#Collector just wants to go back to the isles to escape this

[curseofhyperfixation]

How are the archivists doing lately?

Bickering.

And they have not stopped for at least 8 months.

(Where are the other two? I haven't finished their design dhsaiudh sorry-)

[gaylos-lobos]

actually before i go to sleep

giving Luz the same kinda shot composition here directly after finding out what happened to King and Eda (and telling Camila that she hasn’t changed her mind about returning back to Gravesfield after rescuing the two) while dressed as Azura (someone she admires) to when Philip arrived to the isles in search and rescue for Caleb (<- if getting there was accidentally or not does not matter) while dressed in his attire or at least clothes that resembles them, truly driving home the point of how similar the two of them are and how they really are just mirrors of the other

[sergeantsporks]

Gilded Family

Rating: Teen and Up, Gen

Ch 38.5/39: Closure

Ch 1, Ch 2, Ch 3, Ch 4, Ch 5, Ch 6 , Ch 7, Ch 8, Ch 9, Ch 10, Ch 11, Ch 12, Ch 13, Ch 14, Ch 15, Ch 16, Ch 17,  Ch 18, Ch 19, Ch 20, Ch 21, Ch 22, Ch 23, Ch 24, Ch 25, Ch 26, Ch 27, Ch 28, Ch 29, Ch 30, Ch 31, Ch 32, Ch 33, Ch 34, Ch 35, Ch 36, Ch 37, Ch 38

An alternate universe in which Evelyn managed to save Caleb after his confrontation with Phillip. The two of them escaped to present day through time pools, and have been using time pools to secretly rescue grimwalkers just after Belos attempts to kill them. The story follows Darius' mentor as he adjusts to his new life, as well as changes to the course of canon.

Ao3

“You’ve been putting weight on this fracture.”

“Mhm.”

“You’re going to stop doing that.”

“Got it.”

The healer—Phoenix hadn’t caught their name—shook their head. “I mean it. It won’t heal, and you could make it worse—it looks like you broke it two different ways and then used a slitherbeast’s bite to wrench it back into place.”

Phoenix winced. That would be the Collector’s attempt to ‘fix’ the break. “Sorry.”

“And—look, this may be none of my business, but there’s a weird block-up of excess magic in your arms; you might want to consider seeing a specialist. And an apothecary.”

“Yep. Aware of it. Okay. Thanks.”

The healer picked up the remains of Viney’s cast, examining the crack from Belos’ kick with a whistle. “What have you been up to?

“Eh. You know. The apocalypse.”

The whole family had made a pact not to mention Belos to anyone outside of the family or Darius for now—as far as anyone else was concerned, Luz had killed Belos, and that was that. Phoenix was almost certain that there would be ‘Belos’ sightings across the isles for some time, and he didn’t intend on adding any credibility to the notion that Belos could have escaped Luz.

“Haven’t we all. Well, nothing life-threatening. You’re cleared. See a healer again in a week for that ankle and to check the concussion, use the crutches, take it easy.”

“Thank you.”

“Mhm. You’re welcome”

Another healer shot into the room, breathing heavily. “You get to do the one next door.”

“What? I thought you were taking care of him?”

“Not anymore. I like living too much.”

“Well, that sounds promising.”

Phoenix followed the healer out of the room, swinging on a new set of crutches. The moment the healer opened the next door, an abomination-themed paperweight came sailing out, nearly beaning them on the head.

“Stay away,” Petro wheezed, “I’ll kill you.”

“They’re here to help,” Phoenix told him, “They’re not going to hurt you.”

“Like I trust you either.”

“Friendly, isn’t he?” the healer commented dryly.

“Very. Petro, I didn’t drag you all the way here just to kill you now. They’re just a healer.”

“Coven healer?”

“Does it matter anymore?”

“It matters,” Petro wheezed through gritted teeth, “because which they are determines whether or not they might have motive to kill me.” He thought about it for a moment. “I’m not sure which kind would be more likely.”

“I don’t even know who you are?” The healer pushed into the room, holding their hands up in surrender. “Look. You’re in bad shape. I can either heal you now, while you’re conscious and can keep an eye on me, or I can wait until you pass out anyway and you won’t have any knowledge of what I’m up to. So which is it going to be?”

Petro glared, but didn’t throw anything else and let the healer get close enough to begin their magic. Phoenix heaved a sigh of relief and wandered back down the hall. Darius poked halfway out of a closet, pulling out blankets and towels, but he straightened up when Phoenix approached.

“Ah. Hello. I see the healers got to you.”

“They did.”

“How are you feeling? It seems like you look worse every time I see you.”

Phoenix shrugged. “I’ll survive. Look, Darius—I owe you an explanation. Besides disappearing on you, about what just happened—”

“Well—perhaps it can wait until tomorrow morning. I’m sure you need your rest, and we should get your quite extensive family settled in, of course, and—”

“Darius, are you avoiding me?”

Darius chuckled nervously. “What? Of course I’m not. I haven’t been looking for answers for thirty years just to avoid them now.”

“Are you sure?” Phoenix pressed, “I mean, you didn’t seem too concerned when I ran off after Jason—”

“You seemed distressed, I didn’t want to keep you in such a state—”

“—and now you won’t let me tell you what happened again,” Phoenix continued over him, “Are you avoiding me?”

Darius had always been bad at lying to him. A stellar actor most of the time, but absolutely horrendous when it came to fooling Phoenix. That was one thing that hadn’t changed over the years. It almost made Phoenix laugh—a grown man now twenty years his senior studiously avoiding his eyes like he was still a teenager.

“I’m not avoiding you. But are you sure you’re ready to tell me?”

“I’ve only been thinking of a way to do it for…” Phoenix tried to tally up how long it had been since he’d woken up in this time, then gave up. “…a while. Darius, I know you’re not avoiding it for my sake."

"I just think right now isn’t a good time.” Darius finished pulling blankets out of the closet and shut the door abruptly. “Tomorrow.”

“And what if something new comes up tomorrow? Darius, I’ve put this off for so long, I want to—”

“If you’ve been putting it off for so long, then it can wait another day. Hunter—” Darius locked up, inhaled, and released his breath in one long sigh. “Phoenix. Can we just leave it?”

“Are you scared it won’t be good enough?”

The words escaped Phoenix before he could really think it through, and the simple question made Darius freeze again.

“Excuse me?”

“This whole time—Darius, I’ve been worried that any apology, any explanation I could give wouldn’t be good enough. I was scared that you’d hear what I had to say and decide it wasn’t any excuse for not contacting you. That you’d hate me for it. But that… it works both ways, doesn’t it?” Phoenix took a deep breath. “You’ve spent years wondering where I’d gone, wondering what happened to me. And now I’ve showed up again out of the blue. Are you… are you scared that when I tell you what happened… it’ll feel like I just didn’t care enough? That it will feel like there was no real reason for me to not contact you, and I just didn’t want to?”

Darius chuckled hollowly. “Well, what am I supposed to say to that, hm?” He shook his head. “You’ve changed, Phoenix. The name, the scars—that’s nothing. There was a time when you would have had your tongue ripped out before you’d disclose all that to me; the Phoenix I knew took a day of coaxing before he’d ever begin admit something was wrong. But then—I guess you weren’t really Phoenix then, were you?”

“No,” Phoenix agreed, “I wasn’t.”

“What if we’ve changed too much?” Darius gave Phoenix a small, sad half-smile. “That explanation might be the only thing left between us—the last thing we say to each other before we find closure and move on in our new lives. Perhaps it’ll be good enough. Perhaps it won’t. Perhaps it won’t matter how good or bad it is because either way, we’ll simply drift apart.”

Dread settled in Phoenix’s stomach. Of course that was always a possibility—but it wasn’t one he wanted to accept. “Maybe.” Phoenix searched for the right words to say, allowing a heavy silence to creep between them. “Maybe,” he said again finally, “You’re right. That might happen. But even if it does, even if we drift apart… Darius, I will never stop caring about you. And I don’t think you’ll stop caring about me, either.”

“Never.” Darius took a deep breath. “I’m ready,” he said abruptly, “I want to know—and I want to know all of it.”

“To the last thing left unfinished between us,” Phoenix agreed. He cleared his throat, trying to decide the best place to begin. “When I disappeared—well, it actually started weeks before, when I found some old records concerning the fates of previous golden guards…”

Xxx

You were always going to fail them, too.

Phoenix snapped awake, the vestiges of a fuzzy nightmare still making his heart work overtime. He stared up at the ceiling, surrounded by the snores of other grimwalkers. It was just a dream.

He tried to rub his eyes, but his arms wouldn’t move, dissolved into a mess of mud that would stain the blankets if he let it.

“It’s okay,” he whispered to the darkness, “We’re okay.”

In time with his slowing heartbeat, his arms settled back to their normal state, and he rolled out of his blankets, snatching up his crutches and quietly hobbling out into the hallway. His joints ached. His bones felt stretched and thin inside of him.

But at least they were his.

He wandered into the kitchen. Jason sat at the table, staring blankly at his hands, but he looked up when Phoenix dropped into the seat next to him.

“It’s over,” Jason whispered, “It’s really, really over this time.”

“He’s gone,” Phoenix agreed.

Jason trembled and fell into Phoenix, burying his face in Phoenix’s shoulder. “It’s over,” he repeated, “It’s over, it’s over it’s over.”

Phoenix gripped him tightly, holding him close. “We’re safe now. He can’t hurt us anymore.”

“He’s finally gone,” Jason whispered, “We’re finally—he’s finally—it’s over.” He pulled back, eyes shining. “I don’t have to go with him. I don’t have to talk to him again, I don’t have to…”

“Never again, thanks to you and Mole.”

“Well—hey, you were part of it, too.”

Phoenix looked away, guilt bubbling up in his stomach. “I didn’t do anything.” His hands curled into shaking fists. “I tried. I really did, but I couldn’t beat him. He still got the better of me. After everything—the curse, getting out of his hold… I was still useless.”

“You saved Hunter’s life,” Jason said quietly, “I don’t think that’s useless.”

“I couldn’t stop him.” Phoenix’s hands opened and closed helplessly. “I was so close, Jason, but I still couldn’t…”

“Hey.” Jason tilted his head, ducking down so that he was looking Phoenix in the eye. “You fought fair. Belos didn’t—that kick was a dirty move. You would have won in a straight fight.”

“It was never going to be a straightforward fight with Belos,” Phoenix replied bitterly, “I should have known that. I shouldn’t have tried to fight like it would be.”

“What, and stoop to his level? I’m glad you didn’t.” Jason’s hand closed over his own. “Phoenix. Hey. Mole and I wouldn’t have been able to get into position without your attack. Hunter kept everyone from getting hurt when the glyphs stopped working. The others made sure Belos didn’t possess Petro again so you could face him head on. And without Petro, we wouldn’t have been able to trick Belos and get Mom and everybody free. This only worked because we all played a part—so what if you didn’t beat him all on your own? Neither did any of the others, and they attacked him all at once with a bunch of glyphs! I mean, hey, you went after Belos all by yourself, and you made it out with nothing but a concussion? Pretty good considering the results of our past attempts.”

A smile worked its way onto Phoenix’s face, disappearing just as quickly. “I guess.”

“He can’t hurt us again. That’s all that really matters—we don’t need to worry about who did what, or who helped the most.”

“I know, I know,” Phoenix grumbled, “You’re right.”

“Of course I am. I’m always right.” Jason gave him a cheeky grin. “Forget about him. He ruled enough of our lives—I don’t want to think about him a second longer than I have to. How did things go with Darius?”

And just like that, any sense of calm Jason’s reassurances had brought melted right back into a seething pit of anxiety. “Fine, I think? I mean… he seemed to understand what happened and why I couldn’t get back in touch with him.”

“But?” Jason prompted.

“But…” Phoenix took a deep breath. “I don’t know. Do you think he’s angry I didn’t tell him when Belos surfaced again? I mean, I’d just promised to tell him everything, and then I hid an incredibly big and dangerous thing—even though I had a reason, that’s got to sting. I’d be mad at me.”

“You could always ask,” Jason suggested, “Can’t hurt.”

“Hm.” Maybe, but if what Darius had said earlier—about how Phoenix had used to keep everything close to his chest, hiding it from Darius—had been true then, the opposite was true now. Phoenix was almost certain that if he did ask, Darius would just wave off the question.

“Is that all that’s eating you?”

“Well, that and the flesh-dissolving mud curse.”

Jason chuckled. “Right. That. Should you be up and around? Sam told me you should rest more.”

“That traitor.”

Jason pushed his shoulder. “You should say thank you. Now there’s one more person who knows what you need.”

“You need to not be in my kitchen at one AM, that’s for certain.”

Phoenix jumped, nearly falling out of his chair. Darius stood in the doorway, arms crossed. Even in the dim lighting, Phoenix could see the bloodshot red of his eyes. “Sorry. Did we wake you?” And how much did you hear?

Darius shrugged, an easy, fluid movement that didn’t quite seem to match that look in his eyes. “I was checking in, making sure Evelyn and Caleb were alright, and everyone was settled alright, and… you were gone.”

A hint of accusation laced his tone, and Phoenix flinched. “Sorry,” he said again, “I just… couldn’t sleep. Didn’t mean to scare you.” He wiggled his hands in the air. “Still here! Haven’t vanished off the face of the earth again!”

Jason winced, and made a small ‘whoof’ noise next to him while Darius’ smile got a little more forced. Phoenix’s hands dropped to his lap. “Sorry. Too soon.”

“A bit so, yes. Do you need something to aid your sleep? A potion, perhaps, or—”

“I’m alright, Darius. Thank you.”

Before his disappearance, it had been easy to fall into silence with Darius. Once there was nothing left to say, they’d just share a comfortable, nearby existence. But now, the quiet loomed between them, painfully, awkwardly huge.

Jason cleared his throat. “Well, I’m gonna go check on Mom and Dad and then go back to bed. See you in the morning.” He patted Phoenix’s shoulder and disappeared, along with any hope Phoenix might have had that Jason would know the right thing to say to Darius.

“So. The curse.” Darius waved a hand in the air. “You said it drains energy, drains magic… so does Edalyn’s. You could try her elixirs. See if it works out for you.”

Nothing Phoenix hadn’t thought of, but the suggestion coming from someone else did somehow make it feel more plausible. “Yeah. Yeah, that might work.”

“And if the elixirs help…” Darius took a deep breath. “It doesn’t seem all too different from my abomination magic, at least not in general form. I could… give you some tips on controlling it.”

Phoenix turned the idea over in his mind, a laugh building in the back of his throat, and bursting out uncontrollably. Darius blinked slowly, managing to look exactly like an offended cat.

“You could have just said no if you think it’s that ridiculous.”

“No—no, it’s not that, I just… well, you know. I used to be the one teaching you magic. I know things have changed between us, but I wasn’t expecting a complete reversal.”

Darius chuckled. “It is a bit strange when you put it like that.” He braced one elbow on the tabletop, resting his face on his hand. “Now I’m the teacher. I’m sentencing you to ten years of dish-washing for running off to fight Belos without me.”

“Which time?”

“Oh. Yes, I suppose you did do it more than once. Twenty years, then.”

Phoenix snorted. “In your dreams.” He leaned his elbows on the table to match Darius, rubbing his aching joints. “I’d like that, though.”

“What, washing the dishes?”

“No, no. For you to teach me how to work with this, make it into something helpful. And to just… spend time together exploring new magic like we used to.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. I’d like it a lot.”

Xxx

“Hunter! Jason!”

Luz cannoned into the two of them at the speed of light, closely followed by Willow and Gus. Phoenix laughed watching the two of them go down, but then King slammed into his legs, Collector flew into his chest, and he stared at the ceiling of Darius’ house, half wondering how he’d gotten on the floor.

“Phoenix!”

“Oof. Oh, we brought everyone. Hey!”

“Everyone but Eda and Raine,” King remarked, suggestively wiggling the bony arches that Phoenix was pretty sure passed for eyebrows up and down.

“And Camila,” Collector added helpfully.

Grimwalkers shuffled away from Collector, eying them nervously. Cherry’s hands twitched, like he might like to yank them away from Phoenix, and Darius’ eyes narrowed into little slits, his hand turning into an abomination knife.

Phoenix waved one hand at him. “It’s okay! They’re good, it’s fine.”

