#and there is that moment when we see amity crying

[awakefor48hours]

I just had a horrible image of the destiel "I love you" meme but with Lumity and now I'm forcing you guys to think about it.

[the-thing-inside-your-closet]

Danny and Ellie are forced to flee Amity Park. And find themselves in Coast City.

I started writing this with the intention of only writing a short prompt, but then I just kept going until I felt like I’d written enough.

Danny gets caught up in yet another fight with Skulker, only this time it wasn’t because Skulker had come for Danny. No. He’d come for Ellie. And she was already weak from fleeing the GIW who had shot at her the moment she arrived in Amity Park.

Whether Skulker is after Ellie for Vlad, or because he wants her pelt can be up to you.

Either way, he manages to beat Skulker and captures him in the thermos. Just as he lets out a long sigh of relief he hears the sound of an ecto-gun being fired and then his side is burning and he’s falling. He’s falling too fast and it hurts and he can’t stop-

Danny guys the ground hard. His head is spinning, his skin feels like it’s burning, and he can hear the stomping of feet as someone runs towards him.

He needs to get up. He needs to get away. Find Ellie and make sure she’s safe. He’s needs to MOVE- but he can’t. Black spots for his vision as he manages to stand up and his eyes meet the end of his mother’s gun.

Before anyone can speak, he’s falling again, handing face first in the dirt. And the familiar feeling of de-transforming washes over him.

The last thing he hears before loosing consciousness is the grief stricken sound of his parent’s voice as three voices shout in unison.

“OH MY GOD DANNY!”

“DANNY ARE YOU OKAY?!”

“NO, GET AWAY FROM HIM!”

When Danny wakes up again, he’s in his room, the curtains are drawn but he can see the sliver of sunlight pouring in through the gap underneath. He notes that his body aches, but not as much as usual after a fight like that. And there’s a warmth enveloping his hand. It’s soothing, and he almost considers going back to sleep when he notices that there’s a ghost in the room. And all too fast he’s sitting up and staring into the exhausted, red, puffy eyes of his mother looking back at him from where she’s sitting holding his hand in hers.

Just behind her he sees Ellie floating just above the ground talking quietly with his dad.

“Danny,” his mother’s voice draws his attention along with Jack and Ellie’s. “How are you feeling, sweetheart? Are you in any pain?”

He didn’t notice when she’d helped him to lay back down again. “Do you need anything? Ellie here was just telling us about how regular pain medication doesn’t work as well for the two of you. But I’m sure we could find something for you that might-”

“Mom,” Danny rasps. Man his throat was dry.

As if reading him mind Ellie appears by his mother’s side holding out a glass of water with a straw in it. Maddie helps Danny to sit up a little more so he can drink.

“Mom,” he tries again, sounding better this time, “I’m okay. I promise. It’s not that bad!” He starts to lie as the panic sets in. He de-transformed in front of them. He knows he did. And the fear shows on his face, it must, because before he can even begin trying to think up an excuse his mother is crying.

“Oh Danny, it’s okay. We know. And we’re not angry at you. We love you. So much.”

And Danny’s heart swells at hearing it. “You don’t hate me for being Phantom?” He asks quietly.

“No! We could never hate you Dann-o!” His dad’s cheery tone doesn’t disguise the sadness and guilt etched into his face. “We’re just…so sorry that we never noticed before. And that we…” he can’t finish his sentence but he doesn’t need to. Danny already knows what he’s apologise for.

“I’m okay. I promise. I heal fast!” Danny tied to reassure them.

It seems to help a little, though his parents still have a grim look in their eyes. As they make connections in just how Danny would know that about himself.

And Ellie, with perfect timing to cut the tension, announces happily, “Danny! Good news! Your parents said I could stay with you!”

Ellie had told his parents while Danny was unconscious about being his clone. She saw how they fretted over Danny, cleaning and dressing his injuries with the love and care she only imagined from a parent that truly loves you. And they had accepted her almost right away. Jack even crying as he proudly declared himself a father of three.

Jack soon excused himself, saying he’ll go see if Jazz needs any help with cooking lunch. Danny and his mother share a look, and with a final kiss to his head says she’ll go make sure nothing gets brought back to life. And she asks Ellie to please make sure Danny stays in bed and rests.

Danny and Ellie are left alone in his room, and it gives Danny the chance to really revel in everything. His parents accept him. They love him, both sides of him. And they accepted Ellie too! And said she can stay! She doesn’t have to be alone anymore.

Now, a lot can happen in the span of a few seconds, let alone minutes. In the time it took for Maddie to reach the kitchen, their front door was kicked down and a group of GIW agents had stormed in demanding they hand over the ectoplasmic scum they were harbouring.

Jack and Maddie drew their weapons and planted themselves directly in front of the GIW agents. The agents state that a ghost shield was put up around the house to prevent any ghosts from escaping, and by law any ghosts within the premises were ti be handed over for destruction immediately. Jazz runs upstairs to Danny’s room to warn them that the GIW were inside the house and that they needed to run. They need to get to the portal NOW.

With all the authority of an older sister Jazz tells Ellie to grab the go bag Danny had insisted on having prepared, and picks Danny up despite his protests that he could walk. Or well, fly. Ellie turns them all invisible and intangible and takes them down to the lab.

They can hear the sound of shouting, and something breaking and a gun being fired all coming from upstairs as Jazz opens the portal for Danny and Ellie.

Another shot rings out. And then another, and more shouting.

“Quickly you two need to go!”

Another shot.

“Aren’t you coming with us?” Danny, now Phantom, asks suddenly as he and Ellie are preparing to enter the Ghost Zone.

Two more shots.

“Someone needs to be here to deactivate the portal in case the guys in white make it down here. I’ll be fine. Mom and dad will be okay, they’re not here for us so you two need to go. Now!” There’s banging on the lab’s door and Jazz shoves both Danny and Ellie into the portal. The last thing Danny hears before the portal closes behind them is another shot being fired.

Danny is scared and angry as he and Ellie are forced to fly through the zone with no currently known way to get back to his family. He needs to make sure they’re okay. He needs to protect them.

But right now Danny is still hurt, and he needs to get himself and Ellie somewhere safe. They begin to slowly make their way through the zone, looking for somewhere to rest and avoiding any ghosts that might want to pick a fight.

Ellie isn’t sure how long she and Danny have been moving for. It feels like it could have been days, or hours, or even minutes. But Danny can’t fly as quickly right now. He’s trying to keep a brave face for Ellie’s sake but she can see the exhaustion beginning to take hold of him.

So Ellie makes the executive decision to touch down somewhere to rest. She tells Danny she’s tired. Danny knows she isn’t and it’s only because she’s worried and wants him to rest. So he goes along with it and they make their way to the next floating island they come across and thank the ancients it’s empty. The two halfas touch down and Danny slumps over as he sits against a nearby rock. Ellie pulls out some energy bars that were tucked away in the go bag and hands one over to Danny.

They do this a few times, stopping to rest, as they gradually make their way to the Far Frozen. Ellie had insisted on going there, Frostbite would know what to do, and he would be able to help Danny with his injuries that had started bleeding again in all the commotion of escaping, and then flying and hiding from ghosts known to attack Danny regularly.

But unfortunately luck is not on their side yet again as a natural portal rips open directly in front of them, and closes behind them after spitting them out in a city they didn’t recognise.

That’s how Danny and Ellie find themselves in Coast City, hiding out in an old warehouse by the docs while Danny heals and they figure out how they’re going to get back home.

That is, until now.

Danny stares up at his little sister and sighs with the resigned tone of an exasperated older sibling.

“Ellie,” he takes a breath, “what did you do?”

“I’m my defence,” Ellie glares up at Green Lantern, who has Ellie scruffed by the back of her hoodie, before looking back at Danny, “I simply do not vibe with the law.”

[wylldebee]

I know we all cry talk about how Eda and King reacted to Luz dying or Camila's puppet crying when Luz's light balls pass by her. But can we also cry talk about Amity for a second? I'm talking about this brief scene right here:

This was instantly after Hunter says, 'What about Luz?'. Look at her. Look at this poor girl. She's about to burst out into tears. She would've, too, if it wasn't for Camila. I have zero doubt Amity knows something has happened to Luz. Something bad has happened to her girlfriend and she wasn't there to protect Luz or help her or anything. She's known the moment those balls of light fell from the sky.

Because balls of light? That's Luz. That's the light spell Luz first learned. That's the first glyph she showed Amity in Covention. That's been Luz since that moment in Covention where a mere human with no magic made magic happen by just using a pencil and a notepad. And I feel like Amity knew right then and there that something happened to Luz.

Titan, I wished we got to see Luz explaining what happened to Camila and her friends. Because none of you can tell me Amity wouldn't immediately burst into tears when she learns those balls of light were practically Luz's fucking soul and Amity didn't know but knew something was fucking wrong.

[witch128chick]

Oh man, oh boy. Do i have a LOT to say.

Clouds on the Horizon

This is so scary tbh

And that orange lighting in the episode, especially at the end was so eerie too. Foreshadowing smth deep and serious

Also it really is deep if you think about it. When everything is coloured in orange it happens during a sunset right? When the day ends. Here, smth is about to end too. Hope is getting lost, lives are in danger and everyone is scared of the dark. Basically it's as if we're waiting for night to hit when no one knows what will happen

"Stop talking to me" Kiki you were so real for that

GIRRRLLLLL

She has more power than she should. So glad her reign is coming to an end

Stringbean 🥺

All the guessings about Luz's palisman were sm fun!

