go that far, let alone without someone noticing.”

Invada groaned, letting their head hang in defeat.

“I’m surrounded by morons,”

“Whatever makes you feel better,” The first one mumbled, taking her dealt cards. “You didn’t put glyphs on these, did you?”

“Did I?” The second one grinned, looking down at his own cards.

“I feel very unsafe right now.”

“Hey, you three!”

Xena poked her head into the tent, disrupting the beginning of the card game.

“Laris caught the demon dog from the Owl House,” She said, pointing behind her. “We’re heading out to help him and see what we can do with it.”

“Aw, lame,” The second coven member grumbled, standing up.

“Grab a sword or net or something, just in case.” Xena added. “That Owl family gets pretty protective of him.”

“Hostage situation! Woo!” The first one cheered, standing up.

“Fine, fine. Let’s see how we’ll fail today.” Invada scoffed, rolling their eyes before setting their papers aside.

“That’s the spirit,” Xena teased. “Come on, Laris is bound to explode from excitement soon. Ms. Blight is gonna meet us there.”

“Ms. Blight! Ms. Blight, look! I got him!” Laris said excitedly, waving a struggling King over his head.

“I know, Laris. I see.” Amity sighed, pushing her mask up onto her head. “Very good job. Where did you even find him?”

Laris lit up at the compliment, and Amity could tell under the mask he was grinning from ear-to-ear.

“I found him in the trash,” He said happily.

Amity slowly looked back to King, her face portraying that of indescribable exhaustion from years of confusion.

“Someone threw awake a whole cupcake!” King defended, wiggling in the boys grasp. “Eda will come get me, you’ll see!”

“Pray that she doesn’t,” Amity mumbled. “Keene?”

“I doubt Emperor Belos will want much with this guy,” The man beside her shrugged. “Using him as bait seems like an obvious choice. Though we don’t know who will come after him.”

“Either Eda or Luz,” Amity said, gesturing for someone with a net to step forward. “I doubt Lilith will come looking for him.”

“Luz, huh?” Keene smirked down at her.

“Owlet, Luz, same thing!” Amity grumbled, crossing her arms.

“And it was such a quiet day, too.” Someone in the group complained.

“I don’t want to hear this today, Archie.” Amity called back to them. “Was that Archie?” She squinted.

“I’m right here,” A different coven member in the front raised his hand.

“I can never tell you guys apart with the masks,” Amity sighed, turning back to King and seeing he was struggling and fighting to be put in a net.

“Come on, little guy, just get in,” Laris said, trying to wrap up the demon.

“You’ll never take me alive!” King squeaked back before proceeding to bite his hand.

Laris shouted in surprise and jerked back, taking King with him. Laris started waving his hand around, screaming as he was trying to throw the demon off of him.

Amity and Keene watched with tired eyes, barely reacting as the rest of the group tried to help Laris get the stubborn dog off his hand.

“For once, I wish Lilith would show up.” Amity said after a moment. “Then maybe we could actually get something done.”

“Didn’t you capture her last week?” Keene raised a brow.

“For two minutes,” Amity shook her head. “Eda was there, too. That’s why we barely had her.”

“I always miss the best stuff when I go on break,” Keene scoffed.

“At least you can have breaks.” Amity muttered.

“Get him off!” Laris shouted as someone grabbed King and tried to yank him off the young Coven members hand.

“Try the horns,” Amity called. “And pull up.”

They did so, and King’s grip loosened before he popped off, leaving Laris weeping about his bitten and bleeding hand.

“You dirty double-crosser!” King growled.

“Someone please fix Laris’s hand.” Amity sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. “He’ll be fine, but I don’t want him bleeding everywhere.”

“Alright, you little twerp, you’re gonna get it,” Xena growled, looking ready to throw a punch.

“Xena,” Keene and Amity warned at the same time.

“You’re no fun,” Xena grumbled, stepping back and letting the other coven member hold King a good distance away from them.

“Okay, everyone just relax,” Amity held out her hands. “We have to prepare for an inevitable rescue mission. Someone go get those weird taser things back at camp I wanna try those out--”

“Incoming!”

A sharp breeze rustled Amity’s hair as something shot right over her head, too close for comfort.

Amity sighed with a smile, pulling down her mask as everyone scattered, dodging the owl-masked figure on her staff.

“Right on time.”

An arrow was fired in the sky and whizzed right by the Owlet. She was standing on her staff, crouched as she skimmed the heads of the coven.

“Everyone, fall in!” Keene shouted, rushing to the crowd. “Who still has nets? Did anyone bring a sword?”

“I’ve got Laris!” Someone shouted, pulling up the boy under his arms and dragging him out of the main area, right outside of the marketplace.

The Owlet paused in the air, searching the group for a few beats.

Her mask's large eyes paused on a figure in the back.

“Luz! Luz!” King waved his paws around from where Archie was holding him in his net. “I’m down here!”

The Owlet swooped low over the crowd, crouching even lower with one of her hands gripping the staff.

A net was thrown, and the Owlet flipped her staff higher to dodge it. She gave a dive before suddenly screeching to a halt over the figure. She hovered just a few feet in the air, nearly laying on her staff now.

The Owlet broke into a wide grin.

“Hey, Amity,” She said slyly.

Amity stared up at the Owlet for a couple of seconds.

“Seriously?” She sighed.

Another arrow was fired, barely missing the Owlet’s shoulder. She finally looked back and rose higher into the air, her staff slanted upwards and hanging on by one hand, feet still placed firmly on the wood.

“Always love a good party,” The Owlet grinned. “Sorry to crash it.”

“Get the nets!” Archie commanded, stepping back and holding King closer. “Who brought those arrows?”

Invada hopped onto an abandoned stand and readied his bow. The Owlet threw a glyph from her capes pockets on the ground, and a massive tree sprung up instantly.

The arrows hit the tree and Owlet shot out from behind it, heading straight for Archie.

“Archie, move!” Amity shouted.

The man jumped to the side just in time, hitting the dirt and nearly crushing King underneath him.

The Owlet, who had very obviously not been prepared before arriving, tried to skid her staff to a sudden stop.

She crashed right into a closed stand, tearing off the cloth roof and falling behind the wooden counter in front of it.

Amity and Keene rushed to the stand as someone helped up Archie.

The two peered over the counter, spotting the Owlet laying in a tangle of limbs and random junk. She jerked her head up before crashing back into the pile.

They shared a look with each other, though it was impossible for either of them to determine the others expression underneath the mask.

“This just isn’t my day,” The Owlet grumbled.

“I got her!”

Amity and Keene were shoved out of the way as Xena came barreling through, wielding a sword she had taken with her, of course.

The Owlet yelped and rolled to the side, missing the sword clashing with a tangle of junk.

“Que demonios, are you trying to kill me?” She squawked, scampering to her feet and dodging another swipe.

“Xena!” Amity scolded, though Keene did quickly pull her back. “We want her alive!”

“Like she couldn’t take on a challenge,” Xena replied, swinging at the Owlet once more.

The Owlet withdrew multiple ice glyphs and tossed one on the ground, letting the sword hit it. She took the momentary distraction and ran around the coven member, throwing the other glyphs onto the ground and activating them, trapping Xena in a cage of ice spikes in mere moments.

“Unfair!” Xena growled, struggling in her cold prison.

“And that’s why you don’t challenge the most powerful human in the Isles,” The Owlet taunted, standing just out of reach of the trapped coven member.

“You’re the only human in the Isles,” Invada grumbled, reloading another arrow.

“My point still stands.” The Owlet shrugged, carelessly stepping to the side as an arrow was shot and hit the ground behind her.

“I’m too tired for this,” Amity sighed. “Surround her! Archie, you stay back.”

“Course, ma’am!” Archie nodded, slinging the net over his back and causing King to flail.

“Oh, giving a bit more of a challenge today, I see.” Owlet smirked, turning casually as the remaining guards rushed to get in a circle around the human, including Keene.

“Shut up and let us just get you in a cage for five seconds,” Amity muttered. “I need to prove a point.”

“Is this about our conversation earlier?” Keene glanced back.

“What do you think, Keene?”

“Now I’m curious,” The Owlet said, leaning on her staff. “Would you mind sharing with the class, Ami?”

Amity stared at her for a moment, her expression, thankfully, hidden.