The others didn’t exactly crowd around to meet him, but they didn’t protest the Collector being there either. Luz pulled back from her attack on Hunter and Jason, eyes brimming with concern. “I am so, so, so, so, so, so sorry! I thought we finished him off, I thought—”

“Hey, whoa, it’s not your fault!” Jason protested, “You did amazing.”

“You were a puppet,” Hunter reminded him, “You missed the whole thing. But yeah, Luz. Don’t blame yourself. He’s… really good at squeezing out of tricky situations. You took a lot out of him—and whether you killed him or not, you definitely saved the isles from him.”

“He’s actually dead this time, right?” King asked Phoenix, “We’re sure?”

“Positive,” Phoenix confirmed, “Mole petrified him.”

“Good.” King nudged Collector. “Hey—remember—”

“I remember.” Collector floated up into the air, clearing his throat. “Hey, everybody. I’m Collector. I know I sort of… scared you before, but I’m really, really sorry for destroying your house. I can fix it, if you want? And… I’d like to be friends. No more house-destroying or puppeting. Pinky promise.”

For a long moment, no one said anything, just glanced at each other and the Collector. Finally, A.T. stepped forward, linking his pinky with Collector’s. “Hey, Collector. I’m A.T. and probably the expert around here on having friends. Everyone else seems to lack the experience.”

Protests and boos rose out of other grimwalkers, breaking the tense silence. A.T. just grinned, unfazed by their jeers. “We’re gonna get along great.”

Phoenix sighed in relief. He doubted anyone would actually be comfortable around Collector, not for a while. But at least open hostility had been cleared off the table.

“What’s going on in here?”

Everyone’s head snapped to the other side of the room, the Collector completely forgotten as Caleb made his way from the hallway, one hand on the wall for support. His face still hadn’t regained all its color, and he leaned heavily on the wall, but his smile was still the same big beam it had always been.

“Dad!”

Like a tidal wave, every grimwalker in the room shifted towards him at once, all of them babbling over with a thousand ‘are you alright’s and ‘you scared us’s. Cherry, ever the solid rock, got to him first, anxiously hovering inches away.

“You shouldn’t have tried to trade yourself for us,” he told Caleb.

A hush fell over the grimwalkers. Phoenix felt queasy, even knowing that Caleb would hear them out without losing his temper. It needed to be said. But part of him was glad Cherry was the one saying it.

“I couldn’t lose you. Any of you.”

“You almost lost all of us,” Cherry countered, “Offering to go to the human realm? You would have never seen any of us again! And we would have lost you!”

“I mean, I can make a portal to the human realm,” Collector announced chipperly, “You could have found each other again.”

King drew one paw back and forth across his throat, and the Collector made a small ‘ah’ noise, miming zipping up their lips.

“I just wanted to protect you.”

“You did something dumb and self-sacrificial,” Sam piped up, “If any of us had offered that trade, we’d get a nice long talk about how our lives have value on their own and we shouldn’t give up everything like that. You’d tell us there’s always another way.”

“I mean, Jason did try it,” Venari offered, “You’re okay with that?”

Caleb’s attention snapped over to him. “You did what?”

“This is what they’re talking about, Dad,” Jason said, fondly exasperated, “Your life isn’t worth any less than ours. You think we should live our lives free of Belos?”

“Of course I do!”

“Then the same should be true for you.”

A.T. nodded fiercely. “We’re not the only ones he hurt—you shouldn’t be stuck with him any more than we or anyone else should.”

“But I’m the one who—”

“You made mistakes,” Cherry cut in, “No one is denying that. You were unconscious, but Jason told Belos he needed to stop punishing you for what happened. And Belos isn’t the only one; you have to stop punishing yourself.” He twisted his hands. “It’s something we all have to work on.”

Silver raised a hand. “We would have been devastated if he’d taken you,” they told Caleb, “Please—don’t do something like that again.”

Caleb’s eyes welled up. “Okay,” he mumbled thickly, “Okay, I promise.” His hand hovered over his chest where bandages bulged against his shirt. “Is… are you all okay? I mean, that spell, the wound—”

Dagger waved a hand. “Sure, it hurt, but you think we can’t handle it?”

“Losing you and Mom would have hurt worse,” Jason told him. “Speaking of Mom…”

“Alive and well,” Evelyn commented from the kitchen. She waved from the table. “Hey. I went the other way ‘round.” She jabbed one finger at Caleb. “They’re right, by the way, mister. Pull a stunt like that again, and I’ll… well, I don’t have a good threat ready at the moment, but you won’t like it.”

“Yes, ma’am.” One of Caleb’s eyebrows arched up. “Although I seem to recall someone else going off alone to make deals with Phillip.”

“I was going on a rescue mission that I was pretty sure I could handle and turned out to be wrong about,” she corrected, “Not the same thing. But fine, of course, next time our kids get kidnapped by someone who has it out for specifically us and I track them down to their lair, I’ll come get you. Happy?”

Caleb smiled at her, a small, sad imitation of his usual smile. “Ecstatic.” He turned towards the Collector. “I’m—”

“The original! The first Caleb! Wow, Phillip would not stop talking about you.” Collector hopped up into the air, sitting cross-legged. “I almost feel like I know you, even though we’ve never met. Isn’t that weird?”

Caleb winced. “Well… I don’t know what stories Phillip told you, but I think I’d like it if you knew the real me. And… I’d like to know the real you. But, um. Before we get to know each other… does your offer of a portal door still stand?”

Xxx

“Oh, absolutely not.”

Phoenix looked up from the pile of books Jason had rescued from the rubble of the house—he, Mole, Joseph, and Cherry had been going back and forth between their destroyed home and Darius’ house, ferrying mostly-intact personal belongings to their owners. Phoenix had stayed behind where he could sit (at just about everyone’s insistence), sorting through what they’d brought and picking out what was still salvageable. But at Evelyn’s snappish tone, he wobbled to his feet and swung his way to the kitchen. Caleb stood with Collector and Petro, holding a bag that looked suspiciously like it was filled with crumbled pieces of stone.

Evelyn stood in the doorway, blocking their path. Brave of her, Phoenix thought vaguely, considering how Collector had flicked her shields aside like they were nothing last time. “You can’t be serious. After everything he did?”

“I’m not doing it for Belos,” Caleb said quietly, “I’m doing it for me. And for him.”

Caleb nodded to Petro behind him, uncharacteristically quiet and melancholy. Half-healed bruises and cuts still mottled his face, but his breathing came normally now instead of in those awful shudders. The moment he noticed Phoenix looking at him, he scowled, glaring daggers.

Evelyn crossed her arms. “He doesn’t deserve the kindness. He would have desecrated your grave a thousand times to make more grimwalkers.”

“But I’m not him. I need to bury what’s left, Evelyn—I’m not going to feel at peace until I do. Please.”

Evelyn sighed. “Are you really going to take him to the human realm?”

“Do you think anyone wants what’s left of him here?”

“I suppose not,” Evelyn admitted.

“You don’t have to come with me, Evelyn. In fact, I think it would probably just upset you. Just let me do this, okay?”

“Alright. Alright, but be careful.” She tilted her head at Petro, lowering her voice. “Do you actually trust him?”

“No,” Caleb said simply, “Not yet. But I don’t think he’ll try anything for now.”

Evelyn ‘hm’ed unhappily, but moved out of the way. The three walked—or floated, in Collector’s case—out the door, heading to the outskirts of Bonesborough. After a moment of hesitation, Phoenix followed. Maybe Caleb thought everything would be fine, but Phoenix was almost certain something would go wrong. He wasn’t willing to leave it to chance, especially after what everyone had said this morning.

Phoenix quickly fell behind—even with the injuries Petro and Caleb had sustained, they still walked faster than he could hobble on his crutches. After about twenty agonizing minutes, Collector swooped through the sky over him.

“Hiya, Phoenix,” they chirped, “Did you want to come along? Caleb and Hunter already made it to the human realm, but I can catch you up real fast.”

“Yes, please,” Phoenix panted. A star formed underneath him, and Collector sat next to him. They stayed low to the ground, but the star moved quickly, zipping through the streets of Bonesborough.

Collector fidgeted, tapping his fingers against each other. “Are we going to be okay?” they finally asked in a small voice.

“What?”

“You’re not still—are you mad at me?”

Phoenix hissed out a long breath. “Are you still mad at me?”

“I don’t know.” Collector rested his chin on his knees. “Were you going to take King away forever?”

“I think I was.” Phoenix heaved a sigh. “I’m sorry.”

“I know. And I’m sorry for trying to make you disappear. And for destroying your house. And—” Their voice wobbled, and tears welled up in their eyes. “And putting you in the nightmare. I don’t want to fight anymore.”

“I don’t want to, either.” Phoenix scratched absently at his arms where the wounds from Belos used to be. “I don’t think I ever did. I was just… scared.”

“I didn’t want to lose you.”

“I was going to come back the first time. I really was. I mean—I was going to take King, but I would have come back.”

“I believe you now.”

Phoenix took a deep breath. “We both hurt each other. And I can’t promise that we won’t accidentally hurt each other again.”

“So… you’re saying we shouldn’t be friends?”

“No! No, it’s just a risk we have to take. You can’t be friends with people without… opening up the possibility of getting hurt. But that’s okay. And I think we’re going to be okay.”

“Okay.” Collector pulled the star to a stop in front of the owl house. “I hope so.”

“I know so.” Phoenix hopped off the star. “I’ll be back soon.”

The door shimmered in front of him, a wall of light too bright to look past into the other realm.

The human realm.

Phoenix slowly swung over the threshold. It didn’t feel any different to be in the human realm. He’d assumed he’d be able to tell when he crossed over, like all the magic would be sucked out of the world, but it just seemed… normal here. The house that held the door was a bit dilapidated, sure, and a recent-looking hole gaped in the floorboards, but nothing seemed terribly wrong with the place. He could easily imagine Jason curled up on that old couch reading, or Hunter pacing the floor.

Low murmurs rose up from beneath him, and Phoenix slowly thumped down a creaky staircase. Each step involved a lengthy back-and-forth with his crutches, but he made it to the bottom, where Petro and Caleb stood in front of a gaping hole in the ground. They slowly lowered what was left of Belos into the grave and covered the stone back up with dirt. Phoenix hobbled closer, but stayed far enough back that he wouldn’t be intruding.

“Would you… like to say something?” Caleb asked Petro.

Petro gave a short nod. “Bye, old man,” he said abruptly, “You gave me the best parts of my life, and I’ll never forget everything you did for me. Rot in hell. I’ll probably meet you there.” He gave the grave a snappy salute, then spit on it and stepped back.

“That was… nice?”

Petro acknowledged Caleb’s statement with a curt nod. “Your turn.”

Caleb took a deep breath. “I guess this is it,” he said slowly, “I wish we could have done something different—but I’m glad I landed where I did. I’m going to do better. With the grimwalkers you made, I mean. I won’t run away this time. No matter what, I’ll stick with them, and make sure they never feel abandoned and alone again.” He sighed. “I know Belos probably wouldn’t care. But… I hope whatever’s left of the lonely kid who was scared of me leaving would like that. Goodbye, Pip. I won’t forget you.” He glanced up, noticing Phoenix for the first time. “Oh! Did you come to…”

“I came to check on you.” Phoenix shrugged. “I don’t have anything to say.”

“No, I wouldn’t think so.” Caleb heaved a deep sigh. “Is it wrong that I don’t feel sad?”

“Why did you bury him at all, then?”

Caleb shook his head. “I don’t know. It just didn’t feel right, leaving him there. I know he did a lot wrong, but... I wanted to bring him back home.” He chuckled dryly. “I guess he got what he wanted in the end, didn’t he? Me and him, back in the human realm.”

“That wasn’t all he wanted,” Phoenix said softly, “You know that.”

“Yeah. I do. It’s just…”

“Complicated?”

“Always is.” Caleb bounced on the balls of his feet, staring up at the low ceiling. “Could you give me a minute?”

“Yeah.” Phoenix looked around, but Petro was nowhere in sight—Phoenix swore under his breath and hopped back towards the stairs, tucking his crutches under his arm and leaning against the wall for balance instead while he made his way up. The door to the house swung wide open, and Phoenix hobbled outdoors. There would be no catching up with Petro if he’d run, he knew, but the glint of ruined gold armor shone from down the path, at the edge of the trees.

Petro stood just within the treeline, watching the human realm with hungry, cautious eyes. Phoenix stopped short next to him, huffing for breath.

“Thinking of running?” he asked.

Petro snorted. “Think you could stop me?”

“Probably not,” Phoenix admitted, “Hey—Caleb trusted you wouldn’t try anything.”

“If I was ‘trying anything’ you and Caleb would be joining the emperor in his grave. This isn’t ‘trying anything.’ This is just leaving.”

“Leaving?” Phoenix echoed, “Why?”

“Why would I stay?” Petro countered, “There’s nothing left in the Isles for me. I’ve done enough damage there, I think.”

“You don’t have to go,” Phoenix said quietly, “You could try to fix things, make up for what you’ve done. That’s what I’m doing.”

“We’ve already established that you’re a better person than me, little bird. Besides, I can’t stay. No one there trusts me, and if they did, they’d have to be brain-dead.” A wry smile pulled across his face. “It’s like Cherry said, isn’t it? You’re glad I’m changing, but that doesn’t mean you want me around while I do. The Isles are too small, and too full of people who know me. Here?” He swept one arm out. “It’s huge here. I could walk for miles and not leave this city. It’s the kind of place I can change—if I want to. I could get far away from everything, truly far away.”

“You can’t get away from yourself.”

Petro looked around, feigning surprise. “No, really? And here I thought that I would just leave my skin behind and walk on a new man who’s never done anything wrong in his life!”

“You know what I mean.”

“Look, are you going to try to stop me, or what? Because if you do…”

“You’ll kill me? I thought you were planning that anyway.”

Petro snorted. “Maybe I’ll take a visit to the Isles in a few years to give it another shot.”

Phoenix reached into his pocket, his hand closing around the extra concealment stone he’d taken for Ash what seemed like a lifetime ago. “Here.” He held out the stone. “This will help you blend in here, keep people from asking too many questions.”

Petro eyed the necklace. “What’s the catch?”

“No catch.” Phoenix nodded to the stone. “I think you’re right. I think if you’re going to change, you need to leave the demon realm, at least for a little bit. Get some distance from everything.” He stared Petro in the eye. “If you aren’t going to cause havoc here. I mean it, don’t hurt anyone.”

“I have no reason to. No one’s going to get hurt—I’m not trying to run an empire here, sheesh.” Petro held out an open palm. “Am I getting the stone and starting over or not?”

Phoenix slowly lowered it into his hand. “This doesn’t make everything you did okay, you know that, right? But… maybe here you can become the kind of person who makes up for it.”

“Hm. Maybe. We’ll see how it goes.” Petro’s hand closed over the pendant, but Phoenix didn’t let go of the string just yet.

“Do you remember her? Victoria, I mean.”

Petro blinked. “Who?”

“The girl who stopped you when you tried to kill me. Do you remember her?”

“Ah, so that was her name. Of course I remember her,” Petro said easily, far more easily than Phoenix expected.

“Wha—you do?”

“I remember every kill.” Now Petro was the one staring Phoenix down, uncomfortably level for the topic. “When I tracked down the witches who killed my guardian, they didn’t remember who she was. I swore I’d never be that careless. I knew that if someone came to me, like you are now, and asked if I remembered who I killed, I would be able to say yes. Even if I was adding them to the list, they should know I’d remember.”

If it weren’t for the prerequisite of killing someone, the statement almost would have sounded… noble. Phoenix let go of the string, and Petro slipped the stone over his head. He rippled, shifting and changing. His ears rounded out, and his armor turned into a T-shirt and jeans. He still looked like Petro—the scars didn’t disappear, nor did the dangerous glint in his eyes. But something about him almost seemed... peaceful.

Phoenix stepped back towards the house, towards the demon realm. “Good luck,” he said softly.

Petro gave him a short nod, and stepped out of the trees, into the human realm. Phoenix watched him until he disappeared from view, then slowly hobbled back into the house at the end of the path. Caleb emerged from the basement, looking around. “Where’s Petro?”

“Gone.”

Caleb eyed him. “You don’t seem too concerned about it.”

“I think he’ll be fine. And I don’t think he’ll try killing me again for a while. Give it a few years.”

“Hm.” Caleb glanced down the path, worry creasing his face. Phoenix bumped his shoulder.

“I don’t think he needs the kind of help you and Evelyn can give. He just… needs to be on his own for a bit.”