This frame breaks me every time. Luz looks so sad and tired and all she wants is for her loved ones to be safe. She'll go save her girlfriend. And now she wants to make sure her owl mom will be safe too

Also the fairy lights really said 🎳

Friends!!!!!

Such a sweet moment 🥺

She was nervous to see her girlfriend and wanted to look her best for her. Bless her heart

Before i say anything. Gotta praise the voice acting here. Her voice breaking was so emotional and i was crying with her

Amity isn't asking for much. She wants to know if her girlfriend is safe and she wants to be heard. She knows the truth and wants to help people. She wants to do the right thing but she feels hopeless. And what helps her to cheer up? The thought of Luz.

"We can shout as loud as we want but money will always shout louder". Em you're soooo so right. Sadly.

Also. I can't not laugh at the fact that Ed is all roughed up while Em is perfectly fine after trying to burn the factory down. This just fits their dynamic sm. It ✨️makes sense✨️

Aaand here we have the sweet moment of reunion 🥺😭 this whole scene is extremely beautiful

Also this is my header here on tumblr 😌 truly an adorable Lumity moment

I'm not done yet! Give me a few minutes and i'll be back <3

[sepublic]

The Owl House Pilot Leak!!!

            Oh my titan.

            The Owl House’s original pilot episode (basically a bunch of voiced-over storyboards) just got leaked and OMT. Watching it felt like experiencing the original magic of the show all over again… Reminding me what it was like to fall in love the first time!!! The hype and rush, the excitement to type down my thoughts after a new episode, analyzing and gushing over both big and small moments, the details!!! The pilot has reiterated all over to me again why I love these characters, from Luz's powerful earnestness, to Eda's chaotic demeanor! It’s like having the whole show open ahead of me, the possibilities endless when knowing this is just the beginning and we could go anywhere from here!

            What’s interesting is that Luz’s conflict with Camila doesn’t really exist here; In fact Camila isn’t present or mentioned at all! What brings Luz to the isles is Amity, who’s been learning in the human world, under the guise of being a human by disguising her ears! It’s alluded to that Odalia and Alador made her do it, though we don’t know why…

            But WOW that must’ve been so meta, doing S3 with Amity stuck in the human world with Luz, hiding her ears! It must’ve been a fun way to bring back the older concepts in new form! And indeed, we see a couple of stuff we’ve already gotten glimpses of, such as the storyboards of Luz offering her friendship art to Amity! I love that we get to see the actual scenario of how Amity accidentally defended Luz in the first place, since we heard that but didn’t get to see how it turned out.

            It’s interesting that Lumity is basically the inciting incident of the story, though I can see why the final version opted instead to emphasize Luz’s conflict with her mother. Especially with how she chooses to stay in the isles in the final draft, which leads to guilt over lying to her mom, having her ‘coming out’ moment that eventually occurs in Yesterday’s Lie, etc. So more agency when it comes to Luz losing her access to the human world. Plus in the pilot, there isn't the same emphasis on Luz trying to live out her dreams of being a witch, and her obsession with stories that ties back to Manny and forms the basis for a lot of other themes and arcs.

            That said, I also appreciate what this alternate take offers, and how Lumity helps tie everything together, it really is the queerness that is such a foundational part of the ‘weirdness’ theme that the show is about, and it’s intertwined with the pilot! God Luz being heartbroken when Amity dismisses the drawing… And then crying when Eda compliments it without realizing who it’s about! Or maybe she did, she could’ve recognized Luz there and figured out a way to stealthily make Luz feel better…!

            I love Luz routinely lock-picking her locker because she presumably forgot the combination! And it’s interesting that we have a setup of there being multiple dimensions that the Boiling Isles has access to, and not just the human world and Demon Realm. That plays a role in the climax, more on that later. Given we have what is basically an airport for different dimensions, I wonder if we would’ve seen Luz find her way back home much earlier on, under much less intense circumstances, in a S1A episode?

            The ‘Emperor’ is also alluded to in the pilot, which we didn’t get actual mention of until the fifth episode in the final show. He apparently dislikes humans and wants Luz brought over to him, is this still operating off of the ‘Pupa’ version of the character who claimed to speak on behalf of the true ruler, trapped in their metamorphosis by him? So maybe he wasn’t always human, or maybe this is Belos’ hypocritical way of ‘protecting’ humans by keeping them away and in blissful ignorance of the demon realm.

            We also establish Hexside much earlier! IIRC Hexside was always part of the show, but executives pushed for it to have more emphasis, which the crew continued to follow through on in S2 onwards because that had already been set up. Lilith is the principal, and I recognize the storyboards of her, including her bat transformation! We get a Tinella Nosa cameo, we see Amity, and there’s also a brief cameo of Willow too! Nice way to set her up before her proper debut.

            The ‘barrier’ containing King’s crown turns out to just be a regular human locker, which makes me wonder if the writers updated the final draft to make it a force field that only allows humans through, because of the whole Belos twist. Which makes me wonder if in this draft, Belos is Pupa, who never was human, or maybe they realized the opportunity to insert foreshadowing into a big twist regarding the main villain. Makes me wonder if the house we see Amity enter in the pilot, which is on sale, would've had any significance like in the final show. Love how Tinella Nosa is a student at Hexside, and also Dana having to occasionally insert lines for Wendie Malick and others was great.

            Lilith is a lot more openly adversarial, which is different compared to how her actual debut provides a softer side to her; I imagine this would’ve been apparent in a later episode of the ‘Pilot AU’, and her transformation has me curious; Was she originally the one with the curse, but then the writers changed it to Eda? Or did they both have a curse? Eda also has an owl form she can summon and control at Will, maybe all Clawthornes have a beast mode that’s less of a curse and more of a talent. Lilith ends up trapped in another dimension, which makes me wonder if she’d have a temporary replacement –possibly Pilot Bump- or if she’d return offscreen. We see the portal key get destroyed under much more casual circumstances, though it’s less as big of a deal for this and the established ‘dimension port’ we saw before.

            (Also, Amity recognizing Luz in the hallway… Everything to me!!!)

            Warden Wrath doesn’t exist and neither does the Conformatorium, it’s Lilith and Hexside. With her as principal and Amity as student, I wonder if we would’ve gotten more of their relationship in the pilot AU, if Covention was a way of carrying over that former connection since Amity would be a teacher’s pet in either version of the story. And speaking of ties to Covention, it’s interesting is that Eda’s chest gem seems to be linked to the Emperor’s Coven, as ‘Pilot Kikimora’ uses it to control her. Curiously, we have a scene at the end mirroring what we got with Lilith in the final draft of the show!

            I feel it implies that Eda DID join the Emperor’s Coven with Lilith, if only for a brief moment, but then defected; But the chest gem is basically the pilot version of the Emperor’s sigil, except with the explicit function of being a shock collar. I find it interesting that Eda still has the mirror to contact the EC with, instead of just getting rid of the thing. Is she a rogue agent who hasn’t totally cut ties, because she can’t? Won’t?

And the fact that Pilot Kikimora can just shock Eda at will makes me wonder if the Emperor is low-key just letting Eda roam around, which makes me wonder if he’s aware of the familial connection, is using Eda to find Luz, already knows about her doing that because of the time loop, etc. We’d of course have gotten an episode where Luz finds out about Eda’s connection and helps her deal with the gem… I realize now that Luz learning Eda also wanted to join the EC with Lilith is a carryover of this idea.

I can see the ups and downs between both versions; The final draft sets up Luz’s conflict with Camila and the reality camp, which is foundational to her character arc throughout the whole show. Her pain over being ‘sent away’ is just so vital that I appreciate its inclusion in the first episode. But I also like the inclusion of Lumity and the earnest desire to be friends with someone who showed her, unwittingly, any kindness at all! We get explicit bullying from Luz’s peers in the pilot, but in the final draft we also get her thoughtlessness that plays a big part in her S1 arc. And Luz’s arrival in the isles is more intertwined with Eda and King in the final version, which also feels right; The show is about these three in particular!

All in all, this was wonderful to watch! The magic was experienced all over again, not just in watching an episode, but also commentating on one that was just ‘released’ as well? I thought the last time I’d do anything like this was with the series finale Watching and Dreaming… But as Luz said, it really comes full circle with watching the first episode all over again! So maybe we have other stuff to still look forward to after all… At the very least, we have an eternal anticipation with an unexplored universe ahead of us, that will never reach completion; So it's like our ever-lasting final gift from TOH, and a good last one. So until next time: BBBBBYYYYYEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!

[artemismoorea03]

DP x DC: WHAT THE FUCK, FENTON

I think I've seen something like this somewhere before but I'm also not sure so if there is already something like this, I'm sorry.

WARNINGS: Mentions of Character Death and Grief, Implied/Referenced/Suspected Child Abuse, Depression and Self-Harm? (only implied, but non-graphic) IT HAS A HAPPY ENDING, I PROMISE.

Danny Fenton was dead.

At least, that's what everybody in Amity Park was told after something happened in Fenton Works. Maddie and Jack Fenton insisted that Danny was dead and that a ghost was responsible. Danny's friends and Sister were weirdly quiet though, but not grieving.

No.