Keene, however, you could tell looked smug.

Amity raised her hand and summoned her staff. The moment she did, she slammed the end of it on the ground.

On the signal, the guards pounced on the Owlet.

The Owlet barely had a second to react before she was being crushed and trampled. She lost her staff in the chaos, as well as her palisman.

A net was thrown over her head and the human jerked, pulling out glyphs from behind her hood and darting up, jolting many of the guards trying to hold her down.

Her hand lit ablaze as she activated a fire glyph and burned a hole in the net. She swung the fire out in a circle, startling the guards back, singing their masks and capes to those who didn’t move fast enough.

She threw the fire aside, letting it die out as she withdrew smoke glyphs with both hands, both of them activating at the same time and giving the illusion her hands were made of the smoke itself.

The smoke grew in a second, and the guards were lost in it, coughing. A spike of ice shot up from the middle of the smoke, with the Owlet standing on top.

She jumped off the second she was high enough to avoid the smoke. Her palisman flew up to her, holding the staff in her talons.

The Owlet grabbed the staff as she fell, swinging onto it with a cheer.

“You’ll have to try harder than tha--”

An abomination rose before her, far bigger than their regular height. The Owlet gaped, caught off guard by the sight.

The abomination smacked her out of the sky, sending her right into the dirt. Her staff slipped from her fingers and lay a few inches away.

“That's a bruised rib cage,” The Owlet wheezed from where she lay on the ground, sitting up and rubbing at her head.

There was a sharp hiss and the Owlet jerked her head up, finding herself face-to-face with Amity’s angry palisman, Fang.

The palisman was still attached to his staff, a staff which Amity herself was holding, pointing directly at the thief's face.

The Owlet blinked up at her, surprised for a moment before breaking into a wide grin.

“Sup,” She greeted, leaning back on one hand. “You come here often?”

Amity faltered for a brief moment, her staff falling slightly before she shook her head and raised it up again.

“Do you have to do this every time?” She huffed.

“Yes,” The Owlet said simply. “Though I must admit, you’re a touch more aggressive today.”

“Don’t even start,” Amity growled, and her cobra's hood flared.

“That bad, huh?” The Owlet continued to tease. “Was it about me again?” She jived.

Amity tore back, speaking in quick, intelligible words, causing the Owlet’s smile to only grow.

“Ms. Blight,” Keene called, trying to pull Xena out of her ice prison as the rest of the guard were regaining their senses. “Please flirt in your own time, will you?”

“Keene we just talked about this!” Amity shouted, her staff completely lowered as she whirled to presumably glare at the man through her mask.

“My point still stands,”

The Owlet took the distraction and surged up, grasping her staff. She swung it like a golf club, knocking Amity’s own staff away and startling her.

In one fell swoop, the Owlet hopped onto her staff, standing once more, and flew right by Amity. She lifted her hand and grabbed her mask, tugging it off, knocking her hood down as well.

“Hey!” Amity exclaimed, whirling around as the Owlet flew high into the air, waving the beaked mask around.

“I’ll give it to you later,” The Owlet promised. “You seemed like you could use some excitement today.” She smiled, tucking the mask under her arm.

“Why do I put up with you?” Amity growled, her flushed face prominent as her ears flicked back.

“I can think of a few reasons,” The Owlet teased, relishing in the playful eye roll Amity gave her.

“I’m still here!” King shouted, struggling in his net. “Don’t forget about me!” “Oh, right,” The Owlet blinked, banking downwards.

The coven members ducked, avoiding a harsh whack to the head as the Owlet aimed straight for Archie.

The guard braced himself, setting down the net holding King behind him and preparing himself.

The Owlet instead swerved around him in a very sharp turn, snatching up the net with King inside and darting back into the sky.

“Wha--but--” Archie looked around, completely shocked.

“Better luck next time!” The Owlet called, hovering her staff high in the air and standing on it.

She let the net fall away, and King pulled himself onto her shoulders, tail lashing grumpily.

“The things I put up with,” Amity mumbled, standing with the rest of the coven as they looked up and watched the Owlet, with Invada still trying to fire another arrow.

“Well, this was fun, but I best be going.” The Owlet said, throwing out a wind glyph to send the arrow off in a different direction.

“Till next time, Ami.” Luz winked, giving a dramatic twirl and taking her mask off during her bow, revealing a mischievous expression.

“See? See?” Invada shouted, pointing at the Owlet as they stared in the direction of the two guards they were bugging earlier.

“Can it, Vada,” One of them sighed.

With that, the Owlet placed her mask back on and shot off, nearly throwing King off with the whiplash.

The guards watched her vanish among the buildings of Bonesborugh, all silent for a few moments.

“You don’t get crushes, huh?” Keene finally said, looking back towards Amity.

“Keene I will end you.”

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k7l4d4 · 3 years

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Midnight Striga: Fairy Tail/Owl House Cross Fic Episode 5 Part 8

Here is the next chapter to Midnight Striga. I hope you all enjoy it. Thank you.

Lilith was lost in the haze of memories. It was understandable, really, when you took into account what had happened. Her sister, who she had steadfastly looked down upon and seen as inferior in terms of ability and power, doubly so when counting her curse, had utterly dominated her in a Witch’s Duel, publicly solidifying her place as greater than the head of the Emperor’s Coven. Greater than Lilith. It was a bitter pill to swallow, one she’d been denying for years.

It was funny, really, how much of a farce it all was; the illusion that she was a great and powerful witch. Oh Lilith was certainly strong, that was without question! But she was so far from being her sister’s equal that it was anything but funny, by itself. Each and every fight, every confrontation, looking back, they always ended the same. Edalyn would show up, causing trouble as she pleased, and when Lilith arrived to confront her, they briefly battled, Eda cracking jokes and being witty, before pulling a stunt at the last minute to escape. In none of those conflicts had Eda ever shown serious effort or treated their battles as anything other than a way to pass the time or a chore to work around.

Eda may not have held back against Lilith, but she had never once seriously fought Lilith in all her years in the Emperor’s Coven; each fight was nothing more than Lilith attempting to sooth her own ego, and Eda indulging her because she could. It was sobering, to realize that you were so small. Muffled screams echoed in her ears, but she paid them no mind. Edalyn was there, clearly she could take care of it, and not a weak failure like herself.

Better to sink into the veil of her memories, where she could do no harm.

“So, why do you want to join the Emperor’s Coven?” “Isn’t it obvious? Because I’ll be able to help people, of course! I could do so much to make the world a better place!” “Heh, good luck with that!”

“There is only one opening for the Emperor’s Coven, you two will have to fight for it.” “”WHAT!?””

“No! I refuse to battle my own sister! I’ve decided covens aren’t really my style. Hey, don’t forget about me when you're a big shot, sis.”

Even her own memories conspired to reveal what a fool she was. Even back then, Eda would’ve never challenged her, her sole motive for joining the Emperor’s Coven being to support Lilith and retain her magic, nothing more. The curse was pointless, nothing but the petty jealousy of a child. She still was a child, in the end, a stupid, spoiled, beligerent child who refuses to accept their flaws for what they are.

“Gah!”

Was that Edalyn? No, surely not, nothing on the Isle, bar Belos, could challenge her, not truly, of that she no longer had any doubts. But, what if…?

“I do what I want to do, nothing more… nothing less…!”

Lilith paused in her thoughts, forcing herself to focus on the present. Screaming, laughing, explosions and fire, echoing all around her.

“But for all that I hate Bonehead… I love the Isles… and the people who call it home…!”

Lilith winced at the sheer volume of it all. Taking a deep, slow breath, she tried again, tugging at her senses, pushing herself to the surface of her mind.

“So if you think I’m just going to stand back… and let you kill people because you feel like it… then you’re even crazier than you look!!”

Her eyes snapped open. They flew across the stands, her already pale skin dropping in palor at the horror surrounding her. Death, injury, and suffering. Witches, Demons and Witchlings battling for their lives. Where were her subordinates, where were the guards!? ...Where was Edalyn?

Lilith’s head snapped to the side, eyes widening at what she saw, and what she heard.

“Even if I die, I’ll have died fighting for my freedom. Give it your best shot, you two-bit bully.”