Caleb sighed. “You knew him best, or at least as best as any of us could.” He closed the door to the house. “You ready to go home?”

“Ready.”

They stepped through the portal together, leaving the human realm, and Belos, behind. Eda and Lilith waited just outside the door, Collector nowhere in sight. Caleb froze, but Eda and Lilith didn’t seem to notice, crowding around Phoenix instead. Eda lightly punched him in the shoulder. “Look who’s back! Darius tells me you’re looking into elixirs, huh? Well, for a good price, I can—”

“We’ll share,” Lilith interrupted, elbowing her sister, “Glad you’re safe, sir.”

“Please don’t call me that, Lilith. Just Phoenix.”

“Right.”

“Ah—hello.” The bard witch from the keep smiled awkwardly at Phoenix. New scars streaked their face like tears, but at least they were still alive. “It’s nice to meet you properly. I’m Raine.”

“Phoenix. Sorry about…” Phoenix gestured to his face. “I wish I could have done something.”

“And I wish I’d been able to keep Belos from taking over the titan, but here we are. Don’t worry about it. Eda tells me you’re the previous golden guard.” They tilted their head at Caleb. “And this is…”

“One of the other ones?” Eda guessed, “Luz told us all about your secret little grimwalker group.”

“Ah. No.” Caleb scratched the back of his neck, awkwardly avoiding their eyes. “I’m… the original one…”

He still hasn’t figured out how to word it, Phoenix thought. For some reason, the familiar stumble made him want to laugh.

Lilith gestured to Caleb’s ears, delighted. “Oh! I see! You must have been here before Belos, that’s fascinating. You’ll have to tell me what the Isles were like—of course, I did see a bit of the Deadwardian Era myself through a time pool, but a first-hand account—and the rest of your family, such a rich depository of history, absolutely incredible.”

Caleb smiled warmly. “I’d be happy to talk with you. Evelyn and I both.”

“Evelyn, hah!” Eda grinned. “What a coincidence, that name’s run in our family for a while!”

“Huh,” Caleb said lightly, “How funny.” He cleared his throat. “It was nice to meet you two—I hope we can get to know each other better.”

He swiftly exited the house before Phoenix could say anything.

“Huh. Bit jumpy, isn’t he?” Eda tossed Phoenix a couple of glowing gold potion bottles that he fumbled to catch with his crutches. “Tell us how that works out, okay? Now that Lilth’s got the basic recipe down, we can mess with it until it’s right for you. Best to down it all at once, by the way. And don’t let it sit in your mouth for longer than you have to. Doesn’t affect the magic or anything, you just want to drink it before you can taste it.”

“You’re not in this alone,” Lilith cut in, “Curses can be tricky, but there are ways to manage them, and they’re easier if you have a support system.”

Phoenix’s chest glowed warmly at the reminder. “I think I’m figuring that out. Thank you.” He raised the elixir bottle like a toast. “I’ll keep you updated.”

“Any idea what you’re going to do now that you don’t have to hide anymore?” Lilith asked.

“I didn’t really think I’d make it this far,” Phoenix admitted, “We’re going to fix up our home, but after that… I’ve got no clue.”

Eda grinned. “Well, I’ve got a little something-something cooking up on the back burner. Now that Belos is gone, and the covens are being dismantled, people are going to need someone to teach them how to be a real wild witch. How’d you like to get in on the teaching action?”

Phoenix flushed. “Oh. I don’t know, I don’t think that would… I’m not exactly… I mean, I wouldn’t even know what a school is supposed to look like, let alone how to be a part of one.”

“That makes you perfect for the job. You think I want a bunch of rule-following book-stuffy teachers at a school for wild magic?” Eda snorted. “As if. No thanks. But from the way Darius was always ‘my mentor’ this and ‘my mentor’ that, I imagine you’re a preeeetty good teacher when you have a mind to be. Or at least a good counselor or something.” She smacked his back. “Think about it, alright? We’ll see if this idea even takes off, but I’ve got a sneaking suspicion it’s going to catch like honeybees on fire.”

“I’ll keep it in mind. Thanks, Eda.”

Caleb waited for him outside, but started walking the moment Phoenix closed the door behind him. He kept his pace slow, hanging back with Phoenix’s hobble.

“Why didn’t you let them know they’re your descendants?” Phoenix asked.

Caleb chuckled humorlessly. “Is it hard to believe that I don’t think I’m ready to tell them?”

Phoenix thought about Darius, and a brief smile crossed his face. “No. Not hard to believe at all.”

Xxx

“What do you think, salvageable or no?”

Phoenix considered the ladder Caleb presented for a moment. Compared to most of the wreckage they’d salvaged, this damage didn’t seem too bad. Not that he could even begin to wonder why Caleb had brought back a ladder when they were supposed to be looking for personal belongings. “Well, it seems mostly fine. Top rung is missing, but that… can… be re…”

Phoenix looked up at Caleb, who wore the biggest, smuggest grin he’d ever seen in his life plastered all over his face. “Is this the ladder you fell off of?”

“The one and only.” Caleb collapsed the ladder, sitting next to Phoenix with a sigh. “Titan, that seems like forever ago.”

“A lot happened,” Phoenix agreed, “I wish a few broken ribs and a busted ankle was still the worst injury you had to deal with.”

“Don’t forget the concussion.”

Phoenix waved a hand. “Jason’s had about 3 concussions since the day of unity, clearly they’re not a big deal.”

Phoenix heard an affronted gasp, and looked up to see a distressed Hunter jabbing one finger at him. “Do not say that in front of Jason. Do you know what we went through convincing him that he needed to rest?!”

“Was it worse than what we go through convincing Phoenix to take it easy?” Caleb asked wryly.

Phoenix waved a hand at the ladder. “Pot.”

“Fair enough. Did you need something, Hunter?”

Hunter took a deep breath. “Thank you for repairing Flapjack.” He scratched the bird’s head. “I… really thought I was going to lose him. But he’s okay now, thanks to you. I know… palisman are connected to their witches. If they’re going to heal, then they need to be close.” Another deep breath. “Which is why… I think he should stay with you for a bit. So that he can heal. I know you said he’s mine now, but in terms of magical bonds, I feel like the carver might stand a better chance for medical care, and you know more about repairing palisman anyway, so—”

Flapjack pecked his finger. Caleb smiled. “I don’t think Flap agrees there. And I don’t think that’s what you want, either.”

“Of course not,” Hunter declared immediately, “I want to keep him, I just…” his hands curled into shaking fists. “I don’t know if I’m the best person to take care of him anymore, at least not right now.” His voice cracked. “I hurt him, I—”

“Phillip hurt him,” Caleb said fiercely. He took Hunter’s hands in his own. “Phillip hurt him, not you. And Phillip’s gone now. Maybe I know more about repair than you, but Flapjack didn’t wake up to save my life. He woke up to save yours. I carved Flapjack, but he is your palisman.”

“Don’t you miss him?” Hunter asked, “Don’t you want a palisman? Aren’t you upset he’s not yours anymore?”

Or do you not care about him? The sentiment wasn’t stated, but it ran under the conversation like a riptide current. Caleb stumbled for words, opening and closing his mouth like a fish.

“Yes,” he said finally, “I do miss him. I loved having a palisman. And if Flapjack wanted to be my palisman again, I’d accept in a heartbeat. But… I couldn’t take him from you. Not if that’s where he wants to be.” Caleb rubbed the stumps of his fingers. “When I carved Flapjack, I wished to choose my own path in life. How could I deny him that same choice?” He heaved a sigh. “No. He’s yours.” A smile crossed his face. “But… I wouldn’t mind a visit from him every now and then. And maybe I could teach you a little bit about palisman repair, eh? My hands can’t hold the carving tools too well anymore, but I’ve still got some tricks left to pass on.”

Hunter smiled back, scratching Flapjack’s head again. “I’d like that.”

Xxx

“Hey! Phoenix!” Novus waved, beckoning him over. Ash stood with him, eying Phoenix nervously, but not retreating.

“So, good news—since a lot of my stuff was metal and small, it more-or-less survived the whole…” he waved a hand. “Yes. Anyway, I was examining those blueprints again, asking around, and I think we were looking at it all the wrong way.”

“Oh?”

“We were trying to figure out how to keep your arms from melting, trying to figure out how to keep it all smushed together. But that’s not the solution at all.”

Novus held up a much smaller, lighter gauntlet. Gauntlet wasn’t even the correct way to describe it—the contraption seemed to be a simple padded skeleton of metal with a joint at the elbow and a strap to pull over Phoenix’s thumb.

“What is it?” Phoenix asked.

“It’s a brace. Simple, easy. Instead of keeping your arms together, it’ll provide joint support for when your arms do melt—that way, there’s less stress on your bones and joints. And there’s plenty of space for your curse to get in and out through the gaps, so you can use it as needed. And look—” He twisted one of the circular bands, and it tightened, shrinking until Phoenix doubted he could fit his arm through without melting them.

“To keep the mud from pulling your bones out of place,” Novus explained, “It’s completely manual, so you don’t have to worry about it going haywire again. If it does get stuck, the whole thing pops open with a bit of pressure. I already tested it on my arm.” He tapped the brace. “It’s mostly for your elbow and wrist, but if you need more, I can work something out for your hands, too. Want to give this part a test?”

Phoenix delicately took one of the braces from him, sliding it over his arm and cinching it snugly into place. He moved his arm back and forth—the joint worked perfectly, bending the brace with almost no resistance. And when he slid his crutches under his shoulder, the strain on his wrist and elbow didn’t seem quite so terrible.

“This is… wow. Novus, thank you, this is incredible!”

“Thank Ash,” he replied with a grin, “They’re the one who gave me the idea to focus on support instead of containment.”

Phoenix blinked in surprise, turning to face the other grimwalker. Ash shrugged. “I could feel your bones shifting around when you saved me on that cliff,” they said quietly, “Like I said—it’s not something you can control or mess around with. So I thought maybe lessening the damage it does to your body might be a better option.”

Phoenix blinked back tears. “Thank you,” he mumbled, “both of you. It’s wonderful.”

Ash shrugged again. “Whatever makes all of… this… easier. I still don’t like…” they gestured broadly at Phoenix’s arms. “…but it seems like it’s helped us more than harmed us, and it’s DEFINITELY not going away any time soon. So… I guess we’ll just learn how to live with it, just like we have for everything else Belos did to us.”

“I guess so.”

Xxx

Phoenix slowly pushed open the door to Darius’ guest room. “Hey, Sam.” He’d missed too many meals in a row—Phoenix barely saw him anymore. Lake and Locke wouldn’t say it plain, but they were worried about him, too.

Sam grunted in response, absent-mindedly tapping a light glyph over and over again. He pushed the paper to the side and drew another one, obsessively checking all the lines, then gingerly poking at it with one finger. Nothing happened.

“It’s really over, isn’t it?” he asked, “They really aren’t going to work again.”

“That’s… how it looks,” Phoenix said gently, “Are you going to be okay?”

Sam heaved a distressed sigh. “These aren’t just a way to do magic without a bile sack. The glyphs are… they’re the language of the titan. The glyphs speak to them, and they respond with a burst of magic. They’re beautiful, they’re conversation. They’re more than just magic to me.”

“Yeah?”

Sam nodded, his eyes fixed on the dormant glyph. “Being with Belos, being the golden guard… it was so lonely. So isolating. I depended on Belos for magic, we all did. But then…” he tapped the glyph again, again with no effect. “But then I found the glyphs. I found what they could do, and I spend so much time studying them. I wrote glyph after glyph and tried combo after combo. And when I used the glyphs… I didn’t feel so alone. The more I used them, the closer I felt to the titan, and that was comforting. Maybe I had to run around in secret with them, maybe using them got me killed, but they were the best part of my life.”

Sam crumbled up the useless paper. “This is probably stupid, but losing them… I don’t know. It doesn’t feel like just losing a hobby. It feels like I’ve lost a friend.” He quickly wiped his eyes. “Like I said, stupid, huh?”

Phoenix thought about King, about all the warmth and personality the tiny titan contained. Maybe Sam hadn’t spoken directly to the titan, the way Phoenix had with King, but if the glyphs were conversation… “No,” he said softly, “I don’t think it’s stupid at all.”

Sam smiled a watery smile. “And what am I supposed to do with my life now, huh? I’ve been studying the glyphs for years, and suddenly…”

“Eda’s looking for teachers,” Phoenix offered, “Maybe you could teach about the glyphs.”

Sam snorted. “Oh, yeah, right, a course about a dead language. Who’d want to take something like that?”

“Nerds like you,” Lake’s voice laughed from the door.

“And us,” Locke added, “I want to know more about the dead language.”

“Tell me about the dead language,” Lake agreed.

Sam’s face creased into a frown, and he opened his mouth, as if about to tell the two of them to quit bothering him, but no sound came out. Phoenix followed his gaze to Lake and Locke. Even though Lake had come in with a joke, there wasn’t a trace of humor behind the two of their faces, only plain earnestness. Sam turned away, but not before Phoenix saw tears start to stream from his eyes.

“Yeah,” he said thickly, “Yeah, okay. I’ll teach you.”

Xxx

“Last one—done.” Viney cut off Dagger’s cast and stepped back. “You’re all set—literally.” She finger-gunned, clicking her tongue. “Little bit of healer humor for you.”

Dagger stretched, wiggling his fingers with a groan. “Finally. I thought those things were never going to come off.” He started to get up, then caught himself. “Ah—thank you.”

Phoenix almost choked at the words, and even Viney looked taken aback for a moment, but she quickly smoothed the expression away. “Eh—you’re welcome.”

Dagger looked up at the ceiling. “You were… an adequate healer,” he said gruffly, “Likely better than most. Goodbye forever.”

He swung his legs out off the doctor’s bench and shambled towards the door, unused to the movement after his time healing.

Viney hesitated, taking a step forward and another back. “It doesn’t have to be forever,” she called shortly, “Hey—once things are back to normal around here, do you want to come to a flyer derby match? Rough contact sport, I’m gonna knock a whole bunch of people out of the sky.”

Dagger stopped in the doorway. “Well. Maybe. Only to watch people get body-slammed mid air and fall.”

“Right, right,” Viney agreed, “I thought you’d like that part. Hunter can tell you when the matches are—or you could stop by every so often, and I’ll keep you updated?”

“Sounds… fine. Goodbye now.”

Dagger stalked out, and Phoenix chased after him, flashing a thumbs-up to Viney. His own ankle still sat heavy in its cast, but he’d find another healer. “That was nice,” he ventured.

Dagger walked quickly, outpacing Phoenix. “I don’t care about your opinion on the matter. Honestly, why did you even come to the appointment? You knew I was going to be able to walk at the end.”

“It was… sort of my fault you got injured in the first place,” Phoenix said sheepishly, “I thought I should be there. And I know how you feel about trusting strangers. But I guess… that doesn’t apply to Viney anymore?”

“Viney is now an acquaintance,” Dagger said shortly, “One that I, in fact, trust and wish to be around more than I do you. This discussion is over.”

“I just thought it was n—”

“Over.”

Xxx

Caleb plunked a blue scroll on the kitchen table, unrolling it with a flourish. It nearly knocked over Darius’ coffee, but he lifted the cup just in time.

“I’ve always wanted to do that,” Caleb said with a grin.

“Dreams do come true,” Evelyn laughed, “Everyone—look. We’ve been working on plans for the new house. Novus has been helping, so he’s seen them, but we wanted to share the plans before we made any final decisions.”

“Now that we have an actual count on how many people will be living with us and aren’t periodically adding on rooms, we’ve actually got a real house design,” Caleb continued, “What do you think?”

Phoenix examined the paper, lifting Ghost up so that they could see. The plans did seem more orderly—two stories up with both floors relatively even in size, instead of a sprawling, chaotic bottom floor and a few add-on rooms up top where necessary.

Mole tapped the yard area with a frown.

“He’s right,” Jason piped up, “The fence is too close to the house. The garden will be smaller, unless we get rid of the griffin pen.”

Caleb and Evelyn glanced at each other. “That’s… the other thing we wanted to talk to you about,” Caleb said slowly.

Evelyn took his hand. “We don’t have to hide anymore,” she said lightly, “And with a portal to the human realm, well… we can get some of the foods Caleb needs more easily. The garden isn’t going to be as big because we… we thought we might move closer to town.”