Grief was never an emotion that Dash Baxter saw on any of their faces. Instead rage took it's place. A rage that seemed to be shared by Mayor Masters who sudddenly started cracking down on housing laws, regulations, and other issues. He changed is mind of 'Ghosts are the enemy' to 'Ghost Hunting is no longer permitted' much to the annoyance of his "friends".

Dash didn't understand what was happening, what happened to Fentur-Fenton, or why the all the sudden changes but what confused him most was how he felt about it. When he had gotten the news he felt physically sick. He missed two full days of school just because he felt sick. When he went to school and heard some wanna-be A-Listers spreading rumors about how Fenton was in a bad place and had just taken himself out.

Before any of Fenton's friends could even think about shutting them down Dash shut them down by breaking one of their noses.

A few days later he sat with Foley, Manson, and Valerie at lunch. They were surprised and asked him what he was doing there while his friends acted appalled but Dash didn't reply and just put his head down on the table. It wasn't until near the end of lunch that Dash finally spoke.

"I'm sorry... I'll try to be better... for Fenton."

This surprised all of them. Even Dash but what surprised everybody even more was when he started to cry. In the end it was Foley who came over and put his hand on Dash's shoulder.

Nothing was said, but it was enough to comfort Dash and leave him with more questions.

Why weren't they the one's crying? Their best friend had died and they were comforting him? This was bullshit! He didn't even like Fenton!

Right?

It was later that year when Casper High went to Gotham City for a football game against Gotham University. The game was going well until half-time when Star approached them while they were on time out.

"Um... hey guys not to totally like throw off the groove or anything but... isn't that Danny?"

Every member of the gootball team and the cheerleading squad turned to where Star pointed and Dash's eyes locked onto a familiar black haired, blue eyed kid in an expensive uniform. Dash had a split second thought of 'There's no fuckin way that's Fenton. Maybe a look alike?'

But then the kid shrank down slightly between two other teens one with curtained black hair and one with darker skin and Dash knew.

Dash threw himself towards the fence, climbing over the fence and onto the bleachers as Danny held up his hands and stood up quickly. He was pale and anxious, the two teens with him looking ready to fight as Dash grabbed him by teh front of the shirt in front of his whole school.

"WHAT THE FUCK, FENTON?!"

"D-Dash! I can explain, I-"

Danny started rambling out a frantic and bullshit excuse but Dash was just hearing static, ignoring the two teens next to them telling him to put Danny down. Dash then hugged him with a pissed off growl while Danny went stiff.

"We thought you fuckin' died, Man. What the hell..." He whimpered, tears burning his eyes as Danny relaxed and after a moment hugged Dash back.

"Sorry, Dash."

Dash was about to yell at him more when he heard Mr. Lancer shout out.

"TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD, WHAT IS HAPPENING, BAXTER?!" Dash let Danny go and gestured for the teacher to see which was when Dash heard his teacher actually swear for the first time ever. "What the fuck?"

"H-Hi, Mr. Lancer..." Was all Danny could say as an awkward reply.

[wolfjackle-creates]

Bring Me Home Arc 3 Part 3

Again the winner of last week's poll! There won't be a poll this week because I'm planning something a bit different. I hit 1000 followers this past week and have been wracking my brain about how to celebrate! Wasn't up for doing prompts or adding more projects to my list, though, so I didn't want to go that route.

But I did come up with something that I think everyone will really enjoy. Especially those of you who have been voting for Carry Your Heart (I see you in the tags!). So look out for that post.

In addition, I've just posted the first chapter of Arc 2 on AO3! Link below.

Story Summary: Jack and Maddie install a new ghost shield on the house which activates the moment Danny tries to step into his home. His secret is out and his parents are determined to excise the ghost from their son.

Luckily Danny isn't alone. The Young Justice, Sam, Tucker, and Jazz aren't going to leave him to suffer.

Arc 1: AO3

Arc 2: AO3 (incomplete); Tumblr - First, Final

Arc 3: First, Previous

Word Count: 1.4k

-----

Fire rushing through him jolted Danny awake. His back arched as he cried out. He screwed his eyes tight, not wanting to see what torture his parents were going to come at him with next when he realized what the sound of his cry meant: the muzzle was gone.

As were the restraints. And he was lying on something soft. Trying hard not to hope, he opened his eyes.

Sam and Jazz were leaning over him, concern clear on their faces. They were in some sort of ambulance or van.

“How are you feeling,” demanded Sam.

Danny took a moment to answer, his chest was pure agony. He didn’t even want to think what it would feel like to sit up. And even past that, everything was sore. Though the fire that had woken him up had dissipated, the tell-tale feel of ecto-dejecto. “Pretty much the worst I’ve ever felt,” he answered honestly.

Sam and Jazz both winced and his sister grabbed his hand. He squeezed her fingers weakly.

At the foot of his bed stood Tim in full Red Robin getup and Kon as Superboy.

He couldn’t hold back the smile as he met Tim’s gaze. “You came,” he said.

Tim didn’t smile back, but some tension eased out of his shoulders. “I always will,” he said. “Been telling you that since we were ten years old.”

“I know. I’ve always known. Thank you.”

Jazz squeezed his hand again and he looked at her. “Red Robin and Superboy are going to take you away from here. Robin will help you recover.”

Sam nodded. “Yep. And the rest of us are gonna focus on making sure Amity is safe for ghosts once and for all.”

Danny shook his head. “I should be there with you guys, fighting.”

“Nope!” interrupted Jazz. “Not even a little. You’re going to focus on getting better, got it, Danny? That’s all we want from you.”

“But the ghosts—”

Sam covered his mouth with her hand. “Stop it right there. Tucker is working with Impulse and Wonder Girl to get the portal locked up. No one will be coming through. No one—ghost or human—will be in any danger while you’re gone. I promise.”

Danny slumped into the bed. Even the slight change in position caused waves of pain to radiate from his chest even through the healing ice he could feel implanted in his body. He whimpered and closed his eyes until the throbbing receded just a bit. “I trust you. I do, it’s just…”

“You’re used to taking care of everyone,” finished Jazz for him. “We know. So let us take care of you for a change. We love you, Danny.”

“Love you, too, Jazz. Sam.”

“Be good for bird-brain there, got it?” ordered Sam.

Danny gave her a half-smile. “Are Tim and I ever good together?”

She laughed. “Well, don’t burn down Gotham, capiche?”

“Capiche.”

“We have to go now,” said Jazz.

Danny gripped her hand tighter. “Don’t leave me.”

Jazz winced, but leaned down to kiss his forehead. “We need to make sure the Guys in White aren’t going to get involved further. And you need to get someplace safe.”

Danny huffed a half laugh. “Gotham is safe?”

Jazz rolled her eyes at his poor attempt at a joke. “For you it is. Now, I’m leaving Red and Superboy with a case full of ectoplasm for you and our entire supply of ecto-dejecto. I just gave you your first injection. Please try and eat something and drink your ectoplasm regularly.”

“Yeah, yeah. Whatever you say, Jazz.”

Jazz sniffed and it was only then that Danny realized it was wetter than usual and her eyes were watery. He tried not to feel bad for his jokes when she replied, “Yes, it is whatever I say. Glad you agree.”

Sam cackled, and now that he was paying attention, Danny could hear the hysterical edge to it. “You’d better text us multiple times a day, ghost boy. Don’t try and lie to us, either. Kon’ll tell me the truth about your condition. And as soon as we can arrange it, we’re coming out your way for a visit.”

“Course I will, Sam. Give Tuck my best?”

“Duh. He wishes he could’ve come with us, you know.”

Danny nodded. “But he’s better with the tech stuff and that is just as time sensitive.”

“Yeah. Now, get some sleep,” Sam ordered. “You’ve got a long drive ahead of you.”

Danny gave the rote answer after too many all-nighters taking care of ghost attacks before school, “I’m dead, I don’t need sleep.”

His sister squeezed his hand. “Ghosts who just went through what you did need their sleep. Love you, Danny. Get well and I’ll see you soon.”

“Love you, Jazz.”

She kissed his forehead one more time, followed by Sam. And with another two rounds of farewells and love yous, he was alone with Tim and Kon.

“Thanks for coming,” he said again.

“Obviously we weren’t going to leave you there,” said Kon. “Being a lab subject isn’t fun. Especially not that kinda lab experiment.”

Danny couldn’t quite hold back the flinch at that description. It was accurate, but blunt.

Tim walked over until he was sitting by Danny’s bed. “Just listen to Jazz and get some rest. We’re going to be taking the long route to Gotham by going south to start. If we stop for food in a few hours, think you could handle a smoothie?”

Danny shrugged and bit back a yawn. “Could try.”

“That’s all I ask.”

Kon moved towards the front of the vehicle as well. “Looks like it’s time for us to skedaddle. I’ll keep the road from jostling you, ghost-boy.”

Danny gave a small smile and let his eyes close. As he did, he tried to mumble his thanks and he hoped it came across.

---

The next time he woke was more gentle. Someone was tapping on his shoulder and calling his name. But even so, as he was pulled closer to awareness, the pain made itself more and more known. He tried to cling to the darkness, but the tapping wasn’t stopping, nor was the person calling him.

He blinked open his eyes to see Tim’s concerned face. He wasn’t wearing the domino anymore, or his costume. Just a sweatshirt and jeans.

“Hey, Danny,” said Tim. “I’m going to need you to try and eat a bit right now. Kon got us those smoothies I mentioned. I’ve also got yogurt if that’ll be easier for you. But the smoothie will have more nutrients.”