Edalyn, held in ice-clad hands by the throat, her captor rearing back a fist filled with jagged ice, ready to run her through. This. Would not. STAND.

As the stranger lunged to attack, Lilith sprung, her staff intercepting the blow. Staring into eyes as cold and blank as death itself, she hissed out. “Stay. Away. From my sister.”

“Ah, so the prodigal daughter comes to challenge her betters.” Reticulus hissed, amusement coloring his voice. “I see you conquered the tests I sent your way without issue!”

“Tests?” Willow said, voice hushed. “YOU CALL ALL OF THOSE ATROCITIES TESTS!??” She screamed. The look of rage mirrored on her friends’, and Amity’s, faces.

“But of course.” He replied placidly. “Everything I do, I do for the sake of building the most perfect body. So why would I not implement tests to find out who is worthy of joining the art that is my form?” He stated, his tone no different than if he had said that he was breathing, or that he enjoyed food. He turned to Luz, amusement dancing in his (most likely, if not definitely, stolen) eyes. “Have you come to return yourself to our care again? Or will you offer up your form to join my work in a futile display of resistance?”

Luz paused, glaring in deepset hatred, before doing something that surprised them all. She started laughing, chuckling really. “You know something? I honestly forgot how much of a pretentious piece of shit you were.” She said, her laughter having subsided, lazily cracking her neck, a glow building in her hands. “You were this big bad monster in my memory, this unstoppable thing I could never hope to face. But now? You’re still a monster…”

She leapt into the air, clapping her hands together, palm to fist, to cast. “BUT YOU’RE A MONSTER IN CAN KILL!” She screamed. “Light-Make: Parliament!” A flock of owl constructs ripped through the air, slamming into Reticulus’ body, drawing roars of frustration from the mismatched madman.

“Impudent wretch!” He growled. “Arteriel Assault!” The flesh of his arms rippled and shifted, the arteries in his arms ripping out from his skin, morphing into the shape of gun barrels. Luz’s eyes barely had time to widen as pressurized bullets of blood ripped through the air, her hastily cast shield barely blocking the spray. Turning his gaze to her team, he cast again. “Rib Bunker!” The flesh of his torso peeled back, his ribs shooting forth like homing rockets, each one screaming towards them.

Eyes widening, Amity and Willow quickly called up their defenses, Amity’s Abomination grabbing the ribs from the air in concert with Willow’s vines, Gus covertly casting a layered illusion, just in case. Moving to the offensive, Amity directed her Abomination to tackle Retic’s legs, the oozing form of it entangling the limbs and seeping into the ground, binding it, however crudely. Joining Amity in the attack, Willow summoned her plants, blasting into Reticulus with a barrage of launched thorns and vine-based whip strikes. To their disgust and morbid fascination, Willow’s vines managed to dig into the seams of Reticulus’ stitchings, pulling them open, exposing the muscle and bone beneath.

“How dare you worms harm this form? The culmination of my life’s work!?” He screeched, the flesh of his limbs morphing into a bevy of blades and spears. With a scream of rage, he attacked again, his fury only barely restrained by his desire to see how competent these wretches truly were.

“Yeah, that’s kind of the point, we are trying to kill you, so of course we’re damaging that patchwork of corpses you call a body!!” Luz retorted, another spell building. “Light-Make: Peacock!” An elegant bird crafted from light soared forth, it’s ostentatious form twirling through the air, cutting through the flesh-formed weaponry Reticulus was deploying. As Retic’s attention was drawn by the flashy construct, Luz ran forth, tucking into a slide. As she passed underneath Retic’s legs, she gave a feral grin. “Light-Make: Radiant Durendal!!” The colossal spear ripped upward, slamming into Retic’s groin and torso, prompting the depraved maniac to scream in agony, flying into the air from the force of the blow.

Sliding back, she braced herself for whatever counterattack he cooked up. Willow shouted, summoning a massive vine which latched onto Retic’s leg, slamming him into the ground, a sickening crunch echoing from his body.

“THAT IS ENOUGH!!” He screamed, his body pulsing and swelling in all directions. “Living Corpse Cannon!!” With a horrific shriek of tearing skin and ripping muscle, bloody holes opened all over Reticulus’ body, bone, blood, and extra organs launching with the force of a machine gun every which way. Panting, Reticulus turned around, and burst out laughing. Luz and the others lay broken, bloody, limbs shattered all around him. “THAT IS WHAT YOU FOOLS GET FOR CHALLENGING ME!!!”

“You know, I always regretted how I left Oroboros.” Luz’s voice croaked out.

“Oh?” Reticulus smirked, leaning forward in condescending glee. “Does the wayward doll realize how foolish it was to challenge our whims?”

Luz weakly snorted. “Not hardly, you bastard.” She choked out. “I always regretted… that I wasn’t strong enough to take her away from you all. If I was stronger, braver, maybe I could have saved her, and we’d have both gotten away.”

“Pfft. And the difference between then and now is… what, exactly?” Reticulus mused, leaning close to her broken form.

“This time,” Luz smirked, blood seeping from her lips. “I’m not afraid of dying in the process.” In a burst of light, she and the others exploded, rematerializing ten feet further away, injured for sure, but nowhere near as broken as he had seen, a truly massive light building in Luz’s palms. “And I’ve got friends with me… to stop you!” She shouted, Amity and Willow shifting into action. Amity’s Abomination surged forth, slamming into his legs, holding him fast. Willow’s plants ran up the length of his arms, seizing him and pulling his arms tight and immoble.

“You may be stronger than us.” Amity stated, still composed, even as blood streamed down into her eyes, her left arm visibly dislocated.

“But we just need to hold you still!” Willow grunted, swaying roughly, blood coating her hands, a small trickle flowing from her mouth.

“And I’m using my illusions to get everyone to safety, and away from your goons!” Gus declared, blood leaking from his ear, heavily favoring one of his legs over the other.

“Which means I’ve got all the room I need… to do this!” Luz shouted, the light bursting forth. “Light-Make: Owl Beast!” In a flash, a colossal form burst forth, careening into Reticulus’ mishmash of a body, the force ripping it free from his bindings… but without the bound limbs in question.

“NO! NONONONONONONO!!!” Reticulus screamed, blood streaming from the broken stumps that used to be his arms and lower torso. “YOU CANNOT DO THIS!! I AM RETICULUS CREEVES!! I AM THE MASTER OF FLESH!! THE SHAPER OF FORMS!!! YOU CANNOT CHALLENGE ME!!!” He screamed, raging against the beast that slammed his broken form into the wall, blood splattering with each impact, its talons and beak ripping and tearing away the stolen flesh of his body. As it dug deeper, his screams and protests grew weaker, and weaker, until all the kids could hear… was a whimper.

As the approached the crater that held whatever remained of Reticulus, they peered inside. Their stomachs turned slightly at the sight; all that remained of the vicious Mage was his collar and head, still alive only by the nature of his magic and his sheer stubborn desire to live.

“Any last words?” Luz asked coldly, the pain and rage from her time working with this monster surging back to the forefront.

“Just two.” The head gurgled. His lips twisted into a horrific smile, mocking and hateful. “She… lives…!” He burst into uproarious laughter, hate and madness bleeding through, as Luz froze, images flashing through her mind, tears building in her eyes. It couldn’t be true… it had to be a lie… right!? It probably was… but whether true or false, the bastard had completed his goal when he said the words: he had hurt her at her core. As Luz fell to her knees, the others crying out in worry, she turned to the heavens, tears pouring down her face, and screamed herself hoarse. And then, she knew only darkness.

Staff whirling, Lilith slammed it into her foe’s cranium, grinning in satisfaction as he reeled back in pain. Turning to Eda, she demanded. “What’s happening?”

“Well, nice of you to wake up, Lily,” Eda snarked, before growing serious. “This bastard and his pals burst in, and said they were going to kill everyone. They probably have more in the rest of the Center, but the group they brought with them here is brutal enough.” She said, pointing up to the stands.

Lilith’s retort died in her mouth as she finally gained a clear look at the carnage surrounding them. Over a quarter of the spectators in the stands, including several children, lay dead, with those closest to them encased in ice. Her guards had been brutally butchered, many of them in multiple pieces, some of them melted, others burned to ash, but all of the guards she had brought in with her were dead. On a slightly more positive note, Principal Bump, Titan bless him, was managing to fend off the remaining soldiers this beast of a man had brought with him, directing multiple Abominations to intercept their attacks and retaliate. From what she could tell, he had managed to suffocate and slay at least ten attackers, leaving fourteen remaining.