“They’re rebuilding, too,” Caleb added hastily, “If there’s a time to bring our home closer, it’s now. The move will mean better access to food, more healers, help if we need it—we don’t have to be right dead center of the town, but we think it’s a good idea to be a little closer to the people.” He squeezed Evelyn’s hand. “We’ve been isolated long enough. I fell in love with the people of the Isles as much as the Isles itself; I’d like to be near them again.”

“What about hunting demons?” Horus protested, “We can’t get food if we’re not close to the forest.”

“We can live closer to the outskirts,” Caleb promised, “And like we said—now that we can rely on other people, we won’t have to worry as much about food.”

“There’s always bounties for bigger demons,” Evelyn offered, “You don’t have to give it up completely.”

“I don’t like it.”

Silver’s declaration came clear, ringing with distaste, but they quailed underneath the sudden attention as everyone turned towards them.

“I mean—” they stuttered, “I just—uh—never mind.”

“It’s alright,” Caleb encouraged them, “Go ahead, no one’s angry.”

“It’s—it’s too close. There’s too many people. Even with all of us, if they get angry, we won’t be enough to stop them.” They rubbed their arms. “I think we should stay in the woods.”

It was the most Phoenix had ever heard them say without cracking a joke. Silver got along with others so well and was so openly friendly, it was easy to forget the way they crumpled inside of a crowd. But Phoenix remembered how they’d shut down when the coven day parade had turned ugly, and remembered the way they’d nearly died. No wonder they were nervous about moving closer to town and revealing their presence.

“What if we just moved to the edge of the woods?” Phoenix suggested.

All eyes swung towards him, and Silver perceptibly sank in relief. Phoenix shrugged.

“I won’t pretend moving closer to people isn’t appealing,” he admitted, glancing over at Darius, “Even just in the months I’ve been here, we’ve had several emergencies that wouldn’t have been as dire if we weren’t so far from civilization.” He shifted Ghost to his other hip. “And I think Ghost should get the chance to be around witchlings their own age, or we’ll just be repeating history.

But… I think maybe we need to take it slower than moving right to their doors.” He cast an apologetic glance at Caleb. “We have been isolated for a while—I’m not sure launching right back into the thick of society is a good plan. If we move just to the edge of the woods, we’ll be within easy walking distance of town, but far enough away that it won’t be too hard to get used to. I think,” he amended, looking to Silver.

They shrugged.

“I’m okay with that,” Horus agreed.

“The griffins will like having more space, too,” Joseph added, “I know you won’t rely as heavily on their eggs with access to the human realm, but they can’t go out into the wild. And griffin chicks as pets are still a good source of income, especially if you’re planning to rely more heavily on resources from town.”

Caleb smiled, a somewhat tight smile, but still genuine. “Well, this is why we thought we’d get opinions before making a decision,” he said cheerfully, “We’ll reconsider. Thanks, guys.”

Grimwalkers filed out of the kitchen, Caleb and Evelyn following suit after rolling up their plans. Only Darius, Phoenix, and Ghost remained in the kitchen.

“You know, you could always stay with me,” Darius said casually. A little too casually—he stared at his coffee like looking at Phoenix would seem too desperate. “Especially if you’re looking to send the little one to school.” He nodded to Ghost. “I’m closer to Hexside. And if you want to stay near people…”

Phoenix shook his head. “I couldn’t separate Ghost from the rest of the family.” Ghost babbled in agreement.

“You’re their family, too. They wouldn’t be completely separated.” Darius’ fingers tightened on his mug. “What’s the alternative? You move far away? I mean, you in particular, you’re trying out Eda’s elixirs to manage your curse, and you and I had plans to figure out how to use it more beneficially. Wouldn’t it make sense to stay here? With me?”

“Oh—” Phoenix sighed. “Darius—”

“Don’t.” Darius raised a hand. “You’ll go with them. I know that.” A sad, brief smile lifted the corners of his mouth. “I don’t suppose there’s anything I can say that will change your mind?”

“I’ll visit plenty,” Phoenix promised, “We really won’t be that far, and if we’re closer to town, I can catch transportation to Bonesborough easy. It’s not—I don’t—you’re not—”

Darius shook his head. “It’s fine.” He smiled another one of those sad, small smiles. “I suppose I never really had to share you before, did I? I mean, you were always off on some mission or another, or guarding Belos, but… well, it’s different now, isn’t it?”

“I don’t care about them more than I care about you,” Phoenix told him bluntly, “It’s not that I don’t want to spend time with you, or that I prefer being around them to being around you. But…” he gestured back. “…they’re home now, in a way the keep never was, and in a way it would have been unfair to ask you to be back then. It’s… it’s hard to explain, but it wouldn’t feel right if I stayed with anyone but them.”

Darius looked away. “Of course. Stay with whomever you feel is right.”

He stalked off, and Phoenix heaved a sigh, setting Ghost down and rubbing his temples. “I’m making a mess of things, aren’t I?” he asked the toddler.

They nodded serenely and patted his knee. “Home,” they told him seriously, “Nee-Nee home.”

“I’m trying, buddy.” Phoenix caught sight of Chryses through the window, and he grabbed his crutches, swinging towards the door. “What is he…?”

Getting Cherry or Jason or literally anyone who was capable of walking right now probably would have been the better option. But Phoenix had been stuck inside for too long while everyone insisted that he rest, and this seemed like the perfect excuse to go out.

Chryses didn’t prove hard to catch up with. He moved slowly, and he kept pausing to peer around corners. Phoenix cleared his throat as he approached, but still, Chryses flinched.

“I’m just looking for Silver,” he said softly, “They disappeared after the house thing. I can’t find them inside.”

“I’ll help.”

The ghost of a smile crossed Chryses’ face. “I’m not completely fragile, you know. And I’m not sure you’re in any state to be helping, anyway.”

“Well, I don’t want to be treated like I’m fragile, either,” Phoenix shot back, “Besides, I think Darius is mad at me.”

“For staying with us?”

“More like for not staying with him.”

“Ah.”

Chryses and Phoenix wandered through Bonesborough, occasionally stopping to ask if anyone had seen Silver. Every time, they were met with head shakes and sympathetic ‘I’m sure they’ll turn up’s.

“I haven’t seen them.” The latest witch glanced behind Phoenix. “Ah—you might want to slow down. Your kid is having trouble keeping up.”

Phoenix blinked. “My kid?”

“Is that little one not yours?”

Phoenix clumsily turned around to see Ghost padding up the street towards them, huffing and puffing. They finally caught up with a dramatic sigh, reaching up towards Phoenix.

“You’re not supposed to be out here!” Phoenix exclaimed, dropping his crutches to crouch down next to them, “How long have you been following?”

“Oh—hey!”

A demon stopped and backpedaled, pointing at Phoenix and Chryses. “Are you looking for another witch like you? About yay high, braid?”

“Yes!” Chryses answered quickly, “You’ve seen them?”

“On the next transport worm to the third rib.”

“Silver,” Phoenix groaned.

Chryses scooped Ghost up. “We know where they’re going now. We can catch them. No need to rush. Should we take Ghost home first?”

Phoenix picked his crutches up and slowly rose to his feet. “No, we might miss Silver if they decide to come back soon. We should go after them.”

Chryses nodded, and Phoenix led the way towards the transport worm station—or, at least, where it should be, if they hadn’t rearranged the whole system since he’d disappeared.

Chryses hummed. “It’s nice to finally be walking with someone at my pace,” he told Phoenix, “I know it’s just because of your broken ankle and the baby, but… I’m glad I’m not struggling to keep up for once.”

Phoenix blinked. “Does that happen often?”

Chryses shrugged as best he could around the toddler in his arms. “No one ever means to leave me behind. But it’s easy to do.”

“I’m sorry.”

They plodded on in silence, climbing onto the transport worm. A few riders gave Ghost a worried look, or an openly-hostile stink-eye, but one glare from Phoenix sent them staring determinedly out the windows. Phoenix sat down with a whoosh, stretching out his injured leg with a sigh. The braces on his arms clicked gently with the movement.

Chryses plopped down next to him. “How long has it been hurting? The curse, I mean.”

“Oh.” Phoenix rubbed his wrists and popped his knuckles. “A while, I guess. I’ve just sort of gotten used to my arms always hurting a bit. The leg and the strain of the crutches don’t help, though. How did you know?”

“You’re not the only one with old wounds that hurt.” Chryses pressed one arm against his chest. “I hope we find Silver soon.”

The town remained a wreck—Belos’ shaking had caused walls to crumble, and graffiti still marred the buildings that did stand. But the woods hadn’t changed a bit. Aside from the occasional uprooted tree, there was no evidence whatsoever that the apocalypse had nearly happened.

Phoenix had SEEN their home destroyed. He’d seen it fall beneath the flick of the Collector’s finger. He’d come back again to fight Belos. But somehow, without a lurking threat, the wreckage seemed… sadder. Rubble had been shifted and moved, organized and cleared away so that the others could reclaim their belongings, but knowing that they wouldn’t be rebuilding and were abandoning the site altogether made the piles of stone and wood feel lonelier.

Chryses let Ghost down, pointing silently. Ghost toddled off, moving chunks of rubble with heavy little grunts, and digging in the dirt with their bare hands, singing a song only they knew the words to. Phoenix followed Chryses’ finger to Silver, who perched forlornly on a ruined chair, resting their chin on their knees.

“You didn’t have to follow me. I was going to go back.”

“I know,” Chryses replied softly, “Are you okay?”

“Just wanted to say goodbye.” Silver stood up, brushed themselves off, and waved. “Bye, ruins! Sorry that you two came all the way out here for me. In the immortal words of vegetables everywhere: lettuce leaf now.”

Chryses didn’t move from his spot, even when Silver passed him. “Silver.”

Silver’s shoulders trembled, but they stopped in their tracks. “What do you want me to say?”

“The truth.”

“Are you sure about that? Both of you?”

“I’m sure,” Chryses told him. Phoenix nodded.

Silver took a deep breath. “I don’t want to be that close to that many people. Phoenix, don’t get me wrong, I’m glad you got us pushed back closer to the woods, but even just that many people knowing we’re out there… I know there are benefits, I was listening to Dad, but it’s dangerous. It’s too risky. What if they find out we used to be golden guards and they want revenge? What if they all hate grimwalkers and they figure out what we are? What if they just don’t like outsiders? We’re safer in hiding. None of them can get angry at us if they don’t know where we are.”

“The cat’s out of the bag already,” Phoenix said quietly, “We’ve been living at Darius’ house for a couple of weeks now, and people have seen us. Caleb might have been able to sneak one grimwalker at a time, but moving all of us is going to be impossible not to notice.”

“Town isn’t that bad, is it?” Chryses asked, “I’ve never been, but surely the people aren’t—”

“You weren’t there!” Silver flinched at their own outburst. “Sorry. Sorry, but Chryses, you weren’t there. Phoenix, you remember how it was—they turned so fast. Maybe they’re not bad all the time, but they’re quick to form a mob.”

“That’s true,” Phoenix said slowly, trying to give himself the time to think of a rebuttal, “They could turn on us. But the last time that happened, you were able to redirect them pretty easily. We all escaped, and no one got hurt. And that was when there were only four of us—you, me, Dad, and Cyrus. How much easier do you think it will be if all of us are together?”

“They’ll know where we live. There won’t be anywhere to escape to.” Silver hugged themselves tightly. “I’m scared. And I don’t think I can joke it away this time.”

“I’m not sure I want life to change either,” Chryses admitted, “I was hurting already; it’s terrifying to think about how it could get worse.” He took a deep breath. “But what if life gets better? What if Ghost can grow up like a normal kid, something we never had? What if we can find a healer that will be able to stop Steven’s seizures? What if Darius and the owl lady really do have a solution for Phoenix’s curse? What if—if one of the townspeople becomes your best friend?”

“It’s going to be a hard step,” Phoenix agreed, “but we have to take it. We’ll figure out the change. We’ll keep compromising until we can all find somewhere comfortable. But we will make it. All of us.”

Compromise.

And just like that, Phoenix knew what we had to say to Darius.

“We’ll make it,” Silver echoed, “Maybe… maybe we could still build something out here. A safe house, in case home is compromised. Just in case. But stay near town.”

“We could at least ask Novus to add a secret room to the plans,” Chryses added, “Somewhere to hide out.”

“Box.”

All three grimwalkers twisted to look at Ghost, who proudly presented a filthy stone cube to Phoenix. An eye marked the surface, and a crack ran around the edge—the lid. Phoenix took the cube from Ghost—he’d never seen it before, but it looked important. Maybe Evelyn or Caleb would know what it was. “Thanks, buddy.”

“Wecom.” Ghost pointed to the trees. “All done. Home now?”

Silver crouched down next to them, “What about home here? Do you remember home here?”

Ghost eyed the rubble distastefully. “Home now,” they repeated, pointing firmly at the path, “Bye.”

They tugged on Phoenix’s crutch, and he shrugged apologetically. “I guess I better take them back to Darius’ house.”

Silver stood in a daze. “I guess so.” They smiled wanly. “Thanks for coming out here to find me. I think… I think you’re right. I think we’re taking steps in the right direction. Small steps.” Silver ruffled Ghost’s hair with a bigger grin, one that looked much more like them. “Perhaps even one could say… baby steps.”

Phoenix groaned, but a laugh burst out of Chryses’ throat. Silver’s head whipped around, a delighted grin plastered across their face.

“I got you?!”

“That was terrible.”

“But you laughed.”

“But I laughed.”

On the ride home, Phoenix idly pulled out his Penstagram scroll.

16 messages.

“Oh, titan.”

The most recent message was from Hunter, and was filled with so many misspellings and random capitalizations, Phoenix didn’t even try to read it. He handed it to Silver, who squinted at the screen, mouthing silently to themselves.

“He says that Darius says to check your messages. I think.”

Phoenix hissed, opening the other 15 messages. They’d been sent within minutes of each other, one at a time. Most of the first few were short, only a few words, but they got longer as time went on, before switching back to short messages.

Where are you?

Did you leave the house?

Are you in town?

Phoenix, where did you go?

Let me know where you went—Eda says you’re not with her.

Are you okay? Did something happen?

Phoenix, are you in danger? Where are you?

Why aren’t you answering?

Caleb says to ask if Ghost is with you. He and Evelyn are worried.

They just did a head count, and they want to know if you’re with Silver and Chryses as well.

Phoenix, I swear to titan, you better not have disappeared again.

Do not make me call Eberwolf to track you down. He’ll make fun of me.

Phoenix, can you answer?

Please tell me you’re alright

Please come back to us

Sick sadness settled in the pit of Phoenix’s stomach, and his arms shifted sluggishly in response. He hadn’t meant to be gone long enough to worry Darius—he’d just been chasing after Chryses and had forgotten to tell anyone where he was going. He leaned back against the transport worm, closing his eyes. The walk to the house and back had left a deep weariness settled in his bones. Phoenix had chalked up his recent exhaustion to how fast everything had moved since he’d run from the Collector, but he’d had plenty of rest and good food now that they’d finally come to a stop. Still, it took so much energy to do things now, and he wondered if it was extra strain from the crutches, or the curse. Maybe some combination of the two.

The worm came to a stop in Bonesborough, and Phoenix hurried back to Darius’ house. Darius paced back and forth outside, his shoulders sagging in relief when he caught sight of Phoenix.

“Don’t disappear on me like that again,” he scolded, “I thought you’d—you’d—”

“Belos is gone,” Phoenix reminded him gently.

“The curse isn’t! You can’t tell me about the time you eloped to the woods half wild in the middle of a boiling rainstorm and then expect me not to worry when you disappear!”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t think I’d be gone that long.” Phoenix caught Darius’ arms. “Look—Darius. I’m okay. I’m okay. I’m still here—look, I’m still here.”

“You’re still here,” Darius repeated. “Hunter—Phoenix. Please don’t leave again.”

He wasn’t just talking about today.

“Change is terrifying,” Phoenix said softly, “I know you’re afraid we’ll drift apart. I know you want to keep me close so that nothing bad will happen again.”

“The last few times I’ve let you out of my sight, you’ve nearly been killed. Is it so bad I want you to stay here?”

“They’re my family.” Phoenix squeezed Darius’ shoulders. “But so are you. I want to stay close—so how about a compromise.”

“A compromise?”

“Share. Once the house is built, I’m going to live with Caleb and Evelyn.”

Darius’ ears drooped, and Phoenix gave him a small shake.