Danny closed his eyes. He wasn’t hungry and didn’t want to eat. Why did Tim have to bring him back to consciousness for this? He hurt and just wanted to sink back into oblivion.

The tapping on his shoulder began again. “I know, Danny. But you have to eat something. And you should take some ectoplasm, too. So just stay awake for a few minutes.”

“Mm ‘wake,” said Danny without opening his eyes. He shifted his weight, hoping to push himself up to eat, only to scream in pain as his chest protested any movement.

“Shit! Don’t move,” said Tim too late. “I’ve got a spoon here. I’ll feed it to you, okay? So just stay exactly where you are.”

Danny gripped his sheets, unable to do anything else as wave after wave of pain over took him. Tim kept up a litany of reassurances and stroked his hair. Eventually, Danny was able to think past it again.

“Don’t think I can sit up,” said Danny.

“Of course not,” agreed Tim. He held a styrofoam cup between his knees and carefully took off the lid and straw. “Just let me. Take at least a few bites. Swallow as is, don’t try and chew. Just do what you can, okay?”

“Okay,” agreed Danny and Tim fed him the first bite.

Danny hated this. Hated it so much. Here he was being spoon fed like a baby all because his parents… He shut his eyes and took the next bite. He wasn’t going to finish that thought. Tim was here and that’s what mattered.

Danny wasn’t sure how much he ate, but it couldn’t have been much. His eyelids were getting heavier and heavier and the pull of oblivion stronger.

“Wait, Danny. Stay awake just a little longer, okay?”

Danny groaned but forced his eyes open again.

Tim showed him a bottle of ectoplasm. “Just a few swallows of this, too. Okay?”

He didn’t want to. He’d rather just go to sleep again, but he opened his mouth obediently. By the time he finished his third spoonful, he couldn’t fight it anymore and slumped into the bed. The pain receded back into blackness for a time.

-----

Next

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Danny is going to be getting all the comfort throughout this. All of them will, tbh. Because no one is happy and they all need a hug or five.

Let me know what you think!

[royal-they]

I feel like a lot of people misread Willow as being the mentally stable friend. 

She’s not, she just puts up a good front. Her goals aren’t about her. She doesn't consider her own emotions. Everything's about others. 

Willow is someone who tries her best to appear put together and stable on the outside. She won’t let you see her crack. Because to her her friends are 1000x more important. Many witches state a goal that involves their career or deepest wish for themselves when they chose a palisman or make one. Willow doesn’t, and she’s one of the few we’ve seen who makes this choice. She doesn’t want to be strong to help herself gain power, she wants power to protect those close to her. 

Willow isn’t one to let her emotions get the better of her. But when they do she breaks. She can’t put up with all the pressure, she has a breaking point. And this breaking point usually stems from this insecurity of her not being good enough. She needs to be good enough for others. And she is. But she’s not good enough for herself. 

Willows an amazing friend but she’s in no way less mentally ill then anyone else. She is unsure of herself and always needs to prove herself to others. It’s not quite as obvious as it is with Hunter; he’s always running around trying to prove his worth and having panic attacks because of it. But it’s still there, she just does a good job of keeping it all inside. 

With Hunter we see this aspect of him a lot. It’s a huge plot point in Eclipse Lake. He’s scared of rejection from Belos. He’s scared of being replaced. He’s scared of not having a place in the world. He puts the needs of others over his own constantly. But Hunter can’t put up a front like Willow can. The only time we get to really explore Willows insecurity's properly is when we literally are seeing inside her head. The episodes literally called Understanding Willow for crying out loud:

As someone who was bullied mercilessly for years when I was the age Willow is in this memory I really understand this whole episode on a very personal level. The things people said to Willow got to her. Her inner self says she’s just “finishing what (Amity) started.” Even when she heals her relationship with Amity she still has moments of insecurity. She calls herself, “half-a-witch.” She gets mad when Amity trys to protect her. She gets upset when she is captured by someone she trusted. All these things resurface old familiar emotions for her. 

Willow has been trying her whole life to help people and for so long it didn’t work out. Amity calls her a “weakling.” She vows to be a powerful witch. Amity tells her she causes problems. Willow says she is going to protect everyone she loves. Amity rejects Willows friendship and picks on her. 

Willow is scared of rejection. 

Scared of disappointing people. 

She is upset when Amity replaces her with new friends and lets them pick on her. 

She can’t deal with any of these emotions - similarly to Hunter - so she combats it by constantly comforting and prioritizing others.  

Willows incredibly powerful and strong. And amazing friend and a force not to be taken lightly. 

But in no way is she over these deep rooted anxiety's of losing her friends, not being able to protect people, or being a nuisance and a problem. 

I really want this to be an aspect of her that is focused on sometime in the future, because its a problem she has that is never really solved. 

She’s not completely indestructible. 

[mistyfoxxy]

I want to talk about Gus in for the future. I know it seems like it was a breakthrough episode mainly for Luz and Willow, considering what happened to Willow and Luz finally figuring out what she wanted. A breakthrough for Winter being canon now. But I really want to talk about Gus here and his breakthrough in here. While it was small and not so noticeable I think he had his too.

I think the Emerald Trio had their episode here

I’m the beginning we see Gus trying to comfort Willow with his illusions. While with Willow you can see the glassy ready look in her eyes, Gus has this tired look to his.

I think he realizes that she’s in a hard place right now. After all, he knows how much Hunter means to Willow probably more than any of them including Willow herself.(she’s been suppressing her emotions for the last few months) He’s been friends with her longer than any of them (Her and Amity weren’t friends for years so I’m not counting her right here) she knows she’s probably going to suppress her feelings to help others. He’s probably tried before to get her to open up and she wouldn’t listen because “I’m the reliable one, remember”.

So I’m sure he knew she was hurting already, he had to suppress his feelings too. Sure he was very open about him missing his dad and not afraid to cry because he was comfortable. Shoot maybe he lets himself be vulnerable with her to show that it’s ok to be vulnerable with him too. They’re best friends! But he isn’t going to push her. He knows her strength. She’s been holding it in for years so he’s never seen her the way that they did in the end of FtF. Me as an empathetic person myself, I hurt when I know someone else is, especially when they’re trying to pretend it’s alright. But he also knows she hates when people meddle in her affairs, so he was giving distance.

Skipping forward, when Willow goes off by herself in anger, he feels like it’s his fault. The fact that he knew something and was trying to do the right thing but failed in hurting them instead. (Which is not true but you know how Gus is). He tried to go and fix it and somehow ends up in a pit. And you see how terrified he is at first. Don’t tell me he ain’t struggling with PTSD either. He witnessed first hand the darkness and evil of Belos and his mind. Someone he looked up to as a ruler for the longest time in his life. Got thrown into another realm, which yes was awesome cuz he got to learn and see what he wanted too!…. But not by his own choice.

And then he witnesses Willow in the state she is in. And oh just because we didn’t see it, you can’t tell me he wasn’t heartbroken too.

He just didn’t have a way he knew how to help without thinking he was going to make it worse too.

Which is why I think it was such and Emerald trio moment too. Gus needed a window. He needed someone else to help where he felt he couldn’t. And finally he could tell Willow what he had been wanting to forever now.

And just look how happy he is now.

She’s feeling better.

He finally could get the fact that he knew Hunter was a grimwalker off his chest.

Shoot Hunter and Willow holding hands now, Titan he didn’t think he’d get this far!

That’s a load off his chest.

While it was not very noticeable, I think we got a breakthrough in his arch too.

Willow and Gus and Hunter are a team. They’re there for each other. They’re like siblings! (Er not Hunter to Willow or Willow to Hunter) but Gus ties the knot!

I rewatched FtF yesterday and oh I could finally see it. The best boi

[pyxilatezero]

Need I say more?

I think the people, objectively, have spoken.

if I were to add in my opinion you’d see that I contributed a few fanfics to the mix

Main reason for my dislike of White Knight: I hate Jaune and Weiss is my favorite character, so I think she deserves better. I know some people won’t say this is a valid reason but Jaune originally and currently isn’t written very well. You basically have to give him his own episode to flush out his plot line, (like in the first season and every season afterwards where he’s important) and he’s not a main character so he takes up screen time. (They do the same with Oscar and the rest of JNPR Instead of doing a JNPR episode, they do each of them individually with sprinkles of plot in between) Honestly, a relationship between him and Weiss would be a bad idea. Case in point:

Volume 1 White-knight Moments:

Jaune unsuccessfully flirting with Weiss (+1)

Volume 2 White-knight Moments:

Jaune unsuccessfully flirting with Weiss (+1)

Volume 3 White-knight moments:

… PYRRHA! (-1)

Volume 4 White-knight moments:

… (No interaction; no points awarded or deducted)

Volume 5 White-knight moments:

Jaune does a common courtesy and saves Weiss’s life (does not count; he would react the same for anybody- ‘nO hE wOULdn’T’ shut up Victoria if any of your friends were dying you’d save their life) [+0.5]

Volume 6 White-knight moments:

…

Volume 7 White-knight moments:

…

Volume 8 White-knight moments:

…

Volume 9 White-knight moments:

Weiss admires Jaune over the fact that he’s mature, and supports him like a good friend after Ruby runs away. He reverts to his old form, and we never hear from them again. (+2)

Total score: 3.5/9 (trying to be generous, I really am)