“We have to stop this.” Lilith breathed out, fear and pain coloring her voice at the horror surrounding them.

“No duh,” Eda deadpanned. She held up a hand as Lilith moved to retort. “I don’t know why you got stuck in your head like that, and I don’t want to know. People who could still be alive right now if you hadn’t are dead because of that. We need to crush this bastard, and then we can go back to hating each other. Deal?”

Lilith bitterly nodded, unable to challenge the point. “Deal.” She turned to their foe, who was building up ice-based armor around himself. “What can you tell me about him?”

“He calls himself Rudolph, uses something called Frost Magic; if you touch it, it clings to you, saps your strength and your magic. I’m almost spent. We have to finish this fast.” Eda said gravely.

“Then you focus on offense.” Lilith stated clearly, twirling her staff. “And I shall focus on defense. Acceptable?”

“Perfectly.” Eda grinned. Nodding to each other, they lunged for their foe, Rudolph screaming in anger as bolts of ice ripped out from his armor.

“You fools cannot stop my symphony of death!” He cried, blades and spines bursting forth from his armor and the ground. Moving quickly, Lilith threw up her barrier, absorbing the blows. Smirking, Eda jumped into the air, a ball of flame forming. With a shout, she threw it, cheering as his armor was forced to absorb the blow. “You dare play games with me!?” He thrust his arm forward, a spear of ice ripping towards Eda.

“I said stay away!” Lilith shouted, whipping her staff upward. A bolt of magic crashed into the spear, changing its trajectory rather severely. The spear went careening, crashing through two of the attackers. 12 left.

“Maybe you shouldn’t have gone big with yourself, eh Frosty?” Eda joked, spinning her staff against the ground, a massive tube in Hooty’s image (a recurring nightmare of Lilith’s actually) ripping out of the ground.

“What the hell!?” Rudolph shouted in baffled rage, the spell forcibly wrapping around his armor, and constricting, drawing a roar of pain from the sadistic Mage. Eda lunged again, summoning bolts of flame to blast into the armor, craters appearing at each collision, with Lilith adding her lightning to stun the armor and draw a few more screams out of Rudolph.

Sharing a glance, the sisters nodded, pulling their staffs back. With a furious cry, the two launched their spears into the armor, shattering it, Rudolph plunging to the ground, a disgusting crack sounding upon his landing, followed by a pained scream. Crawling out of the crater formed by his landing, mad rage filling his eyes, Rudolph attacked. “Winter Spray!” He cried, launching multiple bolts of ice at the two witches. Eyes narrowed, Lilith intercepted, expertly deflecting each bolt into the crowd, each bolt driving through the bodies of one of Rudolph’s followers. The attackers now numbered 4.

Seeing that their attackers had shrunk considerably, the crowd rallied, dogpiling on the remaining Mages, magic being called up to hold them.

“No!” Rudolph yelled. “This shouldn’t be happening! You are supposed to be weak, helpless! We are the powerful, the strong! We are supposed to dominate!!” His ranting was cut off by Eda clocking the raving Mage across the head, the image of him killing that child from before so casually flashing before her eyes.

“Dominate that, you psychotic asshole.” She growled.

“Oh, Edalyn.” Lilith sighed.

#the owl house #fairy tail #owl house au #fairy tail au #owl house crossover #fairy tail crossover #luz noceda #lilith clawthorne #amity blight #eda clawthorne #gus porter #willow park #magic

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halo20601 · 4 years

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Her Real Family -- Owl House One-Shot FanFic.

Author's Note: I wrote this story yesterday (Sunday), but as I was editing it, the power went out for the rest of the night. So, as I was putting the last touches on it today (Monday), the promo for the Season Finale came out. To those who are reading my Owl House x DC Universe Crossover, I'm still working on it; this was just something I wanted to get out before the promo was released — which didn't end up being the case. Anyway, I hope you all enjoy this one-shot.

Luz had broken into the Conformatorium successfully. Now all that was left to do was find Eda and bring her back. Back to the Owl House... and to herself. She had her glyphs, the Witch's Wool cloak Eda made for her, and her backpack — which contained what she hoped would be the cure. But one problem stood in her way.

"What are you doing here?" Lilith demanded. "I thought I told you to go back to the Human Realm."

"I'm not going anywhere while Eda needs me!" Luz shouted.

"I should've known her little pet would've been as stubborn as her." Lilith summoned her staff. "But I didn't think you'd be foolish enough to come alone."

"I didn't."

King let out a squeak of rage as he jumped on and bit down on Lilith's arm. "Ahhhhhhhh!" The Emperor's Witch cried in pain, trying to shake King off. "Get off of me!"

"Go 'ind E'a! Go 'ind E'a!" King repeated as he kept his jaws clamped on her arm, swinging around.

Luz nodded and shot straight for the stairs.

Lilith continued shaking her arm. "Get off me, you insolent little…"

"Ne'er!" King continued to rebel.

"That does it!" Lilith drew a circle and generated electricity in her hand. She grabbed the little demon with it.

"Ahhhhhhhh!" King screamed and was forced to let go, dropping to the ground.

"I will not let a Human undo everything I've worked for!" Lilith picked King up by the back of his neck before following Luz.

Speaking of which, Luz kept running up the flights of stairs and looking into the different rooms for any sign of Eda. A giant owl monster won't be that hard to miss.

"Stop, right there!" A deep and familiar voice said as Luz turned around. It was Warden Wrath. "I know you. You're the Human that thwarted my plans with the Owl Lady." He approached Luz with his massive hands holding something.

Luz took out her notepad and prepared some Fire spells. "I'm freeing Eda. And I'm not going to let you stop me."

"Stop you?" The Warden seemed confused. "I'm not going to stop you. I'm going to help you."

Now Luz was the confused one. "Tú eres qué?" Warden Wrath opened his hands to reveal, "Owlbert!" The Palisman flew over to Luz and rubbed against her cheek. "I missed you, too."

"I got to him before Emperor Belos could crack him open." Owlbert attested the claim with a hoot.

"Why are you helping me?"

"I saw the creature they dragged in and was shocked to learn it was the Witch who's heart I am after. But I also heard what they had to do to get her. I may have done cruel things, but I would never do what was done. I know where Eda is and can take you to her."

Luz looked down at Owlbert, who affirmed what Wrath said with a hoot. "Alright, but I only trust you because Owlbert trusts you."

"Follow me." Wrath began leading the way but stopped. "By the way, if we make it out of this alive, could you put in a good word for me for Eda?"

"If we make it out of this alive, I'll consider it."

"Works for me."

Luz followed Wrath further up the stairs until they came across a large cage where the Owl Beast slammed against the bars to free itself. "Eda!" Luz called out. Her mentor's cursed form just shrieked at her, and Owlbert hid behind her in fear. "Why is she still like this? I thought the Emperor could cure her?"

"From what I've heard, this curse is beyond the Emperor's power."

"Don't worry, Eda. We're going to get you out of here."

"I'll need to sedate her before opening the cage." Wrath said as he walked over to a box on the wall with the Healing Coven's symbol. But before he could reach for it, a Fireball struck him from behind, and he collapsed to the ground.

Luz turned around and spotted Lilith with a struggling King in hand. "You're not going anywhere."

"Let me go! I'll pulverize you!" The squirming demon threatened.

"Let King go!" Luz demanded.

"I knew I should've finished you off when I had the chance. I won't make the same mistake again."

"My friends, Willow and Gus, they know what kind of person you are. And Amity, too. We told her. If I fail, they'll find a way to free Eda."

"Then I'll deal with them like how I'll deal with you."

Luz was stunned at what she just heard. "You… You would kill your apprentice."

Lilith narrowed her eyes. "If I must."

Luz realized that there was no negotiating with her, and she was not going to let her hurt her friends. She pasted two Light glyphs onto her hands and charged at Lilith, who held King out like a shield — just like she did with her to capture Eda. Luz leaped into the air and clapped the glyphs together. The radiance was so bright that it forced Lilith to shield her eyes and drop King in the process. The little demon scampered away, and Luz stepped back while Lilith was disoriented.