“Hey, I’m not done. I’m going to live with Caleb and Evelyn on the weekdays. But I’ll stay with you on the weekends. And once Ghost is school age? I’ll take them to Hexside, and I’ll stop by every day. You’ll be absolutely sick of me.”

“Never,” Darius said fiercely, “That could never happen.”

“Joking aside… would that be okay? I know it isn’t exactly what you wanted, but it’s the best I can think of.”

“I think I can live with that.” Darius gave Phoenix a small smile. “Thank you.”

Phoenix hugged him, and Darius froze for a second, before patting him awkwardly on the back. “I don’t know if I’ll ever get used to you being so affectionate.”

Phoenix pulled back. “Sorry. Should have asked.” He pulled back. “Do you know where Caleb is? I should probably let him know we’re all back.”

“Likely pacing indoors. I think Evelyn was about ready to create another scrying spell.”

Phoenix winced. The moment the five of them walked indoors, Evelyn scooped Ghost up, plastering kisses all over their face.

“Don’t ever do that again,” she scolded them, and turned a stink-eye on Phoenix. “Some heads-up that you’d taken the toddler with you would have been nice. You’re old enough that I trust you to take care of yourself. They’re not.”

“Sorry. I didn’t even realize they were following me.” Phoenix held out the stone cube that Ghost had unearthed. “Do you recognize this? They found it at the house.”

Evelyn took the box with a frown. “It’s not mine. And it’s not Caleb’s. Where did they find it?”

“Digging around, I suppose? They were…” Phoenix made a mental map of the house. “…where the kitchen used to be.”

“Hm. The kitchen isn’t an add-on—this box must have been buried underneath the original foundations of the house and gotten shaken up when the Collector destroyed everything.” Evelyn turned the box over in her hands. “It’s a puzzle, I think. I’ll throw it to Sam to solve. He’s been itching for something to do. Or Novus, if Sam can’t.” She shook her head. “It’s odd, though. I could have sworn we were the first people out there. The land seemed untouched when we made our home. No signs of civilization until you hit town.”

Phoenix frowned to match. “But if you, Caleb, and Achsah were the first people out there…who buried the box?”

[fandomsandflyingstingrays]

The world came back into focus agonizingly slowly. Eda blinked and blinked again, trying to resolve the shapeless blurs before her eyes into something solid— only, even after the world was clear again, it still didn’t make any sense.

Before her was a mass of twisted metal, a barred window that had been broken open, framing Lilith, drawn and worried, King, now outfitted in a white-and-purple robe speckled with stars, and a long, shadowy hallway behind them. Half a dozen empty bottles of elixir were littered at their feet.

“Thank goodness,” Lilith gasped, hopping into the cage to hug Eda tightly. “That was my last one!”

Eda’s arm reached up unconsciously to pat her sister’s back as she tried to think through her confusion. “What— Lily? I thought that strange child turned you into some kind of puppet.”

Lilith pulled back, biting her lip. “He did. But King made a deal with him to set me free.”

Eda shifted her gaze from her sister to her son, who was looking down at his feet. “That kid… that’s the Collector, isn’t he?”

He nodded.

“King. What did you do?”

Finally, King lifted his head. “It… it seemed like he just wanted a friend. I told him I would play with him if he stopped the draining spell. I didn’t know he’d do any of this.”

“Of course you didn’t.” Eda stepped through the bars, kneeling down to embrace him. “You saved all our skins by stopping the draining spell, King. That’s what matters.”

“Most of our skins, at least. Edalyn, what in the world happened to your arm? Did it disintegrate?”

Eda let go of King, running her fingers down the stump. “Yes and no. Raine ripped it off to disconnect me from my sigil and save me from the spell. The arm disintegrated as soon as they did.”

Lilith’s eyes widened, and she whirled around. “You what?” She asked the empty air.

Eda blinked, slowly lowering her gaze to King. “Has she finally cracked under the pressure?”

“No. It’s… well… I should just show you.”

King stood and Eda followed him over to a line of what he had thought were just shadows… which resolved into shapes… which resolved into more puppets. Adrian, Darius, Eberwolf… and…

“Raine.” Eda’s hand flew to her mouth. “Oh no.”

“They tried to get you to calm down after you turned into the owl beast, but they got hit. I’m so sorry, I wasn’t able to convince the Collector to set them free. The only way I could convince him not to turn you into a puppet was to say you were stuck as the Owl Beast. They insisted on posting the coven heads as guards.”

With difficulty, Eda tore her eyes away from Raine. “But how did you convince him to free Lilith?”

“I said the Owl Beast would need someone to take care of it full-time, and that it couldn’t be me if I was going to have time to play with him.” King sighed. “Speaking of which… I should probably get back to him. He can’t find out that you’re healed or he’ll turn you and Lilith into puppets, too. I need to distract him while you escape.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa. I’m not going anywhere without you.”

“You have to. If I leave the Collector, no one on the Isles will be safe. You and Lilith have to go free so that you can figure out a way to beat them.”

Eda shook her head. “I’m not going anywhere without you and Luz. Where is she? Does the Collector have her puppet somewhere?”

King’s face fell, and the terror that sliced through Eda made her stagger. “No,” she gasped, “she’s not—“

“She’s okay!” King promised quickly. “She’s just… in the human realm. With Willow, Gus, Amity, and Hunter. They escaped through the portal door right before the Collector broke it apart.”

Relief was the first thing to course through Eda— with a throbbing, heavy pain a close second. The human realm. So Luz had finally made it back to where she belonged. And the door was broken. That was it. Luz the human had returned to her real family. The bird had left the nest. 

Eda’s throat throbbed, the world before her eyes blurring again. She blinked rapidly. This is good, Eda. This is good. 

“Good,” she managed to choke out. “She’s safe.” She’s where she belongs, Eda wanted to add, but her mouth wouldn’t form the words.

“She’s safe,” King agreed. “And I want you to be, too. So you need to go.”

“Absolutely not. Being separate from Luz is bad enough.”

“Eda,” King begged, exasperated. She held her ground.

“Mom.”

Finally, her eyes met his.

“Go,” he said softly. “Please. I can’t fight back, but you can. Leave now so we can be together later.”

Everything in Eda wanted to protest again. What kind of mother left her son alone like this? What kind of fighter couldn’t even protect one person? But deep down, an awful part of her knew King was right. What could she do here? Fight Raine again, put Lilith and King in danger, all in the hopes of getting to the Collector and, what, attacking them? How had that worked out for her the first time?

“Okay,” she rasped. Then, louder, “Okay.” She bent down to place her hands on King’s shoulders. “But if you need anything, you come find me, all right?”

“I’ll visit as often as I can,” he promised. 

“Good.” She pulled him in for a hug. “I love you.”

“I love you, too.” He pulled back, wiping his eyes. “The Collector will be looking for me. I need to go.”

“I’ll see you soon,” Eda said, in a tone that allowed no argument.

“Soon,” King echoed. Eda watched him disappear down the shadowy hall, everything about him slumped, and fought the impulse to race after him with all the strength she had.

Lilith squeezed her shoulder. “We should get going too, Edalyn.”

“I know.” But as she turned back to the broken bars, her eyes caught on Raine once more. “Lily,” she asked, a hitch in her voice, “what does it feel like to be a puppet?”

“It’s… well, it’s—“ Eda turned a glare on her, silently warning her not to sugarcoat it, and Lilith’s shoulders slumped. “It’s not wonderful. You can’t see. You can hear, sometimes, but not always. The only time it’s guaranteed is when the Collector is commanding you.”

You can hear, sometimes. Driven by the words, Eda stepped forward, laying a hand on Raine’s cheek. It felt all wrong— smooth and hard and cold. Dead. Eda swallowed hard, sorting through the thousands of things she wanted to say. All of them years in the making. All of them inadequate. 

Finally, all she could get out was, “I’m so sorry, Rainestorm.”

I’m sorry for pushing you away. I’m sorry for letting you go that day in the woods. I’m sorry failed to protect you, again and again and again. I’m sorry I never found time to apologize properly.

They didn’t speak, didn’t react, but she heard their voice in her head anyway, and she smiled just slightly as she repeated the words. “But I’m not going to stop until I make things right. I promise.”

She stepped back, and to her surprise, Lilith stepped forwards, whacking Raine’s shoulder with her fist. 

“Lily!”

“That’s for ripping my sister’s arm off,” she said, then threw her arms around Raine and hugged them. “But thank you for keeping her safe.”

Eda swallowed again, frantically blinking back the tears that just wouldn’t leave her alone. “They’re good at that,” she whispered.

Lilith stepped back and wrapped an arm around Eda’s shoulders. “Come on. Let’s go figure out a way to return the favor.”

Taking a deep breath, Eda nodded, and turned back to the wide, open wall and the forest beyond, the bars between her prison and freedom twisted and broken in a fit of power she would never be able to remember. Silently, she thanked the owl beast as she stepped forwards, and the sisters crossed the threshold to freedom together. 

[httyddragonfox]

Hunter vs Luz's death/Flapjack vs the Titan

It's interesting that both Luz and Hunter had a death scene in the third season. Hunter's death was more a climax to his arc, while Luz's was more a climax to the main arc.

Both were pretty much killed by Belos, but in different ways, lead up, aftermath, etc....these two characters also get a lot of focus in the show.

First let's start with Hunter. Hunter is Belos' creation, in an attempt to have a version of Caleb he wants beside him. The relationship between them was extremely toxic. Belos saw him as a replacement of his brother and an extension of himself for Hunter's whole life. If Hunter didn't fit the mold, he would be killed. In a way, Belos is obsessed with the idea of Hunter. Hunter is his, like Caleb was his, they're not allowed to be their own people. Hunter finally escaped, and started to find himself in the human realm. Once they were near ready to return to the Demon Realm, Belos made his move and attempted to take possession of him again, this time through maximum force. In this attempt he tricks Hunter and Luz into finding the Titan's blood for him so he could use Hunter to return to the isles and kill everyone there. Hunter is his tool, as he always was. Using Hunter, he tries to kill all of the witches present, and then impales Flapjack out of petty spite. This makes Hunter furious enough to fight back, he resists Belos' control over him to thwart his plans and give him cold declaration of who he is and what he wants. In a way, Hunter attempts to kill Belos, firmly against him now. It doesn't work, and Belos is shocked, I tell you, shocked that Caleb would betray him like this. So flabbergasted, he leaves the group alone and continues to see Caleb's ghost haunt him for his deeds. Back to Hunter, he is dying because of what Belos did to him. Flapjack in turn, sacrifices what's left of his life to save him. Hunter inherits his magic in the process and his death forever sticks with the group.

What about Luz? Luz is just another Human, but because of this Belos respects her. He wants to get her on his side, proving he's right, so in a way it would prove Caleb wrong, and justify all his actions. Luz seems to strike chords with him, "You did it to him first" caused him to back off. When she was killed by Belos, it was an accident. He was aiming for the collector, but it doesn't really affect him when she dies, except now the pests are really going at it. The Titan sacrifices what's left of his life to stop Belos and revive Luz. After he's defeated, all he does is try to appeal to their humanity, doesn't even bring up his defeat or the fact he killed her. Also, when the fight is over the magic she inherited from the Titan goes away as the Titan finally passes on.

Some differences to note, Hunter and Belos had a more personal relationship so his death and fight against him would strike a harder chord with him. Luz was just another Human who happened to be in his way, so their conflict is more focused on evil vs good, instead of guardian vs child.

Flapjack was Hunter's best friend, who just wanted him to live never mind the outcome. The Titan wanted Belos defeated never mind the outcome. There's a difference there. Flapjack sacrificed himself so hunter could live, Hunter got his powers as a side effect. The Titan sacrificed his power so Luz could defeat Belos, Luz got to live again as a side effect. Flapjack would do anything for Hunter and would always be by his side. Relatively, the Titan just met Luz, and was only lending her his power. He wouldn't want to spend an indefinite amount of time with Luz, he'd rather pass on once the job was done. For Flapjack the job wouldn't be done until Hunter had lived his full life, thus staying with him.

Yes, the Titan's death did have a lasting impact, but mainly for Luz as she couldn't use glyphs anymore.

This shows us that Hunter vs Belos was a character driven climax, while Luz vs Belos was a Plot/World driven climax. As I learned, character driven climaxes have a lot of close up shots, and plot/world driven climaxes have a lot of faraway shots. The fight between Luz and Belos was Isles wide, so lot's of faraway shots. The fight between the hexsquad and possessed Hunter was in front of a graveyard, not even in the whole graveyard, so lot's of closeup shots.

Maybe that's why Hunter's death had a lot more umpth behind it, because it was a lot more personal of a confrontation. Luz's battle with Belos was amazing, but it was more a duty of the hero, and that has a more hands off approach, probably why the Titan and her didn't go too deep into backstories.

Everything in Hunter's possession and death had personal connotation with it, while with Luz's death while sad, she was just in the wrong place at the wrong time, and then the right place at the right time.

Thanks for coming to my TED talk!

[kintatsujo]

LoZ AU- The Courage of Running Away LABRYNNA EXPANDED (long post alert)

Let's start with a link to the original masterpost since this is plunked in the midst of Part Five of the OG plotting posts.

Labrynna was practically a footnote in the original CoRA plotting posts, it and Holodrum basically getting covered in one post.

But as I've noted since, it turned into its own storyline, and I got wrapped up in Politics, and fantasy politics are my fucking catnip so I have at this point gotten through two whole ass NaNos with it oh god.

Image descriptions will be in ALT this time around so theoretically the seventeen to twenty pictures in this post won't be quite so bad???

So where things pick up, Link has just left Windfish Isle on Uncle Torik's ferry with Marla and Tonbo and they're headed to Labrynna.

...I was going to post the map of Western Aurule here but that. I'm gonna put that in its own post. Here's a link to the map of Aurule proper as it currently stands.

And the first thing Link does, before they even get all the way to Labrynna, is piss off a pirate:

A lot of you are not going to look at the alt text so I'm going to say that he's based on a thorny devil and I did not mean for him to turn out so adorable. (But also I love lizards so maybe it was inevitable that my fondness would show through.)

Link was MOSTLY trying to get him to leave Crescent Island alone so he blows up the figurehead of Kragg's ship.

Which was of Kragg's wife.

Kragg is gonna show back up.

Link and Marla and Tonbo manage to escape to Jabu City, which is based on the fact that there's an OoT-style-Zora Village underwater off the coast in Oracle of Ages because this fic is nothing if not wild extrapolation.

Jabu City is a mixed-peoples city, with Zora, humans, Rito and some Gorons, but it's largely Zora.

Note on mister "Oh I'm in DANGER:" A running gag is that Marla is considered a very attractive Zora and Tonbo is having absolutely none of people hitting on her. Marla takes a lot of delight in this.

Have some more Jabu City fashion because I got carried away:

The trouble is, Jabu City is a beautiful place but the Zora there are generally kind of... hoity toidy high on themselves. There's a few crass comments made about Marla being from Windfish Isle, for example.

So Link, Marla and Tonbo don't spend especially long there and instead head north to the town of Brynna, where Link finds himself instead running into his mother's past-- stories of her adventures, but even more importantly into a traveling story collector who has a bit of a connection to Catena.

I want you all to know that hitting on the idea that the Graceful Gorons are called that because they're all Victorian era-style boxers was the single most inspired moment I've had in this AU setting's worldbuilding, my brain is enormous and I am sexy as hell XD

Anyways Allemande and Courante were Catena's friends for years, and then Catena died so Allemande started taking journeys around Aurule every few years so that he could collect stories about her and about adventurers like her. Think of him as being a bit like an earthier Kass without an accordion.

Allemande suggests that they go to Lynna City, Labrynna's capitol, partly because another one of Catena's old friends lives there now.

But on the way they run into Politics again (they've already run into these politics in Jabu but now it's even more in their face), because they have to cross the Kappakon River to get to Lynna City, and that means interacting with the Kappakon River Zora, who are quite a different deal from the coastal Zora:

What Enhir means when she says "what they're doing to us" is that the mayor of Symmetry City next to Dimitri Bridge is dumping garbage upstream of the nearest Domain, Nuun Domain, trying to get rid of them and mostly making their Patriarch and their tadpoles desperately ill. (I didn't include a sketch of the Nuun Domain Patriarch even though he does have a design because at the point I drew this I already knew this post was longer than most of the original posts for the AU, waagh)

Symmetry City is also where Link, Marla and Tonbo first meet Sturmaz, who essentially joins the party for pretty much the rest of the storyline because I love him and he's a good boy.