Main reason for liking Whiterose: Enemies to friends to lovers is an adorable trope, and they get a lot of screen time together in the first few seasons. Also, Monty himself shipped them. While I won’t say Whiterose is objectively better than White Knight, I am going to say that when I include my own opinion, it is better. Weiss and Ruby’s relationship feels more like a slow burn than Yang and Blake’s. We get scenes that could be interpreted that way in almost every season since Volume one. Let me go through them, and to show how unfair this is, I’m not allowed to add more than 1.5 points:

Volume 1 Whiterose Moments

Ruby and Weiss are off to a rocky start, but slowly warm up to each other as time goes on, and they get closer. They have a mildly, could-be considered romantic moment where Weiss makes Ruby coffee so she can stay up to study. (+1)

Volume 2 Whiterose Moments

In the food fight, Ruby dramatically catches Weiss when she falls and pretends to cry over her. (Not really much, but it’s something). Ruby and Weiss consistently pair up to get things done throughout the season, especially when looking into information about Cinder. (+1)

Volume 3 Whiterose Moments:

Supporting each other when Winter gets there (that is Volume 3, right?), excellent teamwork in the first stage of the Amity Arena battle, and Weiss’s concern for Ruby when she disappears. (+1)

Volume 4 Whiterose Moments:

Thinks about each other, but otherwise, nothing. (No points awarded or deducted)

Volume 5 Whiterose Moments:

Weiss remember’s Ruby’s coffee taste. While this could be something any friend does, they spend time together, reflecting over beacon, and Weiss helps Ruby’s sister Yang through an implication that she’s doing it for team RWBY, but especially their eccentric fluffball of a leader. (+1.5)

Volume 6 Whiterose Moments:

Ruby saves Weiss on the train, Weiss saves Ruby in the battle against the mech, and they spend time together in the village with the grim. I should give two points here but I’m loyal to my word. (+1.5)

Volume 7 Whiterose Moments:

Ruby and Weiss sitting together during training, and Weiss supporting Ruby when the team splits up. (+0.5)

Volume 8 Whiterose Moments:

Supporting each other all throughout the volume by working together, and acting as teammates and partners. (+0.5)

Volume 9 Whiterose Moments:

Ruby supports Weiss after her being upset about the fall of Atlas. (Jaune’s interaction with Weiss, -1 point- would have been two, though)

6/9

In any scenario, Whiterose wins. Im sure other people could come up with reasons to disprove me, or say I’m biased (I am, this is in no way objective), but these are the things I saw with my own eight eyes because I own three pairs of glasses, and heard with my (admittedly failing) teenage ears.

I’m sure I’ll get flak for this from both sides of the shipping community, because admittedly, the RWBY fandom can be toxic (but it’s almost any fandom at that point) saying I either graded White Knight too harshly or I gave too many or too few points to Whiterose, and I also did all of this off the top of my head, so I apologize for my many mistakes. I have two last statements:

Rosegarden: 0/9

Oscar is 14 and Ruby is 17. If I, the same age as Oscar as of 2023, would not date Ruby at that time, it’s probably wrong. When it comes to relationships for younger people, it’s best to avoid age gaps larger than 2 years. It’s also best to avoid relationships altogether until you can at least go for a learner’s permit. I rest my case.

edit 3: alright, some people have corrected me on the age part, apparently he’s fifteen. I don’t hate Rosegarden, but something about Ozpin and Oscar being the same person makes me really uncomfortable (again, as someone who is younger). Thats the only reason I didn’t give it any rating- it just feels too close to, well… I don’t really have to say it. Especially when the whole point of things is that Oscar and Ozpin are becoming the same person.

Bumblebee: 8/9

It’s canon, bro. It does feel slightly forced at times, but they’re a strong couple who supports each other and helps each other through trauma. You go girls, lesbians all the way (insert lesbian pride flag here)

edit: got someone sending in a message about neither ever going to be canon. You’re right, but thank you so much for crushing a high schooler’s hopes and dreams. Have a nice day

edit 2: I prefer icerose over whiterose but I’ll get what I can take (canon ruby x ice Queendom Weiss). This is just an overall argument.

[juliettedunn]

Luz’s Softness in Thanks to Them

We all knew Luz was going to have an angst arc in Thanks to Them. Her angst had been building long before then, and King’s Tide was the final straw.

Angst is popular in characters like Amity and Hunter, who act cold and mean as a result of deep pain on the inside. If they cry, it’s in secret, hidden away from anyone who might see through their confident persona. The “bad but sad boy” / “I act like I don’t care but I secretly do” type, to quote Luz.

That’s not what Luz does. Luz cries multiple times in  front of others in Thanks to Them, and even has an emotional outburst in front of her teacher in classmates.

It’s the classroom scene that has a lot of people saying Luz is being “cringey,” and that they have to cover their eyes from “second-hand embarrassment.” I’ve seen post after post mocking that scene, saying Luz needs to “sit down and shut up” and that she has a “y/n complex.”

Whether a vulnerable person gets sympathy or ridicule from others is based on mysterious standards of what are acceptable and unacceptable ways to act when we are at our worst. And what is acceptable for some isn’t acceptable for others (white favoritism, especially in the fandom’s response to Hunter’s over-the-top emotional displays vs Luz). 

Luz’s outburst in the classroom was highly impulsive and not something many would do, but Luz doesn’t know how to ask for help, not when she feels too guilty to confide in her friends and family.

Luz is at best passively suicidal in TTT. It’s actually one of the first times she DOESN’T see herself as the main character, she sees herself as the selfish villain, the “evil Lucy” rather than the good witch Azura. Her self esteem is at an all time low, to where she doesn’t think she truly deserves love.

It’d be so easy to lock herself away, bottle those feelings inside and turn cold. Many thought this was the direction her character was headed in. And Luz does indeed isolate and keep her inner feelings secret.

But she remains soft and tender-hearted, constantly cheering on her friends and supporting Hunter through his hardships even when she herself is at her worst. She even lets her silliness peek through, calling a possum a “little angel.”

Despite her low self esteem, she very clearly WANTS someone to help her and intervene. She wouldn’t have had the classroom outburst if she didn’t think there was some worth in making her feelings clear, some hope that someone might respond to her and perhaps tell her something different. Which makes it even more heartbreaking when the class gives her a weirded out look and then ignores her.

If someone behaves this way in real life, it should be taken as a serious warning sign, not as a “Oh my god that’s so cringe” moment. 

You can see multiple times in the episode Luz fighting her depression, like when she goes to cuddle with Camila. When she asks Camila to let her stay in her bed, it struck me how amazing she really is for being able to do that.

Luz feels she doesn’t deserve to live, yet she still desperately wants to. She wants to hold on so much that she manages to seek comfort, despite her guilt telling her she shouldn’t be receiving it.

When I was her age and in her mental state, I didn’t have the ability to do something like that. Seeking help when you’re in that kind of state is one of the hardest things to do, and Luz does it multiple times.

For people to call her a cringey embarrassment for having an outburst is in very poor taste, and a bad sign for how we view signs of mental illness in real life.

Not everyone who angsts will be like Hunter and Amity, becoming aggressive and/or cold towards others. Not everyone can hide behind thick skin. Some become softer and more sensitive, cry more easily. The latter is in fact the healthier and often more difficult option. 

Some expected a cold, withdrawn cynic, hiding away her emotions. Instead we got a messy, tender-hearted girl desperately seeking help in impulsive outbursts.

The fandom is finally starting to focus on her angst and trauma, but let’s not forget the strength that lies in her unfaltering softness as well.

Luz is a loving, kind, strong, beautiful disaster, and she deserves better from this fandom.

[thebest-medicine]

Show, Don’t Tell

The Owl House - lee!Luz, lee!Hunter, lee!Amity, ler!Camila, ler!Willow, ler!Gus, ler!Luz - [read on ao3]

Summary: Camila shows the rest of the Hexsquad a way she used to calm down / cheer up Luz during a scary movie when she was little. Soon, more of the Hexsquad reveal themselves to share the same weakness.

A/N: I come to bring you sweet owl house tickles, takes place during thanks to them

Words: 1.2k

…

“Si, and any time Luz was too scared—she always tried so hard to be brave! We always used to help cheer her up with—”

“Whoa! Mama, you don’t have to tell them about—”

“No, tell us! What is it?” Amity asked, a curious smile on her face at Luz’s blurted attempt to silence the story. Luz stared back at her with blushing cheeks before the eyes turned back to her mother a moment later.

“You’re right.. I shouldn’t tell them.” Camila said calmly. She waited for Luz to lose a bit of the tension from her shoulders, ler her guard down just a little… “I should show them!” She leapt toward her daughter with a war cry. Luz scrambled backward on the couch with a shriek of giggling terror.

“No! Mama! Dohohohohohohohon’t!” Luz cried, laughing already as she feebly fought to block the advancing, tickling hands. “Oh nohohohoho! Behehehetrayal!” She cackled as Camila got to her sides, pinching up along them to her ribs. Luz clutched at her wrists as she laughed, squishing herself further back into the couch.

“You see, Luz here is quite ticklish. Never fails to put a smile on her face!” Camila explained to the grinning witch teens as they watched on.

Luz’s face burned with embarrassment as she laughed and laughed, until finally her mother pulled back a minute later with a proud grin on her face. “Tadaa—Smiley Luz!”

“Moooom.” Luz whined through lingering laughter as she covered her face.