Eda continued to shriek and slam herself against the bars. "King." Luz ran over to her friend and handed him the backpack. "I need you to help make Eda remember who she is."

"Do you think this will work?" He asked.

"I h…" Luz paused. "I know it'll work."

"You little brat." Lilith spat as her vision returned.

"I'll keep her busy." Luz took out three Plant glyphs and sent a trio of large vines after Lilith.

Enraged at her defiance, Lilith spun her staff and sent a stream of blue fire at the girl, burning the vines to ash. Luz took the Witch's Wool to shield herself as the blast sent her flying into the next room. The magical cloak prevented her from being burned, but it did not dampen the impact. Before she could react, Lilith teleported into the room and smacked Luz across the face with her staff, sending her farther back.

"You're out of your league, child." Lilith taunted. "Your powers are just cheap parlor tricks compared to mine."

"Probably," Luz responded as she stood up, she touched her runny nose and saw blood on her fingers. "But I'm still going to beat you."

Lilith chuckled. "You beat me? You're just an insignificant Human who wound up here just by being at the wrong place at the wrong time. There's nothing special about you. There never was. But if this is how you wish to die…"

"Maybe you're right, but what you think of me doesn't matter. I know who I am. And I'm not going home without Eda. Bailemos, Bruja!"

Lilith scowled at the girl and dashed towards her with blue flames trailing behind. Luz managed to roll out of the way and slammed an Ice glyph onto the ground. The pillar shot up and hit Lilith in the stomach. She stumbled back before, but quickly regained her balance and countered with a Fireball. Luz protected herself with the cloak, but the impact still knocked out the wind from her lungs, and a second one did so again.

She looked up as Lilith was about to bring her staff down on her. Luz tumbled out of the way and used a Fire glyph to burn Lilith's feet. Lilith yelped in pain and smacked Luz upside the head with her staff. Luz sent another vine to hit Lilith in the face with, but she sliced it apart with a blade of fire then tossed it at the girl. Luz managed to duck from the blade but wasn't fast enough to avoid another hit to the face.

"I don't know why I was expecting a challenge." Lilith continued to taunt. "No one is a match for me. I'm the leader of the Emperor's Coven for a reason."

"Alguna vez se calla?" Luz cursed to herself. All she's ever said is how great she is; on and on about how great she is, and… Luz came to realize something. She figured out Lilith's weakness. A weakness that she should've seen upon learning it was her who cursed Eda. "So that's what all of this has been about."

Luz took out three Plant glyphs and Fire glyphs and slammed them on the ground at the same time. More vines came at Lilith, who smirked as she cut them apart with another fire blade, which triggered the Fire spell and made them explode like a bomb. The impact slammed Lilith into a wall, while Luz used her cloak to keep her skin safe.

"What was that?" Lilith questioned.

"It's called being creative; something Eda taught me," Luz responded with renewed confidence.

The anger in Lilith's expression became more pronounced. "Magic isn't supposed to be used like that! It's dangerous!"

"Eda, and I prefer clever." Luz slammed her Fire and Ice glyphs together and filled the room up with steam. This distracted Lilith enough for Luz to sneak away, but Lilith saw where she was going and pursued.

Meanwhile, King opened the backpack. Inside was a collection of items; reminders of the various hijinks the trio had gotten into the last couple of months. They believe that the Eda they know is somewhere inside the Owl Beast, and they just need to bring her out.

"Eda, do you remember this?" King asked as he showed her the tiny crown Luz gave him after they broke into the Conformatorium the first time around. The Owl Beast just shrieked. "Or this?" King held the fake map that Luz was duped into that one time. But the Owl Beast continued to shriek. "Maybe this will work." King took out the sparkly pen and turned it on. Owl Eda was immediately entranced by it like she was before. "Do you remember?" The batteries then died, and Eda shrieked again. "Eda, I know you're in there. Luz needs you."

The backpack tipped over, and a picture fell out. It was a recent one; featuring Eda, King, Hooty, Willow, Gus, Amity, and, "L… Lu…"

King gasped. "What did you say?"

"L… Lu…" The Owl Beast was trying to make words.

"Yes, that's Luz. Your apprentice. The Human who came into our lives and made it better. She's here, and she's fighting your sister to save you. She's fighting your sister because she loves you; because we all love you. You need to remember. You need to come back to us."

"L… Lu… L… Lu… Luz…" The beast's black eyes began dissolving back to their original color slowly… and something more.

As that was happening, Lilith followed Luz into a new room. It was completely dark, save for the light of her staff, and there were many columns where the girl could hide behind. "Where are you? Come out, come out, wherever you are." Lilith crooned. She saw something move to her left. "Found you!" She launched a Fireball and destroyed the column. The destroyed support glowed with the symbol of an Ice glyph, which shot out and slammed into her frame. Lilith's frustration continued growing. "Show yourself, you coward!"

"I'm the coward?" Luz's voice echoed throughout the room. "That's rich coming from you."

Lilith thought she spotted Luz again and cast another spell, only to trigger a Plant glyph that smacked her across the face. "You don't belong here! Edalyn is with her real family!"

"Her real family? The real family that cursed her?" Lilith cast another spell upon seeing a shadow move, only to trigger another trap, with a Fire glyph this time. "I think I finally understand you now."

"And what, pray tell, do you understand?"

"The way Eda talked about you, I always assumed you joined the Emperor's Coven out of some crazy belief you have about him. But now I realize what it's always been about. Your ego." Lilith cast another spell and triggered another Plant glyph. "You were jealous of what Eda could do. That she was a more powerful Witch than you were. Heck, I bet if she joined the Coven, she would be The Emperor's favorite instead of you."

"You know nothing! All Edalyn did was squander her potential! She didn't deserve the power she had!" Lilith's anger continued to grow, and her spells became sloppier with each cast. She didn't care if she triggered more traps and inflicted more pain to herself; she wanted to shut Luz up.

"So, you had to curse your sister as a child to prove a point. But all it proves is that you were pitiful then as you are now."

"I'm not listening to this!" Lilith continued to cast more spells and trigger more traps. Her once pristine dress was damaged, her face bruised and scarred, and her straight hair was a frantic mess.

"I can't believe I was afraid of you. Lilith of the Emperor's Coven isn't a real Witch at all. Lilith of the Emperor's Coven is just a complete joke." Luz began to laugh. "And not even the good kind."

"Stop it! Stop it! Stop laughing!"

"You couldn't even beat Eda without giving her a handicap or without a hostage to hide behind."

"I command you to stop laughing!"

"And you know what I can't tell is funnier. That Eda's more of a true Witch than you'll ever be! Or that I'm more of a true Witch than you'll ever be!"

Lilith's rage reached its peak. "YOU ARE NOT A WITCH!" She cast the most powerful spell she could muster in her current state as blue flames enveloped everything. The fire spread across the room and broke apart the columns and burnt away the glyphs before they could activate. The entire room trembled as the roof above began to collapse all around.

If it weren't for the Witch's Wool, it would've been the end of Luz. Even though she wasn't burned, the blast caused her cloak to be undone and be blown away. The girl tried making it into the next room while avoiding everything collapsing around her. But she tripped, and rubble fell onto her. "Ahhhhhhhh!" She cried from the pain and soon realized she couldn't feel her legs. She tried pushing the rocks off, but they wouldn't budge.

"There you are." Lilith walked over to her in an unhinged manner. Luz looked for her glyphs and saw they were gathered in a pile next to her. She tried reaching for them, but they were set ablaze. Lilith threw her staff aside, got on top of the pinned girl, and enveloped her fingers around her throat. Luz struggled to breathe as she tried to force Lilith off, or free her throat, but couldn't do anything. "You're not a real Witch! So, you don't deserve to die like one!" She had a deranged smile on her face and a look of satisfaction in seeing Luz's life slip away. The girl thought that this was the end of the line... She was going to die here...

"Get your hands off my apprentice!" Before Lilith could process it, the mother of all Fireballs struck her in the back and sent her toppling off Luz and slamming right into a wall.

Luz took in several deep breaths and looked up to see a blazing shape of magical energy enveloping the shadowy silhouette of, "Eda!" Luz's eyes were filled with tears.