I made a post about Sturmaz before and it features a little more art that is absolutely him yelling at Symmetry City's mayor about this mess.

So it takes some yelling at the right people but eventually Link gets the Nuun Domain sorted out and they head to Lynna City to meet his mom's best friend, Githa, who actually lives here because she got banished from Hyrule for reasons that might be clear after the picture:

Notes on Githa: She was originally inspired by Agitha from TP as she appears in Hyrule Warriors with a bit of influence from Purah; for some reason when Invid and I were playing through HW Agitha being a secret criminal or mob boss turned into a running joke along with her NPC mode constantly clinging to giant bosses whenever it was absolutely inconvenient. That turned into Githa.

Also, she doesn't know Catena thought of her as her best friend, which is the real reason Link decides she's a disaster person.

The problem is, now they're in the Capitol and naturally there's more Politics there. For example, Sturmaz's uncle:

(Marla and Tonbo don't want to let Sturmaz or Link think that having shitty father figures is normal.)

And indeed, the stupid hat does come with the job, as Link discovers when he goes with Sturmaz and Nimbas to the Labrynna Senate:

So the idea behind Labrynna's government is that in CoRA's version of events, Labrynna abolished the monarchy after Queen Ambi because they weren't putting up with that shit again (the official line is that so much power is considered too much strain on one person.)

As is evidenced by the Presiding Lady still being a member of Ambi's bloodline and the senator of Brynna being her sister, however, nepotism is still alive and well in Labrynna.

Also Link gets a cute outfit so that he doesn't stand out so much in this crowd:

(It was an emergency situation I swear.)

To be clear this is a man's dress and Link's entire reaction to it is "I don't know how my father puts up with a floor length skirt." Fuck your gender roles.

Nimbas turns out to be more than a bit of a professional jerkass.

(By "river monsters," Nimbas means the Kappakon Zora. Just to be clear.)

Link also visits the Maku Tree, because you don't go to the capitol of either Labrynna or Holodrum and just not visit the Maku Tree.

I wanted the Maku Tree to have an equivalent to the Kokiri for a number of reasons but one of them is that over on the Ghirahim side of the story he's having a silent existential crisis about his backstory and I like narrative mirrors. *thumbs up*

Credit goes to Invid for the idea that the Koroks and Kokiri are actually just the same thing entirely and that the Kokiri put on the Korok masks in order to leave Korok Woods safely.

Also Kula is actually a canon Breath of the Wild character. I made a sound like I was greeting a cat when I found her in TotK. XD

Link finds out, among other things, that the Golden Kragg seems to still be pushing his way up the Kappakon despite that he has to fight every single river Zora on the way. It turns out that Kragg is upset about more than Link blowing up his ship's figurehead:

At some point several years before in Yoll Province, the local dragon went missing, the local lizalfos started acting up, and then the Labrynna Senate, partially spurred on by Senator Nimbas's arguments on behalf of Senator Aldo from Yollton, well, absolutely exterminated the Lizal presence in Yoll Province, and executed the lizalfos leader in Lynna City Square.

Leaving behind her husband, the Golden Kragg, and his lizalfos pirate crew.

So THAT'S not great.

Have a chonky dragon.

Obviously that means that Link has to investigate this shit.

Kragg is heading straight for Lynna City with full intent to carve a new statue of his wife out of the Maku Tree herself, and while the River King Izemaz, living in the Maku Domain, is absolutely going to step in if Kragg tries it, the main bridge Kragg would have to come through is a major marketplace in Lynna and Link can't stand idly by even if it means his destiny as a Called Hero is sort of chasing him around a little at this point.

Which means that Link and party take an express glider to Yoll because time is now of the essence (it is terrible that I didn't draw this. Imagine them sitting in one of those steampunk engine-less plane contraptions and getting launched from a catapult. Also Marla doing lots of screaming.)

Well, shit.

(Link can hear Gabbrosald's sickened godsong because of the pointed ears while Zora are just really sensitive to Things Being Wrong in the Environment. LORE.)

Anyways shit goes DOWN. They have to do a dungeon and everything. And finally, at the end of it, once they've freed the dragon in distress, Gabbrosald gives them a ride back up to Lynna City so they can stop the Golden Kragg from burning Maku Park and using the Maku Tree as carving base, because actually Lord Gabbrosald was rather fond of those lizalfos and would prefer that the Golden Kragg not get himself killed.

Now Link just needs to convince Senator Nimbas that killing the lizalfos that the furious local dragon god is fond of is maybe not the best idea.

[goldenbeastkeeper]

@witchnordemon

Quiet moments were rare, almost nonexistent, when Valor visited the Collector. Usually the Collector was talking a mile a minute, and when he wasn't, Valor was the one talking all about the Isles, his missions, and, especially, the beasts that called it their home. But right now? Now, for once, they were quiet, watching as a flock of flying snakes passed beneath them outside. Valor was kneeling at the window with his arms crossed on the sill and his head resting on them. He'd already spoken to the Collector all about their migration patterns and feeding habits and parental care and natural defenses, so for now he was content just to watch.

To watch, and to think.

There had been something . . . off about Valor in the past couple times he'd visited. Less excitable, more quiet . . . sadder? Dismissive of any questions about the missions he'd gone on since they last met. And today seemed even more so.

He'd never brought it up before. Never dared to vocally question his lord and uncle, the person that had raised him, the person that had given him everything, the person that hurt him whenever he took just a single step out of line. But the more he got outside on missions, the more encounters he had with witches and demons that weren't directly under Lord Belos' thumb - afraid, just as he was, to make a single slip lest retribution fall down upon them harshly - ones that were free to do their own things, whatever they wanted . . . then the more he found his staunch beliefs in their cause - in Belos' cause - starting to fade. Because "whatever they wanted" seemed to be . . . helping people. Being kind. Fixing up wounds and offering food and having fun. Being happy. Far happier than he'd seen anyone in the Lord's Coven. Far happier than he himself had ever been.

And he was so, so scared.

He was scared that he'd slipped too far. Scared that he'd been enchanted, that they were trying to lure him away, that the thing his uncle had always warned about was starting to happen to him. Scared that it was going to lead him to ruin.

But most of all? He was scared that it wasn't. That there was no enchantment, that this was just how witches and demons were when they didn't have the fear of an all powerful leader quashing them the moment they held any sort of defiance against his wishes. Because that meant they were nice. That meant they were good.

That meant he'd been branding perfectly innocent people for death for nothing other than existing.

It meant he'd dedicated his entire life to a horrible cause.

It meant he'd suffered and caused suffering for nothing.

And the kindness they'd shown was to him, yes, but it wasn't just to him. Far more often it was to their fellow witches and demons. And what reason would they have to enchant their own kind? They were supposed to all be in on it, right? They did it even when they didn't know he was there.

More than he'd like to admit, he found himself wishing he'd had a life as simple as theirs.

Valor's eyes slid over to look at the Collector. His first, and only, friend. He felt like that sometimes with them. Happy, unconcerned. Free.

How ironic. He felt most free in a room the Collector couldn't escape and under constant worry of Lord Belos or Philip returning and finding him there doing something he wasn't supposed to be doing.

He'd been too scared to broach the topic with them before. Too uncertain in these thoughts, too worried they'd tell on him. But . . . they'd made a pinky promise, right? They wouldn't tell Philip, and Lord Belos didn't know they even existed, so if they kept their promise then there was no way for it to get back to him.

But promises were so easily broken. He'd watched Lord Belos break several of them, after all. But the Collector had said pinky swears were . . . the extreme of the extreme kind of promise. They even had to do a physical gesture to complete it. He hadn't noticed anything at the time, but maybe there was some magical effect to it.

Regardless, he couldn't take it anymore. He couldn't take the guilt of branding people with a death sentence, of hunting down wild witches and dragging them back to the Conformatorium, of watching Lord Belos strike them down before his eyes.

He had to talk to someone about it. To either confirm or deny his thoughts. Anyone else in the coven despised him enough to out him to Lord Belos the moment he expressed any form of doubt, but the Collector . . . Maybe the Collector wouldn't.

So he took a chance. One that could either send him to certain doom, or . . . well, he didn't know what. But not that. Just give him someone to talk to about it, maybe.

He looked away from the shadowed form on the wall, casting his gaze once again towards the flying snakes below them. The flock had mostly passed by now. And, quietly, he asked, "Collector? What if . . . What if Lord Belos is wrong?"

[ammonitetheseaserpent]

Heeeey. Next chapter of TOTM is here. 👀

Tide of Tied Minds

Chapter 2: God-Children 101

Summary: Our rebels set out to stop the Day of Unity in its tracks, and King keeps a promise that has not been kept in a while.

Chapter Word Count: 1,401

Trigger Warnings: Out-of-body experience (again, just in case), character injury, character death, character near-death (strangulation)

Oohhh yeah, action is happening.

Here we gooo!

-

It’s been a while, but now he’s back.

With very inopportune timing.

The first tell: he and his current allies are on their way to stop Kikimora from unknowingly delivering his older sister and friend Luz into the hands of the feared Emperor Belos, right on the brink of the Day of Unity.

The second tell: he’s arrived right in the middle of a conversation.

“But- but you said - you said you’d let me out!” The Collector’s voice rings out, an irritated edge to it. “I hate it here!”

“Just a little longer,” a second, much more methodical voice states - Emperor Belos, King realizes with a jolt. “We have to wait till after the Draining Spell.”

“You better not be fibbin’,” the cosmic being mutters, voice dark with impatience. “You pinkie swore me.”

“Patience, Collector. You can trust me.” Belos soothes.

Ha! As if. King rolls his eyes - and lets slip a scoff.

At once, Belos is gone and the Collector whirls toward the source of the noise. “Who- wh… oh.”

The Collector falls into an awkward silence, glancing everywhere except directly at King. They don’t speak, but he can guess what they want to say.

I’m scared to admit this, but you might have been right.

-

Scenes and voices swirl as he drifts in and out of consciousness.

Alador holding back his own Abomatons.

Gus sitting right in front of him, expressing concern.

Willow and Amity kneeling before a limp, disheveled Eda.

The Collector’s presence and muffled voice poking the back of his mind, waiting there each time he blacks out.

A dimmed sky and a flock of friends on their staffs.

They’re all flying.

King blinks awake, wincing at the pain in his skull.

They’re flying toward the end of the line.

-

Gus edges his way around the carnage with King in his arms, before gently placing the young Titan under the safety of one of the palace’s pillars. “Buddy, it’s about to get real scary - you stay here,” he instructs.

“But- I can help!” King protests, reaching out to latch back onto Gus - before he’s knocked back by a sudden tremor.

“Gus!” Willow’s voice calls out above the clash.

“On it!” Gus calls back, rushing over to lend a hand. King stays back, doing what he can to keep himself from falling off the quaking ledge.

I have to help.

One way or another.

King closes his eyes, puts one paw on either side of his skull, and mentally cries out to the Collector with all the volume he can manage.

At once he feels a tug, a rush, as if a pair of hands are pulling him through space and time itself to bring him into another realm.

When King opens his eyes again, the Collector is curled slightly inward, arms crossed, one index finger tapping against the opposing arm - and looking at him with thinly veiled irritation.

“Fiiinaaalllyyyyyyyyyy!” the imprisoned entity bursts out, slumping forward dramatically. “Where were you? I tried calling and reaching and nothing worked and I could feel you right at the edge but you were barely there-” A loud, long sigh-growl escapes them. “I wish I could’ve dragged that big stupid foppish fibber in here, just to make something interesting happen.”

During their rant, King detects something… different about the Collector. His voice has a slight raw quality to it, and he seems more tired than usual - they suddenly look like a being who’s older than the Isles themselves.

“Are y- I mean, did… are you okay?”

“Noooo. You were right; he wasn’t gonna free me at all.” They narrow their eyes wearily. “What, do you wanna gloat? Or are you gonna break your promise, too?”

My promise.

Right. Back on track.

“No, I’m going to free you. I just have one thing to ask in return - please, if you can, help us stop the Draining Spell-“

This seems to perk them right back up. “Put a stop to Philip’s life’s work? Oooohhh-ho-hooo, yeeeessss. Consider it done.”

“Alright, um…” King fidgets. “How- how do I do this? Could I free you from here, or…?”

“You’re a Titan, King! It doesn’t really matter how exactly you do it.”

Well, in that case…

King allows himself to lift off the precipice, studying the cosmic bubble. “You might want to cover your ears - I’m not sure how this is gonna work.”

The Collector complies with a quick, nervous nod.

The young Titan pulls as much air into his lungs as he can, then-

“WEEEEEEEEEHHHHHH!”

He just barely sees the orb begin to distort, then crumble.

Everything in his field of vision dissolves into white.

…

Spots.

Fuzziness.

Headache.

His ears are ringing.

Wait… where are my ears?

He can barely make out his surroundings, save for two glowing orbs of green. He squints, trying to focus, and things do become clearer - a point at which he realizes the formerly human emperor of the Boiling Isles is prowling toward him, and the green dots are his eyes, boring into King.

Oh, no…

Belos lumbers closer and closer until he towers over his quarry.

King frantically tries to scramble away, but his head is spinning and his limbs are tripping each other up.

No, no, no-

The decrepit witch hunter speaks, in a slow, hissing voice that seems to reverberate through his entire form. “Titan…” he whispers, sending a chill up King’s spine. He sounds almost… giddy. “What a stroke of luck.”

One of Belos’s arms, a massive tentacle of muddy flesh, launches toward King and ensnares him. The tendrils coil tighter by the second until spots flash once more in the young Titan’s vision, contrasting with the two bright green spots that are the emperor’s eyes. His monstrous teeth bare in a menacing grin that gives King a sudden impression that he’s doomed, that he won’t get out of this, oh Titan, I’m gonna die, and everyone else is gonna die and it’s gonna be mY FAULT-

“Hey, King! You wanna see something cool?”

Before King can process what he’s just heard, a loud thud explodes right in front of him, and he’s jostled sharply out of Belos’s death grip. Once upon the floor, he lies there gasping for air, before managing to right himself and look around. The first thing he sees is a small figure in lavender and blue-violet pajamas standing over Belos, a tentacled arm in their grasp. There’s a massive gash trailing across the tyrant’s shoulder all the way to his torso, and he’s cowering before the smaller entity.

“Collector…” Belos rasps under his breath, voice hushed with fear.

The Collector simply smiles. “Hey there, pal!” He lowers the former human’s arm and peeks at him over it. “Stars above, am I happy to see you!”

“A-are you? Why so?”

“Well, see, I’ve got something I wanna show you all…” they gesture around the space with their free arm, “and I just couldn’t go through with it without giving you the best view!” With that, the mysterious child releases Belos’s arm, steps back, and strolls over to one of the Titan’s eyes to peer out of it.

Everyone waits with baited breath as the Collector scans the goings-on outside, leaning casually over the wall.

Finally, he gives a small noise of delight and stands up straight, then raises a finger and nudges the moon aside with blood-numbing ease.

Pure despair dawns in everyone’s faces under the sudden brightness of the uncovered sun.

Belos seems especially taken aback. “Y- a- you can’t-” he croaks out.

“Can’t what?” the Collector interrupts, the same light, playful grin on their face. “Stop the thing you’ve waited your whole entire life to do?” They give a little shrug. “You’re the one who threw me off a bridge. I’m just evening things out!” He steps closer to the bedraggled monster-human in a slow, leisurely manner. “You’re gonna break our promise just like that, and then bore us all with a spiel about how we have no business getting in the way of your plans?” The Collector raises a hand as if giving a “stop” gesture. “Pssssshhhhhhh, nah.”

The Collector punctuates his dismissive comment by swiping their hand forward - and swatting Belos on the forehead, causing the larger entity to rocket backward and splatter into a massive, muddy green stain above the door to his throne room.

Belos is gone.

[random-dragon-exe]

Ok but like, an AU where the hexsquad stays in the Boiling Isles and the Covenheads recover quickly, then go through the portal and into the human realm to escape the collector.

(For the sake of the AU to work, Eda was the one clever enough to remember her curse and she cut off her arm herself, then the Covenheads recovery was quicker and try to find a way to escape by going to higher ground. Terra and Adrian see the Portal and make a run for it and the others follow suit. Raine follows to say that they don't want to leave Eda and the others but Darius drags them with him to get to safety. Terra and Mason get greedy and knock the Hexsquad away from the portal. Luz and the others try to catch up but it's too late as the portal closes and ends.)