“Did you kids have this in the Demon Realm?” Camila asked next as Luz caught her breath.

Willow and Gus nodded with a familiar smile.

“My dad sometimes used to do that when I was growing up.”

“My dads too.”

“Heh, my parents never would have done anything like that, but, the twins...” Amity responded with a shudder at the memories. “They were pretty mean when it came to tickling growing up.”

“Oh, I’m sorry to hear that, it’s not very fun when someone takes it too far.” Camila assured her. “Luz doesn’t mind as long as—”

“Mama! Please!” Luz protested with a nervous smile.

One of the group continued to watch on confused, a strange smile working its way onto his face at the unfamiliar display of affection and sudden laughter.

“What, um…” Hunter spoke up a few moments later. “What is that?”

“Whaaaaaaaat?” Gus gasped dramatically, spinning to face Hunter. “Are you serious right now!?”

Hunter blushed a little at the attention as eyes converged on him. “Yeah, I uh, I’ve never seen someone do that before.”

“So you don’t know if you’re ticklish?” Willow asked gently.

“If I’m..? No...” Hunter looked to Luz, who had mostly returned to her normal composure and breathing. “Is it… Fun?”

Luz’s cheeks blossomed with redness at his question and she looked away. The whole group chuckled at that.

“Yes, it’s just a way of playing or bonding with someone. Lots of families or friends do it.” Camila explained, placing a hand on his shoulder. “I bet some of your friends here can help you find out.” She winked.

Everyone was smiling as she stood and announced. “I’m going to go make some popcorn and snacks for the movie, okay mijas?” Then, she made her way to the kitchen.

“Well, what do you think, do you want to try?” Willow asked, grinning at Hunter as she moved in closer on the couch.

Hunter swallowed, looking between her and Gus, who gave him a similar look. “S-Sure.”

Luz smiled at him reassuringly, then scooted out of the way so that Willow and Gus could get closer on either side of him. She turned to Amity, who was watching her with a blush of her own.

“A-Alright. What should I..?” Hunter looked between his two friends. Each got in close on one of his sides.

“Put your arms around us, like a hug!” Willow suggested.

Hunter blushed further, but then did as he was told.

“So.. there’s a few general hotspots that most people are ticklish.” Willow explained as she brought one hand up into view to get Hunter’s attention. “For example.” She brought down a wiggling claw hand, just over the middle of Hunter’s stomach.

Hunter jumped at the contact, a strange, unfamiliar sensation that made him want to shout. He reeled back with a wide grin, tightening his grip on his friend’s shoulders to keep from pulling his arms in. She kept tickling, light but persistent. Hunter couldn’t hold back the giggles long as they formed in his throat. Laughter still felt somewhat foreign on his lips, but this felt almost natural. “Wha-whahat- hehe- what is thihihihis?”

“Looks like you’re ticklish, buddy!” Gus cheered with a grin.

“Here’s another spot a lot of people are ticklish.” Willow pulled away her tickling hand, only to bring it back to poke into Hunter’s ribs. He jumped away from the touch, his body flinching toward Gus. Soon, he was met with a poke from that side as well as the other witch joined in the teasing.

“Ehehehhe it feheheeheels weheheird!” Hunter said through his laughter.

“Good weird? Or bad weird?” Willow asked.

“I-hehehehe I’m not suhuhure yehehhet!” He answered honestly, a little overwhelmed at the potency of the sensation.

“Here’s another spot a lot of people are ticklish.” She wiggled two fingers under his arm and Hunter yelped. His arm tugged back and slammed into Willow’s shoulder where she had him lightly pinned to the couch.

Gus moved his own hand up and started to poke around the other armpit, and Hunter laughed outright.

“Ahahahaha! Wahahaha- not thehehehere!” He gasped, wishing for a moment he could crawl out of his skin to escape the strong, intruding buzz of ticklish sensation.

The two of them stopped. “Sorry, too much?” Willow asked.

“No, just… that was a bad spot, I guess.” Hunter replied. “It’s fine.” Then, he continued, assuring them. “It was kinda.. fun. Is there… other spots people can be ticklish?”

Willow’s smile brightened. “Of course! Let’s try somewhere else. Let us know if it’s too bad a spot again, okay?”

“Okay..” Hunter nodded. “Hey, why are you grabbing my feet, Gus?”

…

Meanwhile, as Luz turned to Amity. “So, you said the twins were pretty bad, huh?”

Amity’s blush grew. She looked at the ceiling. “H-heh, yeah.”

“So I guess that means you’re pret-ty ticklish.”

The blush covered her entire face.

“Don’t worry, I don’t wanna do anything that makes you uncomfortable.” Luz leaned in, whispering. “But if you’d be okay with it, I’d love to try it some time.”

Amity giggled in anticipation. “T-That would be fine. I trust you.”

“Like…. Maybe now?” Luz smirked, giving her a playful look.

Amity nodded, already letting out small laughs. And Luz pounced, only to bring one slow, gentle hand down to poke at her twitching tummy.

“Hehehehe- AHH! Heheh!” Amity giggled, shouting out a little laugh at every new poke. Her laughter joined Hunter’s, and Camila smiled as she prepared snacks in the next room.

[sokkadora]

thanks to them — hunter (gg) x clawthorne!reader

continuation of comfort crowd & hold out!

summary: after months of trying, the hexsquad make a daring try to get back to the demon realm.

a/n: okay um. the requests are going to be coming over the course of this week (no promises 🙏🏼) but. you will be seeing them soon!

wc: 5.2k

warning(s): possession, blood mention, (almost) dying, flapjack dying :(

You squeeze Hunter hand tightly as your. eyes droop and Luz’s mother opens the door, and gasps in shock to find six teens looking disheveled out in the rain, as Luz looks up at her.

“Hey, Mom.” She shrugs softly, and starts tearing up. “I'm back.”

Camila and Luz stare at each other for a moment, before Camila gives daughter and gives her a warm embrace, both crying.

Camila invites you all inside for dinner, and after finishing you all contribute to cleaning up. Camila is washing the dishes, Gus helps her by using magic and an awkward Amity gives her a cup of tea. Camila smiles, and pats Amity on the shoulder.

She joins you at the table, leaving a seat for Luz between you and her as Willow rubs a hand against your back as a comforting gesture.

Luz gets out a box of bandages that have cartoon mascots resembling Eda, King, and Hooty, and she sighs softly. Hunter approaches her quietly, grabbing onto the doorframe.

“Hey. Thanks for not telling them that I'm a...” Hunter starts, looking away, embarrassed.

Luz opens the box of bandages, staring at the bandage softly. “A grimwalker?”

“Shhhh, don't say it so loud!” He shushes worriedly. Luz hands him two bandaids for you, and he stares at them for a moment before speaking. “Uh... what about you? How've you been since, uh...?”

“Since we were in Belos’ mind? Since I found out I helped him meet the Collector?” Luz squeezes her eyes shut, holding back tears. “Oh my gosh, Hunter. They're all gonna hate me.”

“What? Psssh!” Hunter scoffs lightheartedly, stepping closer to Luz as she wipes away her tears and slightly smiles at Hunter. “No, of course they won't. They won't hate you any more than me when they find out that...” He starts panicking. “I might be a clone of... someone who was a... witch hunter... with... Belos...”

Luz and Hunter frown, and slowly turn their individual gazes to their partners; you and Amity.

“(Y/N) already knows and still loves you, but… we'll tell them. When we're ready..”

Hunter nods and the two join the others in the dining room. Willow scoots over a seat for Hunter to sit next to you as Luz sits on your other side and places a bandaid on Amity’s hand.

“Okay, so in the Demon Realm, you fought the evil Emperor Belos who turned into a monster...”

Hunter shakily grabs your arm, pulling you from your thoughts to sit up straight and watch him. He opens the bandaids and places them over them on the scratches on your arm, and smiles worriedly at you. When you smile and take his hand into yours, it quells any fear he might have that you don’t love him the same as before you knew he was a grimwalker.

“Well, he started out human.” Gus says, and you and Hunter turn to listen to the conversation.

“Right, but he was defeated by a newer, smaller bad guy?”

“The Collector.” You say, clearing your throat as Camila turns her attention to you. “We don't know what he is or how Belos found him.”

“Who knows if we'll ever figure that out?!” Luz says, panicked. Amity and the rest of the table (except you) look at her, confused. “But they're creating a lot of chaos.”

“We have to do whatever it takes to get back.” Amity states firmly, turning back to Camila.

“And you will. But for now, you should all rest.” Camila smiles, looking around at all the kids that are now in her care. “You're all safe here.”

Camila shows you and the other girls to Luz’s room, and Gus and Hunter to the basement.

Vee, the basilisk Luz told you about, shows you, Willow, and Amity a small black box with numbers on it with a wide smile.

“In the morning, instead of screaming, it'll do this!” She presses a button on it, and it activates an alarm.

You stare at it curiously while Willow and Amity gasp in shock, jumping up from where they were sitting.

“Don't worry, Vee!” Amity says, placing an arm in front of Vee.

“We'll keep you safe!” Willow shouts, destroying the alarm with her plant magic. Once it collapses on the floor in tiny pieces, Willow and Amity smile. “Good work! It's dead!” She and Amity bump elbows as you pout and Vee stares at the alarm clock sadly.

“Uh... thanks.” Vee says sheepishly.