"Sorry for being late, kid." The Owl lady said as she floated over to her.

King ran up from behind Eda, with Owlbert perched on his head, huffing and puffing. "You… are… really… fast…"

"How?" Lilith said as she forced herself up. "How are you back to normal? Answer me!"

"If you'll excuse me for one second, Luz." Eda glared at Lilith. "I have some unfinished business I need to take care of."

Lilith called for her staff, but Eda cast a spell to burn every part of it, except for the Palisman. Lilith cast spell after spell, each attack fueled by hatred, but Eda managed to deflect or avoid them. Lilith screamed as she unleashed her most potent spells, only for Eda to do so in turn. But the Owl Lady's spells overpowered Lilith's and sent her through the wall and kept on going until she landed into the middle of an empty cell. Before she could even stand, Eda appeared right in front of Lilith and pinned her against the wall.

"How is this…" Lilith tried mustering the words.

"No more words from you!" Eda snapped. "Now you're going to listen to me, sister. I will never join any Coven, especially the Emperor's Coven. I will never forgive you for what you did to me, to Luz, and to everyone I care about. And if you ever come near any of us again, I will end you."

Lilith looked over Eda's shoulder and saw King and Owlbert putting all the effort they could into freeing Luz. "You would choose them over your real family?"

"They are my real family." With that said, Eda left Lilith where she was and flew back to the people who put their lives on the line to save her. The energy surrounding Eda finally dissipated, revealing…

"Eda, your hair," Luz said. Her teacher's hair was no longer the elderly grey it once was, but bright orange. The features of her face changed, too; she still looked old but had a bit more youthfulness. "Does that mean the curse…"

"It's gone. I don't know how, but it's gone."

"Maybe it was the power of our love that broke it. Just like I thought it would."

"Kid, please, that sounds like a bunch of mushy stuff from your books."

Luz sighed. "Yeah, you're probably right."

Eda roller her eyes. "But I won't rule out the possibility. Can you walk?"

"I can stand, but I'll need some help."

"I got you." Eda pulled Luz up and let her lean against her.

Owlbert flew by and dropped the Witch's Wool cloak on the girl's head. "Thanks, Owlbert."

Lilith stepped out of the cell; her eyes still full of madness and envy. "No! I won't accept this!" She shouted as she eyed Luz and cast a spell intended to strike her.

But Eda sensed the oncoming attack and deflected it right back at her sister, striking her gemstone and sending falling back. "It's over, Lily," Eda told her. "Stay down."

Lilith pointed at Eda. "It'll never be over while you're still free. Emperor Belos won't stop until…" Suddenly, plumage emerged from her arm. "No. No!"

Eda and Luz gasped as they saw what was happening. "She cursed herself."

Lilith's body began contorting, snapping and bending in unnatural ways as more feathers began to sprout. "Edalyn! Help me! Sister, please!"

Eda was about to step forward to help but stopped and — with a frigid glare — told Lilith, "You're the smart one. So, help yourself."

"Edalyn! Edalyn!" Lilith continued crying and changed until all that stood was a beast twice her size and had the appearance of a raven. What goes around, comes around. The transformed Lilith shrieked and charged at the prey in front of her. But the cell door suddenly closed shut, and the Raven Beast slammed into them, still screeching.

Luz, Eda, and King turned around and saw that Warden Wrath pulled a lever down. "That won't hold her for long. She'll need a new cell. You should all leave while you have the chance."

"Thank you, Warden," Luz said.

"So, are you going to hold up your end of the deal?"

"Of course."

"Yes, score for Warden Wrath."

"Great, now can we go home?" King asked. "I need to bake Luz a new cake for me to pop out of."

"And what deal is he talking about?" Eda asked her apprentice.

"I'll tell you when we get home," Luz replied.

The outlaws of the Boiling Isles took their leave, as they will have a long way down to go. Eda looked back for a moment and saw the transformed Lilith continuing to slam against the cell and shriek. The Owl Lady did hold some regret about what has happened to her sister. But if she's being honest with herself, she and Lilith haven't been sisters since they were kids.

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creative-type · 4 years

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wake from death (and return to life) iv

AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22564141/chapters/53920291

Previous: https://creative-type.tumblr.com/post/621667466339385344/wake-from-death-and-return-to-life-chapter-iii

Kuina spent the next three days learning her way around Belo Betty’s ship. As promised, Dragon soon departed, disappearing like a mirage on a hot day, gone as if he’d never existed. He had been the one person who seemed to actually wanted Kuina on board, and with him gone Kuina felt quite alone. She spent her days doing what Lyudmila told her to do, when she told her to do them, fulfilling the obligation she had to the Revolution for getting her out of Loguetown and hoping it was enough to keep them from throwing her headfirst into the sea.

Practically speaking, that meant doing dozens of chores while Revolutionaries showed her the ropes. Literally. Kuina spent much of her time cleaning what needed to be cleaned, hauling what needed to be hauled, and mending what needed to be mended while learning the basics of sailcraft. Darareaksmey in particular seemed to take great delight in mocking Kuina’s ignorance, which according to the other crew meant she liked her.

The work was a welcome distraction, reminding Kuina of the menial chores she used to do around the dojo before she was old enough to learn the sword. And more importantly, the people around her liked to talk. The Revolution never openly discussed their plans when she was around, but Kuina was such a silent fixture that they seemed to forget when she was in the background swabbing the deck, or washing dishes, or whatever other odd job she’d been assigned at that moment.

What she learned was illuminating. Belo Betty wasn’t just some Revolutionary nobody—she was in command of the entire East Blue. The ship Kuina was currently on was hers, Dragon somehow able to manage travel by himself from the Grand Line for a mission of strategic importance.

Aria de Gris was another leader, but of only a single ship that had been damaged in the previous battle. She and a portion of her crew had joined with Betty to see Dragon back to the Grand Line and talk strategy. Dragon had never planned to return with them to the battlefield, his departure interrupted by Kuina’s sudden appearance.

It was childish, but Kuina bitterly wished he would have just taken her with her. She could feel Zoro’s lead stretching by the second, and the thought of falling even further behind made her want to pull her hair out.

The Army wasn’t even going to let her fight.

“Better,” Dara said as she inspected the rope she’d given for Kuina to practice her sailor’s knots. “This one almost looks like it’d hold together during an East Blue squall.”

If she was nervous about their nearing destination, she didn’t show it. With quick, nimble fingers she undid Kuina’s handiwork and returned the rope. “Now do it faster.”

Kuina grudgingly did as she was told. The noonday sun beat down overhead, cooled by a delicious sea breeze. After three days Kuina was almost used to the sway of the ship, but didn’t think she could ever feel comfortable surrounded by so many people crammed in such a small space. “I don’t know why you bother. I’ll be gone in a few days.” Kuina said.

“Pfft, you wouldn’t last a week on the Grand Line in your state,” Dara said. “You’re lucky you’re a quick study—it took Lizard three times as long to get half as good as you are now.”

“I can hear you,” Elizabeth said irritably as she passed out rations to Kuina and the women minding her. The galley had been made into a makeshift war room debating last-minute preparations for landing later that day, with Lyudmila given strict instructions to shoot Kuina if she went within twenty feet of its doors.

“I know,” Dara said breezily. “That’s why I said it.”

Elizabeth made a rude gesture that only made Dara laugh. Scowling, Elizabeth asked, “What are you even doing out here? Shouldn’t you be in the meeting? It sounded important.”

“Boss knows I don’t have the patience for that kind of stuff,” Dara said. “She’ll let me know what I need to know. This is much more amusing.” She turned her attention to Kuina. “Watch out, you’re tying it backwards again.”

Kuina gave it another attempt. “Where are we even going?”

Elizabeth and Dara exchanged looks before turning to Lyudmila, awaiting her judgement. Kuina held her breath, giving up on even the pretext of industry. Of everything she’d overheard, no one had breathed a word of their ultimate destination, let alone any details about the supposed war that was being waged there. The veritable brick wall only whetted Kuina’s curiosity.

Sometimes she regretted not reading the paper.

“You can’t keep it from me forever,” Kuina pointed out. “Is it Tolouse?”

Elizabeth let out a huff and turned away, giving a sarcastic wave as she walked back to the galley. “I’m not getting into trouble for this.”