Think about it. It'll be played seriously as they try to find a way back. Of course, there'd also be some humor too about them being stuck in a different world.

Raine and Darius would share the single braincell trying to hold everyone together. Raine is the one who suggests that they lay low while trying to find a way back.

Then Raine gets the idea that they need to not only hide their ears, but also need to blend in with regular human clothes. (So naturally, they have to resort to stealing clothes ATLA style.)

They'll also have to do some small accommodations for Vitimir's legs, Hettie's horns (if they're horns it could be a headpiece we don't know) Terra's hair, Osran's extra hands, and Adrian has to just hide his tail with an illusion.

They also pass off Eberwolf as a type of feral wolf they keep as a pet.

They keep shelter at the portal house and Mason is the one to repair it up a bit to make it more livable. (Albeit, with Terra's floral but deadly touches as decoration/security)

Of course they don't get along, but they do their best to put it aside in order to find a way home and stop Belos. (Terra and the Covenheads that were previously loyal to Belos now just want to get some revenge for being manipulated the entire time.)

In terms of food, they resort to stealing food from markets via illusions and sneaking around since they have no idea how human currency works.

About the Rebus, Mason finds it while remodeling the interior one day, coincidentally around Halloween-time. (since it's Halloween they don't need to hide their ears and one tail, people will think it's a costume.)

They try to decipher the rebus but to no avail, so they have to resort to asking someone and of course they run into Masha and they help.

Darius notices the golden guard symbol again and Raine notices the statues of the Whittebane Brothers where one looks like Belos.

For a small break they decide to sit down and watch Masha's retelling of the "Brothers Whittebane". During the ride, Darius notices the bird that looks an awful lot like Hunter’s palisman.

It isn't until after that one by one they piece together that Belos came from the Human realm and was one of the brothers on the statue. (They don't know what happened to the other brother though.)

Then Darius notices something in the woods and goes after it. The others follow and see Belos possessed Darius and they fight him and manage to get him out of his body.

The try to fight him again to defeat him but it doesn't work. Darius is severely hurt so she stays back to heal him. (This time, while they're fighting Adrian manages to look inside Belos’s mind via a similar spell that doesn't need an amplifier.)

Belos manages to escape through the portal, and with Darius healed within time, they quickly go in through the portal.

I really liked this sudden idea I just had to share.

Also yes Darius is the equivalent to Hunter here because of his connection to the previous golden guard.

And Adrian is the equivalent to Gus in this scenario (in his own twisted way) because he has the magic to look into a person’s memories. (Then it'll come up as he pieces it together that Belos killed his brother and made him into a grimwalker.)

Then Darius has to face the fact that Hunter is a grimwalker as well as the previous Golden Guard.

What can I say except that I live for parallels?

I may do a part 2 of this for how the rest goes, who knows.

[kindestegg]

random question, but id love to hear any headcanons you've got regarding the Collector species! i know you have a lot to say about Colly, but what about the others? 👀

hmmmm bites down on this ask n shakes my head aorund like its my beloved toy YES YES YES!! thank u for asking.. i WAS JUST talking to my besties about this

(oops this got long... i promise i only wanted to say this in a very informal manner without much thought... ooops)

from the way the lore book is written, i'd like to infer that the collectors as a species highly value acquiring and mantaining knowledge, i sort of view them as very pompous, scholarly-like, they view themselves as above other creatures and therefore have decided the best way to spend their unusually long lifespan and use their insanely overpowered magic is to brave every corner of the universe (and dimensions, if the peeking book pages are anything to go by) to find new creatures to observe and study. collecting is the purpose they have chosen to give themselves, hence the species name.

the way that the archives seems to contain a large supply of books, along with the fact the book collector read seems ancient but fairly well preserved, and the fact collector himself is pretty intelligent when it comes to knowledge about spells and magic (considering he was able to prepare the draining spell for belos and claimed to have "taught (him) magic stronger than anybody's"), i think they definitely pride themselves in collecting knowledge as much as they do collecting creatures. "to preserve, to observe". in a natural manifestation, collectors would typically not just collect but observe the anatomy of these creatures, likely making notes on it. its like if biologists didnt just tag and release the animals they grabbed to study but instead instantly taxidemied them, or at least put them in a zoo for no good reason. but what im trying to get at is that theyre huge snooty nerds who study biology in suuuper unethical ways.

i also like to think that the archive house collector made is reminiscent of the same structures collectors in general would have, it makes sense hed try to mimic what he knows n has seen n its structure definitely looks pretty alien n also with a name like "the archive" it makes me think he pulled it straight out of the archives collectors would keep back in their home. im willing to bet a "collection room" was also a thing in said original archives collector is copying. i also doubt he is reading ALL those books and they seem like they contain info not from the isles so he definitely materialized those like he did that ancient lorebook, and it makes me think he just did that because he knows any good archive needs to have books.

on the whole part about "if they meddle in our affairs we fucking blow everything up lol", it seems, super brutal and overall an incredibly exaggerated reaction to have and counterproductive to preserving things and it makes me think that because they already see themselves as so self important and naturally powerful, they believe anything that dares defies them must not be worthy. collector culture i imagine is one of supremacy and high disregard for other living things. they see everything else that exists as something to just be conquered, to be observed, to be experimented with. if it tries to escape this fate, they will reign down their fury. in a way, it reminds me of how some religious figures are said to react with fury and extreme punishments if their authority is questioned. it also makes me think of how imperialistic powers react whenever their rule is met with resistance. also just plain old alien stories about abducting random people and animals to study them lol

moving onto something a little lighter, it fascinates me that collectors seem to have a concept of family. judging by how our collectors family is shown next to him, its likely that young collectors are made to accompany their parents on trips to visiting new worlds to observe and collect from from a young age, brought along to experience what it is like and told to follow whatever the adults are doing. like a fucked up "bring your own kid to work" type of deal. and if my theory with the elders is correct, then that also indicates they have higher hierarchical beings that watch over the general affairs of collector families, and help decide when a young one is ready to be assigned to go collect from a planet on their own. which tells us they DO have a hierarchy with figures of power calling the shots and ALSO that collectors start training from a young age and already can begin collecting on a planet of "their very own" (so to speak, we know they shouldnt own the planets but its how the species views the relationship).

collectors also?? maybe dont need to eat??? i know colly was joking when he asked king what mortals eat but it makes me think there is some truth to the fact that although colly knows what mortals eat and was messing with king, he STILL wouldnt eat in normal circumstances. which like, okay, but then they also sleep? so it makes me wonder if they acquire energy through other means (for example, plants photosynthetize, so i wonder if they absorb light around them or something) or if they simply are born with a certain quantity of energy they can use in their lifetime, and that will eventually dwindle once they grow older, yknow, like stars do! maybe the younger a collector is, the more powerful they are, yet when they near the end of their very long life, they have barely any power left. that could also explain why they are introduced to collecting from such a young age.

but like, they also sleep? collector seemed like he was genuinely sleepy and actually sleeping soundly in multiple shots?? so they still conserve energy in some way, even if they arent putting in more energy in their bodies. its possible sleep is important to them because it helps them keep track of time and also marks a break from periods of activity, letting them keep their supply of energy also for longer. to collector society, maybe sleep is really valued because it ensures they will live their long lives as long as possible. again, would also explain why his outfit looks like pajamas- maybe collectors are always wearing soft comfortable clothing that allows them to sleep in it as well as move around in it because to them being able to sleep at any time is valued.

i cant think of anything more at this current moment... but maybe ill think of something else later on!! might also compile these in a more eloquent post if people are interested lmao

[stanley578]

Sharing my thoughts on/recapping the events of Watching and Dreaming

Holy shit!!! Where the hell do I even begin?! What a fucking epic series finale!! Dana Terrace and her team went out with a bang and knocked it out of the park. It was an intense rollercoaster of emotions that got me on the edge of my seat.

I was right when I said Luz is living in a nightmare set up by the Collector, but thank goodness it didn't last long because she managed to escape it by using the light glyph. And it's also thanks to her good memory about the correct Good Witch Azura quote that she said to Amity back at the Covention. She eventually reunited with Eda and King at a giant Rubik's cube after using the light glyphs to get them out of their nightmares.

It got me worried when the Collector confirmed to Belos that King is a Titan and that Titan's magic cancels out the Collector's and further told him about the heart that's still beating. It unfortunately gave him the idea to possess the Titan's heart, a theory that has been floating around for several months and is now confirmed.

Luz, Eda, and King managed to beat the Collector's games, Pac-Man, marbles, and Jenga, resulting in him to give up and cry on a corner. As Luz tried to comfort the Collector, he told his story that made me sympathize with him and despise his siblings with every fibre of my being.

The Archivists basically pulled a Pink Diamond on him with "a game of hide-and-seek". They made him go to the Boiling Isles to see the baby Titans who were welcoming towards him. However, the Archivists were scared of the Titans' powers so they killed them and the Collector was wrongfully locked up in the in-between realm by Papa Titan. That made me believe that the Archivists set him up by having him face the consequences for something he didn't do. The Collector's feelings of loneliness, insecurity, and being misunderstood resonated with the trio and they decided to tell him their story of how they became friends.

Raine was no longer a puppet and struggled but managed to get rid of Belos off their body and did their absolute best to stop him from reaching the Titan's heart using their bard magic. However, with just a small amount of goop, Belos ended up merging with the heart and started corrupting the entire Boiling Isles.

In the archives, Puppet Amity got to carve the light glyph on the floor, turning her, Willow, Gus, and Hunter back to normal. All of them witnessed every citizen, including Camila, as puppets.

The trio took the Collector to the Grudgby arena and the Knee as they talked about their past adventures that made them grow into who they are now and taught him about real friendship. The Collector began to learn how wrong it is to force people to do things he wants, as well as the concept of kindness and forgiveness. That right there was the starting point of the Collector's character growth and I love it so much. The 4 of them heard rumbling and breathing as the Titan's eye lights up and they realized that it's Belos.

Can I just say how fucking magnificent Matthew Rhys delivered the line as Titan Belos? He definitely captured the evil embodiment and the sadistic nature of that manipulative motherfucker. The Collector flew up to Belos and used the lesson that he learned from the trio, but it obviously backfired. I'm so sorry, kid, but this ain't Steven Universe.

Luz protected the Collector from Belos's attack, causing her to be consumed by the mold and disintegrated into various balls of light. Eda and King were in complete shock to see Luz getting killed. The Collector was so desperate to bring Luz back, but it didn't work, causing him to learn the hard way that his powers can't revive mortals once they're dead. It took that serious loss for Eda and King to go into berserk mode with tears in their eyes and unleash attacks towards Belos.

The Hexside students and the Hex squad witnessed the balls of light floating up and it broke my heart to see puppet Camila crying as she sensed them, too.

In the in-between realm, Luz's soul was saved from drowning by none other than Papa Titan himself, voiced by Arin Hanson. She finally got to meet King's dad who has a glowing yellow left eye, a small Hooty on his right eye socket, wears a bathrobe, a Bad Girl Coven shirt, and glyph pajama bottoms. He was watching King all this time and those who have been kind to him. He also admitted that he imprisoned the Collector in a fit of blind rage while protecting the egg of King.

Papa Titan clarified that while Luz saving her loved ones comes from a genuine place, Belos only cares about himself, his goal to be a hero in his own delusion, and his fear of what he can't control. It brought me so much relief that Luz finally understood the difference between her and Belos. As Belos was about to have full control of the corpse, Papa Titan has decided to use what's left of his life to help Luz defeat Belos once and for all in return for being kind and helpful to King. He even relayed to Luz his message for King which would be revealed later.

Camila was brought back to normal by the Hex squad's light glyph, but they couldn't do magic to save everyone because they haven't had any rest for days, so Camila aided them by drawing glyphs so they can use glyph magic.

Back at the Boiling Isles, the Collector noticed that his hands were infected by the mold. He started to feel empathy, remorse, and grief, experiencing tears coming out of his eyes for the first time. As Belos was about to deliver the final blow, the Collector, Eda, and King were protected by a giant shield. It turns out that Luz has been revived with a badass-looking Titan/witch form. Overjoyed that they're reunited once again, Luz then used magic like a witch for the first and only time with the help of Eda and King to fight off the corruption. This was where the animation style became fluid which I absolutely adore.

The Collector made his way to the archive house to save everyone and used his powers to prevent it from falling. The trio rescued Raine, which made me so relieved that they're okay. Then they went to the Titan's heart where Belos is located. Luz used magic once more to make her way up to the heart and rip Belos out with all her strength. Raine, Eda, and King worked together to fight off the mold and Luz delivers a monologue inspired by her hyperfixation.

"Do not underestimate me, Belos. For I am the Good Witch Luz, child of the human realm, student of the demon realm, and warrior of peace. NOW EAT THIS, SUCKA!!!"

This scene right here is the most powerful shot I've ever seen in this series. Luz successfully removed Belos from the heart, undoing all of his moldy corruption that turned into ashes and faded away. The entire area of the isles remained unscathed, though the Titan's placement was adjusted as a result of Belos's possession.

Belos made one final attempt of manipulation by shapeshifting into Philip Shittybitch and trying to convince Luz that he "freed" her from the "curse" that "made him do all the horrible things". Luz did not buy any of his bullshit and suddenly, the boiling rain made him melt into the ground while Luz is immune from that. At that point, he still believed that witches are evil instead of admitting that he's the evil one.

Seeing Belos getting curbstomped by Eda, King, and Raine was extremely satisfying as fuck. Now that his reign of terror has ended for good, the Boiling Isles has become peaceful once again and wild magic is no longer outlawed. King finally saw his dad after his spirit exited Luz's body. King got to hear from Luz the message from his dad: "I loaf you". The trio laid on the grass as all their efforts to thwart Belos's plans have finally paid off.

Watching and Dreaming did something that Change Your Mind from Steven Universe failed to do. It is the fact that not everyone deserves forgiveness and kindness and not everyone can be reasoned with. I read that the criticism of the latter is how unrealistic it is to change everyone's minds. For someone like Belos who is an irredeemable and deluded lost cause filled with unreasonable hatred due to following an outdated and hateful ideology, it is only fair to have his existence completely annihilated as retribution for manipulating the populace with his lies, killing thousands of witches and demons, consuming palismen, attempting a mass murder, mortally wounding Flapjack, and being a complete threat to the Boiling Isles.

The Collector finally got everyone's approval after Amity reached out her hand to help him get up. Everyone reunited with their families after the Collector turned them back to normal. We got to see Amity's reunion with Alador, Gus's reunion with Perry, Willow's reunion with Gilbert and Harvey, the onscreen kiss between the latter two, and Hunter's reunion with Darius and Eberwolf.

I'd like to think that Odalia, Kikimora, Hettie, Mason, Osran, Vitimir, Terra, and Adrian get publicly cancelled by everyone for being accomplices of Belos and his attempted mass murder. Even after being turned back to normal, the 3 coven heads didn't change their ways as they attempted to take over the throne, but Darius and Eberwolf stopped them from doing so. They were like, "Hell no! Fuck off, you 3! We won't let you repeat history".

Back at the owl house, we got to see a second onscreen kiss between Luz and Amity, Camila finally meeting Eda, the Collector turning Hooty back to normal, and Lilith's reunion with Hooty. The Collector gave Francois back to King, but King gave it back to him as something to remember him by, hugging him and whispering, "I hope I see you again". It was a touching moment between them as the Collector finally found a real friend. The Collector decided to go back to the stars to do some growing up and soul searching. While Luz was saddened that the glyphs no longer work due to the passing of Papa Titan, she remained hopeful as it marked the beginning of a new chapter.

4 years later, Luz enrolled in all majors at the University of Wild Magic. We see photos of more adventures in the human realm pinned on the board, including the high school graduation photo of Luz and Vee, as well as a writing scholarship signed by Dana Terrace.

The old house is now owned by the Nocedas and has been completely renovated with a brand new portal that allows travel between realms. As Owlbert flies freely, the credits started to roll and we got to see the awesome timeskip designs of every character and the revelations of other characters in a democratic Boiling Isles.

Willow has short hair, a new pair of glasses, and an Emerald Entrails top.

A teenage Braxas is a healing and beast-keeping student.

Hunter, who is a Palisman carver, no longer has bags under his eyes as he's finally happy, he gets good amounts of sleep, and he has a blue jay palisman named Waffles.