You look down at the floor where Willow made a hole with her plant magic, and glance up to see Camila peeking in the room. You sheepishly smile, drawing at spell circle and casting a spell that fixes the hole.

Camila smiles at you thankfully, and closes the door.

Over the months you stay in the human realm, there are multiple tries at a portal door to get back to the Demon Realm, but they all fail. But it doesn’t stop you from having fun there, after all, Camila has made time to take you all on tons of trips over Luz’z summer break. You cut Hunter’s hair for him as he shyly explained what he had found on Philip and his brother, and you both experienced human rain for… the first(ish) time.

That one had to be your favorite memory here so far, giggling at Hunter being covered in mud as you hopped down the stairs. You kneeled and brushed the mud out of his hair and eyes, and his shy grin that he always gave you when you were that close.

But summer came to a close and Luz was at school, so you and everyone else were hanging out in the abandoned house behind Luz’s home.

Amity, Gus, Hunter, Willow were all trilling R's, while you and Vee — having lived with Luz and Camila, were speaking perfect Spanish.

Gus mumbled to himself, “Am I doing this right?”

You and Vee spoke into the tablets app, and a ding sound came from it, making the two of you grin.

“Perfecto! You're our top student!”

Amity squinted at the tablet. “Hmm. I was the top student once.”

Flapjack begins pecking at the table, and you glance at Hunter, who shrugs.

“He's still doing that, huh?” Gus asks, crossing his arms and looking up at Hunter.

“He won't tell me what he's looking for.” Hunter sighs and shakes his head.

Camila enters the shed with a warm smile, “Hi.” Looking around she grins, “Ooh! I like what you've done with the place. No more exposed nails or possum nests. But this still confuses me.” Camila motions to a painting of Hooty on the door, and you squint at the droopy paint.

“Yeah. He still confuses us too.”

“Hola Camila.” Gus smiles, waving at her. “We're learning Spanish from this scary owl app.”

“Hoot hoot! Practice every day, or I'll appear in your nightmares.”

Camila blinks in surprise. “Oh, okay. Well, I'm going to pick Luz up from school.” Camila grins, placing a hand on her hip. “Pop quiz; ¿Como se dice eso en español?”

“Oh, oh! Uh... Hunter inhales and starts speaking strained Spanish.

“Voy a recoger a Luz de la escuela.” You grin, clasping your hands together.

“Muy bueno!” Camila grins and winks at you. “Keep it up.”

Amity sighs after Camila leaves, “Maybe we should take a break.”

“A siesta.” Willow grins.

“Siesta!” Gus exclaims, bounding up from his spot on the floor.

“We've been here for months, and we've made no progress on the portal door.” Amity explains, throwing her arms out in exasperation as she stands up. “We can't expect Camila to take care of us forever.”

“In the meantime, we could pull more weight around the kitchen.” Gus nods. “My mustard ravioli did bring tears to her eyes.”

“Those weren't the kind of tears you're thinking of.” Vee cringes.

“I can help fixed damaged clothes!” Hunter holds up a shirt he made / fixed, grinning.

Willow holds up a plant monster, “I can spruce up the garden!”

“Maybe we need to look elsewhere. There's an entire Human Realm to search.” Amity says, placing a hand on her chin while pacing in front of the group.

“But Luz has school most of the week.” You say, a hand on your hip.

“So? Let's explore the town ourselves. After all, Luz went into the Boiling Isles on her own.”

“If Eda came here before, maybe there were others. Maybe they left something behind we can use.”

“Yes! That's the spirit! Together, there is no challenge that can hold us back.” Amity trips in a hole Flapjack pecked and faceplants, making everyone cringe. Amity groans, “Ow.”

“It's a sign! We're doomed!” Gus gasps.

“Come on Flapjack, this isn't funny anymore.” Amity grunts, until she sees something in the hole. She gasps, “There's something in here.”

Amity holds up a hexagonal box as the group gathers around her. She opens it and takes out a scroll and unrolls it.

You kneel down next to her, and run a hand over the paper. “Hmm. Looks like… a map?” You guess, looking up at Amity.

“Or a secret code?”

Flapjack chirps at Hunter, landing on his shoulder. “Flapjack, is this what you've been looking for? What does it lead to?”

“That eye, it kinda looks like the old portal door.” You say aloud, making Willow and Gus gasp.

“The portal door!” They link arms and begin chanting. “Portal door! Portal door! Portal door!”

“Alright, alright, calm down,” You smile softly, standing up and putting a hand on their shoulders to stop their bouncing. “Let's tell Luz.”

“What if it's just another dead end?” Amity sighs, turning to face you. “She already feels responsible for our other failed attempts.

“Then, let's not tell her until we can figure it out.” Willow grins. “Using our buff brains!” She flexes her arms, and everyone follows but Hunter, who’s blushing at you.

“Buff brains!”

Hunter laughs, still flustered as he joins in. “Yeah!”

You and Gus head towards the basement after helping Camila in the kitchen, “Thanks for helping, kids.”

“Anytime!” Gus smiles, waving back at her.

“Anytime, Ms. Camila.” You wave, “Good night!”

Gus hops down the stairs and swings around a banister, flopping on the couch as you walk down the stairs normally. Hunter looks up from his sewing and smiles at the both of you.

“Whoo! We've got a big day ahead of us, so I'm gonna buenas this noche.” Gus smiles, getting under his blanket as you sit on Hunter’s sleeping bag.

“Mm-hmm!” Hunter smiles with his eyes closed, and gets his finger caught in Camila's sewing machine. “Ow!” He whimpers, and you gasp.

“Are you okay?” You asked worriedly, and Gus nods.

“Yeah, that sounded painful.”

Hunter scoffs, and continues sewing, “I've been training in the Emperor's Coven for as long as I can remember.” He smiles confidently at you and Gus, making you smile. “I think I can handle a little...” He cuts his finger, and winces. You and Gus wince with him. “...pain.”

“Oh. That went clean through.” Gus said sheepishly as you pulled a bandaid out of your pocket and gestured for Hunter to come over.

Hunter sat down beside you and started speaking with a smile as you wrapped his finger, “Camila taught me how to use this sewing contraption. Even Darius's stitches have never been this neat. Oh, and look at what I made!” He leans away, grabbing something and holding up a shirt. You scoot back to lean against the couch as you and Gus listen to him. “These are mystical beasts called wolves, and I love them.”

He smiles, his eyes practically twinkling with wonder and joy at the thought of wolves.

“That looks great, Hunter.” You smile, crawling forward and ruffling his hair. He laughs, and fixes it as you crawl into his sleeping bag with a grin. “You know, you've been smiling a lot more since we've been here.”

“It's not like I don't want to return!” He turns to you and waves his hands, denying that he wants to stay here permanently. “I just need a way to pass the time. That's all.”

“No. It's good to see you happy.” Gus chuckles, nuzzling into his pillow. “One of us might as well be.”

‘You could say that again,’ You think to yourself, sighing as Hunter joins you in his sleeping bag.

“What was it like to be in the Emperor's Coven for so long?” Gus asks curiously.”

“I trained a lot. I studied a lot. I wasn't really allowed to be around the other scouts.” Hunter explained as you turned on your side to look at him. “But weekends were nice. I got to leave the castle for missions.”

“…” You look at his gloveless hands and stare for a moment. “Do you miss it?”

“I miss…” He sighs and turns his head to you. “knowing who I'm supposed to be.”

“I miss my dad.” Gus says despondently, turning onto his back and staring up at the ceiling.

“I miss my mom. And King.” You sigh, twirling a strand of hair around your finger.

“Even Hooty?” Hunter asks, shuddering.

“Yes, even Hooty.” You chuckle, hugging his arm to your chest.

Hunter smiles down at you, “We'll find a way back. We have to.”

Gus gasps excitedly. “Oh, my Titan. That's a line from this book I found.” He jumps off the couch and rustles around in a box before pulling out a book. “Cosmic Frontier! It's a story that takes place in the stars.”

“Why would anyone wanna go up there?” Hunter asks curiously.

“I don't know. Humans like spreading their junk everywhere.” Gus shrugs, but continues rambling. “But it's a story of people trying to get back home, like us.”

“Uh-huh.” Hunter nods, intrigued as Gus hands him the book and points to people on the cover. “We got Captain Avery, Security Officer Quando, Alien Princess Gorina, and a Chief Engineer O'Bailey who's hiding as a clone from the enemy planet.”

Hunter gasps, and looks at Gus as he walks towards a door, “What, uh, happens to him?”

“I guess you'll have to find out.” Gus opens a closet to reveal costumes, and shares a grin with Hunter.

The next day, the rest of you without Luz gather in the abandoned house again.

“All right. Luz is at her mom's vet clinic putting tiny little bandages on ‘hedgehogs,’” Amity grins, standing in front of everyone. “So today, we're going into town to solve this code.”

“Ears.” Gus nods, pulling his beanie over his ears.

“Routes.” Vee nods.

“Snacks,” She shows her bag off and pulls your arm around out to show off the snacks on the inside of your jacket. “check.”

“Human disguise, check. Eh?” Hunter announces, walking in and drawing everyone’s attention. He was wearing a costume from the book Gus had shown the two of you last night.

You blushed, clapping at him enthusiastically, “Oh, that is a look.” You grin as Willow snaps a picture of him.

“According to Cosmic Frontier, this is what the modern human male wears.” Hunter informs, walking in while reading the book.