“Coward!” Dara called before grinning at Kuina. “How’d you figure it out?”

“Been headed dead east for three days. There aren’t that many islands it could be,” Kuina said. She shrugged, picking at the ropes. “Besides, you hear a lot of interesting things from the pirates who come from that way. The king doesn’t seem all that popular—easy to stir up trouble there.”

“You’re half-right,” Dara said.

“Dara…” Lyudmila said in a warning tone.

“Fine, fine,” she said, flopping dramatically on her back, hands tucked behind her head. “The big fight’s over anyway. This is just a pitstop.”

“To switch ships?” Kuina said, glancing at Lyudmila. As always, it was difficult to guess what she was thinking, but she made no further effort to censure their conversation.

“And gather the rest of our crew, yeah,” Dara said. “Then we’re getting the hell out of this backwater and going back to where we belong. East Blue is bor-ing. Don’t know why Boss was so interested in coming, to be honest.”

There was a pause, and Dara turned over to her stomach, propping her head up on her hands. Her eyes flickered to Lyudmila, who shook her head slightly. She sighed. “Haven’t had a decent fight in weeks.”

“You just came from a war,” Kuina said, nonplussed.

“An East Blue war,” Dara corrected. “And thus one that was very boring. Everyone knows East Blue isn’t worth anything in a fight.”

Kuina smirked. “Maybe you haven’t been fighting the right people.”

The glint in Dara’s eyes turned wicked. “Sweetheart, I like you. In fact, I think you’re hilarious. But you underestimate the strength of the Grand Line, and it’s going to get you killed if you’re not careful.”

“Maybe, but all I’ve heard is a lot of talk without anything to back it up,” Kuina said.

“That’s bait,” Dara said, grinning, “and I’ll not bite—Oh hello there, Boss. How’s tricks?”

Kuina didn’t jump, but her hand did move instinctively to her katana as de Gris exited the galley, breaking away from a cluster of Revolutionaries exiting the war room to approach them. She acknowledged Dara’s greeting with a nod. “The situation’s changed.”

Lyudmila went very still, while Dara and Kuina exchanged confused looks. “How do you mean, Boss?” Dara asked.

“Reinforcements arrived before the Revolution could completely secure their defenses. They punched a hole through our line and recaptured the armory, jammed communications, the works. We’re lucky Trini was able to get a message through at all. It sounds like the situation’s hot and not in our favor.”

“What?!” Dara exclaimed. “We had the city completely taken! Their king was in chains.”

“Not anymore,” de Gris said.

Dara jumped to her feet. “What about the rest of the crew?”

“As far as I know they’re fine, but we’re going to need all hands on deck if we’re going to scrape out a win.” She looked down at Kuina, the scar running down her cheek pulling her mouth into an unhappy grimace. “Alright, Swordsman. Time for you to put your money where your mouth is.”

Far above them, the Revolutionary flag snapped proudly in the wind. Eyes narrowed with suspicion, Kuina tried to discern the older woman’s intentions. “You’re going to let me fight?”

“I need to make sure you’re good enough to not die. Big difference.” With a whisper of steel, de Gris unsheathed her sword. “Prove to me there’s some bite behind all that bark.”

Beside her, Dara paled. “Boss, you can’t be serious…”

“It’s just a skill check. I need to know what level she’s at, and this is the easiest way to do it.”

They didn’t think she could win. Kuina threw the rope she’d been working on aside and climbed to her feet. Bowing slightly to de Gris, she said, “I’m honored to accept your challenge.”

“What are you, some kind of samurai?” de Gris paused to fish out a cigarette, putting it to her lips and lighting it one-handed. “You have till I finish this to show—”

In a flash her blade was up to meet Kuina’s. Even holding it one-handed, de Gris was able to effortlessly stop the full weight of Kuina’s blow. Dara and Lyudmila scattered as a cat’s grin stretched across de Gris’ face, smoke curling from the end of her cigarette. “Not bad, not bad at all. And here I thought you were nothing but dojo trash.”

She pushed Kuina back, and for a moment the two circled one another, each trying to get a measure of their opponent. Kuina was vaguely aware that they had attracted the attention of the rest of the Revolution, and saw Lyudmila whispering fiercely in the ear of Belo Betty.

“Eyes on me, kid!” de Gris shouted before exploding in a flurry of strikes. Her movements were unlike anything Kuina had ever seen. With impossible quickness she closed the distance between them. Her footwork, the angles she used to attack, were all new and unfamiliar. Kuina, used to fighting against sabers and katanas, was quickly driven to the defensive, each reaction a heartbeat too slow to do anything else as she tried to process the foreign fighting style.

De Gris moved with liquid grace, reminding Kuina more of a dancer than a swordsman as she fought. Each step was economical and precise, her blade flashing from every angle, seemingly simultaneously. Kuina was forced to take a step back, then another, but was quickly running out of room to retreat.

But even as she was being driven back, Kuina began to sense the pattern in her steps, the method to her mad dance. The rapier a piercing weapon. It depended on thrusts and parries over slashing attacks. The blade didn’t have the mass to manage a single, crushing blow, relying instead on speed and precision.

Well then. It was time to disrupt de Gris’ timing.

Kuina feinted a forward thrust, and in the half-second it took de Gris to defend jumped backward onto the ship’s railing. A ripple of surprise rose through the crowd as she ran across the iron rails until she reached the middle of the ship, leaping toward the boom of the foremast.

“Very impressive, if you’re a monkey,” de Gris called. “But I thought you were going to fight—”

But Kuina didn’t stop. She caught an unsecured line and used her momentum to swing behind de Gris, aiming an attack at her exposed back. As expected, de Gris was able to evade with ease, and the bones in Kuina’s arms jolted with the force of her blade cutting through the deck before somersaulting back to her feet.

“You don’t like giving people time to talk, do you,” de Gris said. “And you do realize we have to actually sail on this ship, right?”

“Send me a bill,” Kuina said, grinning wildly. She pulled her sword from the wood in time to deflect de Gris’ rapier, melting from defense to offense as she tried to use their reversed positions to force de Gris into the same limited space she had just escaped from.

It was damnably difficult. De Gris wasn’t the strongest opponent Kuina had faced, but she was the most technically proficient. It had been years since Kuina had needed this level of focus in a fight, and she could feel the rust in her movements.

Without even realizing it, she’d let herself grow complacent, and de Gris was exposing that weakness now.

All the more reason to get to the Grand Line as soon as possible. The East Blue had nothing more to offer her. On the world stage it was nothing, which meant she was nothing...

Blood roared in Kuina’s ears as she failed to get anywhere near de Gris. Kuina took greater risks, forced her body to move all the faster to match her opponent’s feline grace. De Gris’s thin, weightless blade was no match to Shimotsuki steel, and Kuina put the full weight of her rage behind each attack.

Somewhere in the back of her mind she registered a flicker of surprise in de Gris’s eyes a moment before Kuina’s blade clashed against her own. With a quick flick of the wrist Kuina batted it aside, just as de Gris had done at the start of her fight, using her own momentum against her to gain inside position.

Kuina attacked without thinking, and she was lucky de Gris was as fast as she was. Her blade passed by the tip of her nose by a hairbreadth, slicing what was left of her cigarette down to the pale orange filter.

The silence couldn’t have lasted for more than a moment, but it felt like it captured an eternity. De Gris’s eyes followed the path of the still-burning cigarette now rolling down at their feet. She sighed, sheathing her sword and said, almost to herself, “Is that all?”

“What do you mean?” Kuina demanded. “Clearly I—”

“You had until the cigarette was gone to show what you were made of. Well, time’s up. This fight is over.”

“You’re just scared because I was winning,” Kuina said.

The words struck a nerve. A muscle in de Gris’s jaw twitched and her nostrils flared slightly as the air around her shifted, circling like the winds of a hurricane with de Gris as its malevolent eye. Kuina shifted back into a defensive stance, keeping half an eye on Belo Betty. The Revolutionary commander had her arms crossed over her chest, flag nowhere in sight.

“You really thought you had a chance,’ de Gris said. “You couldn’t feel the distance between us.” She shook her head in disgust. “And you call yourself a swordsman.”

She reached for another cigarette, paused to take a deep drag. When she finally looked at Kuina, she saw nothing but contempt.