A gravestone to commemorate Flapjack.

Lilith oversees the renovation of the Bonesborough Library and finally acquires a harpy form.

Amity has a badass ponytail.

Skara and Barcus are now teachers at Hexside.

Principal Bump has retired from Hexside and is now a gardener.

Alador has invented a machine and worked with healing witches to remove coven sigils which turned out to be successful.

Darius and Alador might be in a relationship, as hinted by Darius's blushing.

Raine sports white hair and has a fox palisman.

The Keeper of the Looking Glass Graveyard and Edric are professors of the University of Wild Magic.

Gus has dreadlocks and is in charge of an exchange program between the Demon and Human Realms.

Eda sports a pirate hook and is the headmaster of the University of Wild Magic.

King appears taller and his horns appear slightly longer.

Vee, Camila, and Luz arrived at the Boiling Isles and everyone surprised her with a King-ceañera as a way to make up for Luz's 15th, 16th, and 17th birthdays after she contributed to rebuilding the Isles for 3 years.

King has acquired the ability to empower glyph magic, albeit with a new language for Luz to learn. King brought Luz to the edge of a cliff as the Collector created a light show of shooting stars. Luz thanked Eda and King for their neverending support. As the light show is about to be over, Luz and everyone gave a one big "BYEEE!!!" to the sky and audience, bringing the series to an end.

To wrap up this long-ass blog, I would just like to say a huge thank you to Dana Terrace and her team for creating a show with a compelling narrative, character development, lore, worldbuilding, representation of neurodiversity, and most importantly, LGBTQ+ representation.

This show has changed a lot of lives with its subject matter that not a lot of cartoons have the courage to depict and it makes viewers feel seen, heard, and validated.

The entire voice cast did a spectacular job in bringing life to the characters that we love and hate. I wish them all the best in their future endeavours. 

It’s also thanks to The Owl House that I got to discover the following wonderful reactors on YouTube:

alyciadweeb

BFLReacts

Darqui

Director Nat

EdDaWiz

IAmZamber

Krystalogy Reacts

MikeyVenture

Morgan Terry

Not-So-Average-Fangirl

TheFlamingShark

thethirdbill

Wee Lass Reacts

ZachReacts

It is such a tremendous shame that we won’t get to see the origins of the Bat Queen, what happened to the palistrom seed that Dell gave to Eda, the sibling relationship between Matt and Steve, and many more storylines due to Disney’s cancellation of the show and their shortening of season 3.

Looking at the bright side, the wait for the series finale was totally worth it and I’m glad it ended on a satisfying note.

Titan bless you all! 💖🏳️‍🌈✌️

[gotmilk5101520]

For The Future Prediction

Well it's almost bee a week since Thanks To Them came out and destroyed our hearts. The next episode, For The Future, is coming in January so that gives us time to heal before Dana and the crew destroys us again.

During the last week I began to think what could happen in For The Future. And the more I thought of this possibility, the more it hurt me. That is why I'm making this post. I want it to hurt you as much as it hurts me.

So let's begin.

For The Future can begin with the last few minutes of Thanks To Them to remind us where we were (Let's be real it will happen)

Luz and everyone arrives at the Boiling Isles and to their shock, nothing has changed. Everything Is Fine and the residents are okay. Everything Is Fine (Sidenote has anyone read the Webcomic Everything Is Fine? I love it check it out on WebToons. Okay that's enough advertisement, back to The Owl House)

So Luz and everyone explores and are really surprised how Everything Is Fine. They decide to split up to find their families and figure out what happened to The Collector and King.

Okay I just thought of who will be with who.

Luz Amity and Camila.

Willow Gus and Hunter

But this is when they realize Everything Is Not Fine.

Willow and Gus find their families and Hunter looks at them smiling and everything. But they say something that they didn't expect.

"Who are you?"

Willow and Gus tries to remind them, but they fail and are hurt that they don't remember their own children. They even tell them they'll help find their real parents. Willow and Gus leaves them. Hurt and confused.

Hunter tries to give them comfort and tells them that there has to be someone that can explain what happened to them. They see Darius, and Hunter goes to him hoping he can explain everything. But Darius says the same thing.

"Who are you?"

Hunter tries to get Darius to remember, but fails. Then Hunter brings up Emperor Belos which Darius asks.

"Who is Belos?"

Meanwhile Luz and Camila are helping Amity find her dad and siblings. They decide to go to the mansion. However upon arrival they find the mansion is fine. They find Alador and Amity embraces him. But Alador just asks.

"Who are you?"

Amity is shocked and wonders if he's joking. But he isn't. Alador has no clue who Amity is. Amity tells him she's his daughter, but Alador states they only have two kids. Edric and Emira. There is no Amity Blight.

Odalia shows up and Amity angrily asks her what she did to her dad, which Odalia just asks Alador who the girl is. Amity is even more confused. The woman she once called her mom, doesn't know her.

They meet Edric and Emira, but even they don't know who Amity is. The twins shows their family pictures and to Luz and Amity's shock, Amity is not in any of them.

Everyone meets up and they explain what happened to them. They all go to Hexside, but none of the students or teachers know them. They go to Principal Bump and even he is unfamiliar with them. Luz decides to go to the one person that may explain everything. Eda.

They get to the Owl House and meet Hooty, who thinks they're intruders. Eda shows up and Luz hugs Eda, but to her horror, Eda asks the same thing as everyone else.

"Who are you?"

Luz tries everything to get Eda to remember her, but it fails. Then Luz tells Eda that they need to save King, which Eda responds with.

"Who is King?"

It's insane. Everyone has forgotten them, plus King and Belos. Or it's more like they all never existed in the first place.

The reason is because this is The Owl House. King is one of the players so everyone forgot about him. The Hexsqaud and Belos are forgotten because they escaped before the game began. Hence their memories being fine and why everyone acts like they never existed.

And that is my prediction to For The Future. The more I thought about it, the more painful it got. Could you imagine if this happened? Or I could be wrong and everyone are fine, they are hiding from the Collector, and Amity Willow and Gus will have a happy reunion with their families. You know. The Amphibia route. Oh, who am I kidding? This is Dana we're talking about. She will bring us nothing but pain. Look at Thanks To Them.

Let me know what you think. Reblog and leave a comment (Cause Likes are useless)

[sleepimimzi]

I think part of the reason why i never went far with any of my toh aus is that whenever it came to trying to write a relationship with belos and another character it always came out as something wildly OOC for him (belos). It was really hard to justify him having a good relationship with Luz or Luz forgiving him for his past actions and hard for me to write a friendship between the two humans because if they're gonna be friends forgiveness for what he did in the past and lying to Luz about it would have to be earned and it would be impossible to earn it.

Also kinda struggling with the massive mischaracterization that a portion of the fandom had of belos and how it kinda ruined the finale for me in a way. Like no Caleb wasn't going to appear, that much was obvious from the trailer and i don't think he should have because he wouldnt have done anything for Luz's, Eda's, or King's story. Id see alot of fans pull any argument as to why the Collector should have been dropped in order to get screen time for Caleb, someone who was essentially a plot (or narrative) device, instead the Collector someone who mirrored Luz in season 1. That's what TOH was about, a story about a group of ppl who think differently navigating the world together. Not to mention the takes about the crew, the production timeline and Dana were really fucking gross? Like yeah seeing Evelyn and Caleb woulda been cool had Disney not shot down the show but by the time EWEW passed and HM rolled around there would have been no reason for Luz to give a shit about Philip's past. Not only was belos an objectively terrible person because looking at what the show gave us there's reasons to believe that he woulda killed Caleb had the people Gravesfield decided he (Caleb) was a witch and when belos had his beliefs challenged by his brother and the isles he decided to double down and kill his brother. But he also hurt Eda and King the two people (barring her mom and dad) that Luz cared most about. Plus you also have the personal betrayal in EWEW.

This ramble kinda stems from an inner debate about whether or not im gonna delete the Eclipse Fam AU cause when i was doing that, i started to get a grasp on my art style and where i wanted it to go as well as helping with art milestones like overcoming sketchbook fear and upping drawing stamina. As for Isles Escape AU, i dunno, i understand there is a nurture aspect to who Philip would grow up to be and the what-if Caleb pulled him outta the fucked up environment of gravesfields was an interesting brainworm. Finally the Swap AU was half of what it was in title what if Philip was in Luz’s place but also i don’t want to turn any of the main cast into belos cause wholeheartedly fuck that guy, drawing longing hair on boy is fun and awesome but I can just make an oc, i have a story on the back burner the needs a lot more designs.

[animation-recaps-by-sean]

The Owl House For the Future Recap

The gang tries to navigate the Collector’s new playground while dealing with the fallout of their fight with Belos. Spoilers below. 

Cause even the shortened season couldn’t even go without some controversy, Canadian itunes leaked the whole episode two weeks ago. Urg, anyway, like last episode we pick up from the end of King’s Tide, except from the Boiling Isles point of view. The Collector rains down stairs turning people into puppets, including Lilith and Hooty. Oh Hooty, We hardly knew thee.

Once back in the Isles, Camilia has a hard time dealing with both what is normal for the demon realm and what the Collector is doing. But I love her little mom moments with Luz. Willow is trying to be everyone’s rock but this causes her to push down her own fears about her missing Dads. Her stress manifests as planets popping up until she nearly smooshes herself with vines. Hunter summons the magic inside him and talks her down and allows her to cry. It’s so sweet. And they hold pinkies. Oh my shipping heart, let them get together!

Meanwhile at Hexside, the kids have predictably fallen into chaos. Boscha is the puppet Queen of Kikimora whose big villain plan is.. Hide in a high school and pretend to be a teenager. Luz doesn’t see her as a threat. Camilia hitting Kiki face with the bat is fantastic!  

And Boscha, whose friends were some of the only teens taken by the collector, just wants Amity back as queen bee so she could get some kind of normal. But Amity just isn't that person anymore. But she can save her friends. I do find it hilarious that Boscha just wants to be the beta bitch to Amity's queen bee. In the end she redeems herself by leading the other kids against Kikimora, which was a pretty fitting end for her.

Without any palismans to eat, Belos is now falling apart. He sees the ghosts of Caleb and the other Hunters; it's about 50/50 between hallucinations and actual ghosts.

Odalia has escaped puppetification by working with the Collector and by working with, she’s basically a nanny. It is going better for her than Preston Northwest’s attempt to work for Bill Cipher. No Picasso face! I still wonder where Alador is.

Eda and Lilith are being kept safe from the Collector by King. They don't do much here but it's nice to see them.

Now to talk about the Collector. I know I'm in the minority on this, but I’m deeply disappointed that they’re going with a ‘wowowo whiddle baby who doesn’t understand the stuff they’re doing’ character. I really love the sinister build up The Collector had when they were introduced. The creepy cloak when they trapped the owl beast up to his excitement at the day of unity in Hollow’s Mind. But this feels like a very different character. I guess there are more sinister evil Collectors mentioned in the lore, and the Collector who trapped the Owl beast and the Grand Huntsman could be different Collectors. I don’t know, I just didn’t want the big bad to get Steven Universed. We still have Belos at least.  

I do feel like Luz’s Palisman was a cheat too. Oh, a snake shifter. Cool would be cool if I knew what the hell that was Luz. I did love how the palisman got hatched though. I love Luz’s little realization that she just wanted to be understood. And Luz calling her mom a secret nerd! So cute.

I continue to be impressed at the show's ability to organically fit in as much plot as it does. It helps that it was a very lean show to begin with, sneaking in plot and set up in even fillery episodes. As opposed to Steven Universe and Star vs the Forces of We Evil which loved to take many brothers with characters that don't back. Which is fine in theory but it left their finals rushed and awkward when they got cut short. I mean we still got one more episode but we don't have much left to cover. Just Collector/Titan lore (differently involving that gold guy Luz saw in the in-between), maybe some more Belos/Clawthrone history, final battle, and the resolution. There is the Bat Queen stuff but that hasn't been brought up since early season two and will most likely to kept in their back pocket in case of a revival.

Grips about the Collector aside, a wonderful part two. 3 ½ out of 4.

[g0blinwitch]

Winner Takes It All

Even after all's been said and done, there's still a small, ugly part of Hunter that misses his uncle

Ao3

Ever since the Boiling Isles became free of the blight that was Emperor Belos, Hunter could honestly say that life was pretty good(not that it was going particularly well a few years ago). He had an apprenticeship with Dell that was going great, living with Darius and Eberwolf was much less stressful than living in the Emperor’s Coven, plus his relationship with Willow had been doing good. All in all, Hunter should be happy…but there was this feeling in the back of his chest. One that he wished he could just crumple into a little ball and throw into the ocean. One that still missed his uncle.

Hunter still very much disliked Emperor Belos. It took years before he could even think of him without feeling sick to his stomach, and during the early phases of rebuilding the Boiling Isles, Hunter avoided any broken statues of his uncle like the Plague. Just making eye contact with them made his knees lock and his breathing quicken. He hated it, and he hated Belos. He tried to kill all of the Boiling Isles, he killed Flapjack. And yet, there was still a very ugly part of Hunter that wanted to see his uncle again.

When Hunter first heard the news from Luz that Belos was gone, this time for good, he nearly fainted in relief. He was pretty sure the only thing that kept him upright at that moment was the hug he got from Gus and Willow as they cheered in excitement. It wasn’t until later that Luz told him exactly what happened when they fought Emperor Belos, how the only reason they had the power to defeat him was because Luz died and met the Titan after The Collector’s failed attempt at forgiving Belos almost got him killed. How it got Luz killed. Hunter gave her a hug and ignored the part of him disappointed that The Collector’s plan didn’t work.

Hunter still has no clue what he would have done if Belos hadn’t died. Ended up alive but remorseful of all the harm he caused. All he knows is that he would only feel comfortable if they were on opposite ends of the Titan, and even then that would be too close for comfort. Sometimes after finishing carving a palisman, that ugly part of him wants to run up to his uncle to show him what he did, to see his eyes sparkle in approval. For him to gently put his hand on Hunter’s shoulder and say how proud of him he is. Waffles usually notices and pulls him out of his head when he starts thinking like that with a chirp and a gentle tug to his hair(once or twice now she’s had to fly over and get Dell’s help).

That ugly part of him is like an annoying roommate, one he can never quite shake. It used to be louder, when he first escaped the Emperor's Coven, demanding that he run back to his Uncle and beg for forgiveness. That his uncle wouldn’t really hurt him and Flapjack. That this was all one big, sick, misunderstanding. That ugly part of him quieted down significantly after Flapjack died. Where it once was like an erratic drum that pounded in his ears, it was now a sour violin note that occasionally teared through a once pleasant breeze. It was a cut that never quite healed, no matter how much he tried.

Once, Hunter had asked Amity if she ever missed her mom. She said no. He had sputtered out an apology for bringing it up and had begun to walk away when she said something else. That sometimes Emeira gets this look in her eye when she looks at a photo she keeps under her bed of Her, Edric, a baby Amity, and their parents together. That night as he lay awake in bed, Waffles snuggled next to him, Hunter wondered why his talk with Amity made him feel so relieved.

This was one of my shorter fics, so I figured I might as well upload it to Tumblr as well ya know? Hope you enjoyed reading!

[megadan94]

The way Luz was after logging in her video diary I can’t help but worry about her. The way she responded to how she’s “home” and feeling sorrow that her friends aren’t makes me realize how desperate she is to make a new portal so The Collector can be stopped. Luz might not go with them this time. Keeping her promise to Camilla to stay in the human realm while feeling responsible for Belos unleashing terror in the Boiling Isles. Luz might feel responsible for The Collector escaping to wreck havoc so she might be worried that going back will only make things worse again. If that happens I hope Camilla will set things straight. Her mom will realize just how happy Luz was with her friends and seeing her so miserable without them will convince her to convince Luz to go back the the Demon realm and help her friends. Camilla decided to not hold Luz to that hasty promise and allows her to go back. Do you think this scenario will happen?

It sounds worse than that, the way she talks about "setting things right" and how she only ever causes trouble makes her sound almost suicidal, like she doesn't want to exist anywhere.

I wonder if her plan involves trapping herself in the nowhere space, so that she can complete the portal at the cost of herself, or making some other sacrifice for the sake of "making things right", like in the season 2 premier, where she was willing to die for Eda.

She wouldn't talk about "setting things right" if she was just planning on staying home.

I think this will require everyone's help to set her back on the right path.