“Hit me with your best shot, kid,” Aria de Gris said, raising her sword in languid challenge. “I’ll show you how much you have yet to learn.”

Kuina’s grip on her sword tightened. The blood boiling in her veins had calmed enough for her to realize she’d said a very stupid thing when surrounded by a ship full of enemies who likely wanted to kill her, but she wasn’t afraid of de Gris or her sword, and her pride refused to back down from such a grievous insult.

This was her chance to prove herself to these people.

Kuina took a deep breath, steadied her racing heart. She could feel the power around de Gris. The older woman was settled, like a table with a low center of gravity. She wouldn’t be easily overturned, but Kuina was confident. She was ready. She had trained her whole life for this moment, for the chance to be acknowledged as a skilled swordsman and not just a little girl playing with a blade

Her father once said that a true warrior wielded the blade of ten thousand men. Maybe she wasn’t there yet, but she was worth more than this one.

Kuina lifted her katana above her head, ready to end this in one strike. “Thousand man—”

De Gris was inside her guard before she could finish speaking.

Kuina moved on instinct, but de Gris batted her sword aside as if it were an inconvenient fly. With her free hand she reached inside the long coat hanging from her shoulders. In one fluid moment she pulled out a gun, cocked it, and pushed the cold metal barrel under Kuina’s chin.

It was horror in slow motion. Kuina flung herself back just as de Gris shouted, “Dara, now!”

An unseen force plowed into the back of Kuina’s knees. She crumpled face-first into the deck, white light flashing across her vision as her forehead cracked against the wood. Attempts to roll away were stopped by a pressure against the wrist of her sword hand and a vice-like grip around her ankles.

Kuina looked up to see Aria de Gris’s foot on her wrist and her gun between her eyes. Twisting frantically, Kuina couldn’t help but let out a yelp of alarm that Darareaksmey’s arms, head, and torso had her legs pinned firmly to the ground, the rest of her body seemingly melded with the deck.

“What the hell?!” Kuina exclaimed. “This was a duel! You...you cheated!”

“It was a skill check,” de Gris said flatly. “Do you think people in a war are going to line up for you all nice and neat, one at a time? Do you think they’re going to play by some arbitrary rules?”

She lowered her gun and sheathed her sword. “I’ve no use for a soldier with more ego than common sense. I don’t care how big a hot-shot you were in your little backwater dojo. In the real world, you aren’t worth shit.”

Xxx

“You know, you don’t have anything to be ashamed of. I’ve not seen anyone do that well against the boss in, well, a long time.”

“Please stop talking, I am begging you.”

Kuina ground the heels of her palms against her forehead, hoping to counterbalance the terrible pounding currently beating against the inside of her skull. She’d suffered from headaches on and off since being pushed down the stairs of her father’s dojo, and falling face-first into the deck had triggered a monster between her temples.

Dara was undeterred. “I wondered why Dragon wanted you so bad, but I can definitely see it.”

The island of Toulouse was a tiny speck on the horizon. With a favorable wind at their back, they’d soon arrive at the near-hopeless battle. Kuina didn’t know what was going to happen to her once they did, and worse, she didn’t care.

With the change in situation, Lyudmila had been relieved of babysitting duty in favor of joining the rest of the ship’s leadership in their makeshift war room. The mood of the Revolution had shifted, men and women moving with increased urgency as they sharpened weapons, prepared guns, and tried to coax every bit of speed from the brigantine, their faces drawn in grim, serious lines. Every once in a while a bark of nervous laughter would punctuate the air like cannonshot, but it was quickly hushed. Everyone knew that the situation was dire.

Dara, whose disregard for meetings extended even when the Revolution was on the verge of defeat, had taken over Kuina-watching duty. But even her enthusiasm had its limits, and every few minutes she would look out at the approaching island, squint as if she were trying to suss out the enemy position on that tiny black speck, her knee bouncing with nervous energy.

“Wonder what Boss will have you do,” she said absentmindedly.

“Probably nothing,” Kuina said. “You heard her: She’s got no use for me.”

Dara snorted. “Oh, please. Compared to the trouble I got myself into when I first joined, that was nothing. It’s an, ah...learning process. Being part of a group, I mean.”

That wasn’t very reassuring, but Kuina had no desire to argue. “What the hell was that trick you did, anyway? I never saw you coming.”

“Oh, my devil fruit?” Dara said, eyes brightening. She raised an arm, and in the time it took Kuina to blink, the space from her hand to her elbow went paper thin. The change was so sudden, so utterly bizarre, that Kuina couldn’t help but recoil away from it. Dara laughed, and just as quickly put her arm back to rights again.

“Flat Flat Fruit,” she explained. “Not much good for fighting, but sneaking around? Easy-breezy.”

“Just how many devil fruit users are on this ship?” Kuina asked.

“Right now? I don’t know everyone on Betty’s crew, but I think it’s just three. Once we hook up the rest of the crew there’ll be a couple more to show you.” Another squinting look at the horizon, more bouncing of her knee.

There was a comfortable lull in the conversation while Kuina massaged her aching head. A gull screeched overhead, making at least one Revolutionary jump. The moment quickly passed, and Dara slapped her palms against her thighs. “Well, I need to get ready. You just brought that backpack with you, right? You don’t have any armor or anything to put on, just in case?”

Just her mask. Kuina lugged herself to her feet and followed Dara belowdecks. For the first time, no one was paying attention to her, the Revolutionaries too busy with their own preparations. Kuina was glad to be invisible once more. Despite Dara’s reassurances, shame coiled around her belly, constricting like a snake squeezing the life out of its latest meal. It was impossible to walk with her head held high after her disgraceful performance. De Gris’s voice echoed in her mind, conflating with the voice of countless others she’d heard since childhood. The scar that drug across her chest pulsed with her head, bringing to the forefront the weakness she thought she’d long ago left behind.

You aren’t worth shit.

The words were short, concise, and painfully blunt, but they were also the truth. And for that, she had no one to blame but herself.

They passed by Elizabeth’s little workshop on the way to their quarters. When she saw the door was open, Dara paused to poke her head inside. The assistant cook was deep at work dividing what appeared to be dozens of firecrackers into different piles.

“Hey Lizard, got any goodies for me?” Dara asked.

Elizabeth didn’t look up from the task in front of her. “On the back shelf.”

Dara clasped her hands in front of her gave Elizabeth a tiny, mocking bow that was returned with a raised middle finger.

“Gracious as always,” Dara said once she returned to Kuina’s side. “C’mon, we’re wasting daylight.”

“Is she…?”

“Our munitions expert?” Dara said. “Yes. Yes she is.” She hugged a little baggie close to her chest like it was a lover. “Her food might be garbage, but I’m pretty sure that’s because she’s testing some new long-acting poison without telling anyone.”

“I can still hear you!”

“Seems like an odd mix of jobs,” Kuina said.

Dara shrugged. “Cooking, catastrophic explosions...it’s all chemistry, really. Lizard here just happens to be better at one form more than the other. Isn’t that right, Lizard?”

Elizabeth had stormed to the doorway while she was speaking. She hardly came up to Dara’s shoulder, but she carried herself with the same energy of a lady’s lap dog that thought itself a wolf. “Go. Away. And stop blabbing to the stowaway. She’s not on our side.”

Dara’s grin showed entirely too many teeth. “Wanna bet?”

“I’m not a stowaway,” Kuina said at the same time. There was a pause as what Dara said sunk in, and both she and Elizabeth looked up at her with disbelief.

“You’re crazy,” Elizabeth said. “A hundred berries says she bails at the first opportunity.”

“I’ll put down five that she stays.”

“Your loss,” Elizabeth said, and she slammed the door in their face.

Dara looked for a moment like she wanted to shout something through the door but thought better of it. She put her little baggie into her pocket and said, “You better not run on me. I don’t actually have five hundred berries.”

“It was a stupid bet,” Kuina said. “I’m not joining the Revolution.”

“Maybe, maybe not. But I saw how pissed you were when the boss pulled that gun on you. You’re not going to be happy till you beat her in a fair fight, no matter how long it takes.”

They walked the rest of the way in silence, and Kuina wondered if, just maybe, she was right.

#wake from death (and return to life)#kuina #one piece #One Piece Fanfiction #Creative-type doodles #creative-type writes

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