“This was written in the '90s about the year 2008.” Vee cringes after taking the book and reading the cover.

“Yeah. Can't wait for that New Year's party.” Hunter chuckles at Vee as you approach him, holding up his arms and circling him to look at the costume better.

“This costume is so accurate, Hunter.” You compliment, holding up his arm. “Down to the stain on side!”

“I kno— wait, there’s a stain?” Hunter questions, making you giggle as you quickly cast a spell to get rid of it.

“And did you two get to the last chapter?”

“O'Bailey and Gorina are still hiding the fact that O’Bailey a duplicant in hyperdisguise.” Hunter grins.

“But Captain Avery is figuring it out!” You squeal.

“I think he already knows but-“

“Ah, bup-bup-bup! No, no, no, no, no spoilers!” Hunter squawks, covering his ears.

“Hunter, I don't think the world is ready for the brave fashion choices of the year 2008.” Amity says, her nose scrunching up in disgust at the costume. “Please change.”

You quickly lunge at her and put a hand over her mouth. “Don't listen to her!”

“Aw, geez,” Vee morphs into her human form and holds up the map. “we're gonna miss the bus.”

“Oh, it's okay! I'll catch up.” Hunter waves them off. “There's a transport worm every half hour.”

Everyone heads out, you lagging behind while grabbing your fanny pack. You quickly step over and kiss Hunter’s cheek, and turn to him before closing the door.

“With that costume, it seems I’m going to need your help with a Gorina look when we get back.” You wink, closing the door as Hunter blushes at you.

　　　　　　　　　　———

After looking around and finding some answers, you take the bus back to Luz’s house to find Hunter in the basement with Flapjack while Gus brings the costumes upstairs for the others to look at.

After Gus leaves, Hunter turns to Flapjack after you set down the stuff you pickpocketed on the desk. Grinning, your palisman flies out and you prepare to search through it, but Hunter starts talking.

“Did you know about this?” He asks sternly. “That he was here? I can tell you're hiding something.”

Flapjack chirps as you and your palisman share a glance.

Hunter sighs, “Sorry. I shouldn't take this out on you. I'm just scared.”

Clearing your throat, Hunter whips his head to you, who has a brow raise and sits crisscrossed on the chair at the sewing machine.

The sound of a vehicle pulling into the driveway saves Hunter from the interrogation, and you both head upstairs. Hunter heads outside while you head into the living room, (P/N) resting on your shoulder.

“Oh, (Y/N)!” Gus exclaims, grabbing an item and running up to you with it behind his back. “I know what we’re gonna be for Halloween, but where’s Hunter.”

“He went outside to see Luz, I think.” You scratch your head, and try to peer behind his back as Camila walks in. “What’s your costume idea?”

“You, are going to be the almighty….” He pulls out a blaster, paint splattered over the cylinder barrel. Your eyes light up as you take it from the boy, a grin on your face.

“Gorina!” You squeal, bouncing around before posing and aiming the blaster at the wall, trying to imitate the character.

Luz and Hunter enter the house as you do so, and Gus nudges you to signal that they’re back.

“Hey, we're back!” Hunter chuckles. “And we bought some, uh, cars.”

As Amity turns to Luz, Gus rushes over to Hunter with you.

“Guess what I've got planned? I'm gonna be Captain Avery, (Y/N)‘s gonna be Gorina, and you're...” Gus hands Hunter a prop for his character, and he gasps.

“Chief Engineer O'Bailey?” Hunter grins, squealing as he holds it to his ear.

Camila gulps, her grip on her mug tightening. “How do you know about Cosmic Frontier?”

“All the books in your basement.” You say, smiling at her.

“Oh!” Camila laughs nervously. “Funny how things just show up in basements, right? Without you hiding or putting them there. Life sure is full of surprises.”

“Cool! Humans freak out just like us.” Gus grins, gesturing to Camila.

“It'll be fun. We want to experience your weird human traditions.” She laughs, pulling out a headband and putting it on her head.

The next day at the Haunted Hayride, Hunter helps you out of the car and lets you fix your outfit before grabbing your hand again and intertwining your fingers. Smiling up at him, you stepped close to Hunter, your other hand coming up and hooking onto his forearm as you joined the group.

“All right. We'll keep the puzzle a secret 'till the time is right.” Amity grins as Luz speaks to her mom back at the car. “And then we'll tell her about the Titan Blood!”

Hunter suddenly whips his head around, and glances at Flapjack. “Did you hear that?” He whispers to his palisman so that you wouldn’t hear.

Flapjack chirps as you glance over to Hunter, raising a brow at his attention being off the group.

“Hey, it's okay. It's probably just in my head again.” He quietly reassures as you turn your head back. “Nestle down, Flapjack.”

Luz finally joins them, and Amity grabs her shoulders excitedly. “We're gonna have the best night, and we might even have surprise for you.”

“Yeah, me too.”

After doing a few activities, you move over to haunted hayride, where Hunter helps you up the hay bales and into the tractor, where you sit in between him and Luz. You offer your hand to him, and he takes it with a bashful grin,

“I hope you're all prepared for a truly scary ride.” Masha grins, their bangs blowing in the wind.

“Make us cry! Make us cry!” Gus and Willow chant excitedly, making Masha smile wider.

“Because there's nothing scarier than knowledge.”

“Boo, just lie to me!” Gus heckles, earning a nudge from Willow.

“Let me tell you the eeriest unsolved mystery of Gravesfield.” Masha says deviously as the tractor begins moving. “The Tale of the Brothers Wittebane.”

You, Luz, and Hunter gasp, and Amity leans in, moving her bang away. “Wittebane? Isn't that Belos?”

“The year is 1613.” Lights glow behind the four, and they turn to see the story being told in an exhibit. “Two orphaned brothers arrive in Gravesfield. Their names? Philip... and Caleb.“

“Oh, no.”

As Masha narrates the story, cardboard cutouts depicting events that happened to Philip and Caleb play out in the background as the gang watches.

“Caleb did his best to take care of his younger brother. They tried to fit in with this town, and its unsavory practices. They became witch-hunters!” Masha informs, the wind blowing the stray strands of hair on their head around. “Local lore suggests that the Brothers Wittebane met a real witch from another world! Her name was Evelyn. And the older brother was spirited away. She dazzled him with magic and visions of a strange yet beautiful place. They used a secret code to travel between worlds. Philip set off to save his brother and bring the witch to justice. But neither were ever seen again! Maybe Philip saved Caleb, and they went on to lead peaceful lives. Or maybe,” They turn on a flashlight and points it at their face, “he's still chasing his brother, caught in a cycle of horror and strife!”

Masha turns off the flashlight, smiling. “Sounds like big bro got a hot witch girlfriend and little bro got upset.” Masha jokes. You glance at Hunter, who seems out of it. “But that's just me.”

The hayride ends and the gang gets out of the tractor. Nearby, Hunter hears Belos laughing, which terrifies him. He grabs Luz once he realizes that you aren’t watching, and the two run off.

After a few minutes, the group starts to look for them after noticing.

“Luz? Hunter?” You call out, and accidentally bump into Amity.

She shakes her head, “Did you find them?”

“Calm down. They probably just went to buy some more cars.” Gus reassured as you fidgeted with the seeds on your shirt.

“Yeah. Yeah. You're right. I just- I wanted to show Luz the rebus.” She looks down at the pocket in her dress to pull it out, but it’s gone. “Wait. Where did it go?”

“Kids!” You all hear Camila’s voice call for you, and turn to see her and Vee rushing to you from her car. “Have you seen Luz? And has she, um, said anything weird?”

Vee whips out the phone Camila finds her with a grin. “Boom! Find a phone.”

After a few beeps, it shows Luz’s location to be deep inside the forest. And as confused as you all are, you’re more concerned with finding your friends.

You run into the graveyard Luz was in to see her fighting… Hunter? You gasp as you gently push past Amity, eyes wide as you watch your possessed boyfriend fight off your closest friend.

“Hunter?” You question in horror, the blue glowing eyes that didn’t belong to him glanced over at you with a cruel smile.

“That’s Hunter?” Camila gasps.

“Something's wrong.” Gus shakes his head.

Hunter speaks, but it’s meshed with Belos’ voice. “See, this is why you're so useful, Luz. You're so desperate to help people, you even helped me meet The Collector.”

“What?”

“I didn't mean to. I thought I was doing something good.” Luz states, clasping her hands over her chest.

“You did do something good. I thought this one was another lost cause.” Belos spoke through Hunter, and you furrowed your brows furiously. “Because of you, we can finish our work as witch-hunters, starting with them!”

He launches his goop arm at you and the others, but you quickly summon your staff, deflecting it and flying off towards him.

He grunts as you, Amity, and Gus use your magic to try and knock him down or restrain him, but to no avail.

“Hey, Belos. Remember me?” Gus shouts, and Belos launches his arm out again, only for you and Willow to latch onto it and slam it onto the ground to restrain him.

Vee runs forward, “Hang tight, Hunter!” She starts draining his magic with her powers.

Amity snatches Vee away before she can be knocked away. “Vee, watch out!”

After making sure Vee was safe, you all fly back to try again, but Belos knocks Amity, Gus, and Willow out of the sky while you narrowly dodge the smack.

You quickly cast a spell for a cloud to appear under them before they hit the ground, and turn back to Hunter and Luz.

Luz uses Hunter’s staff and teleports to him, hugging his arms to his sides, “I know you can hear me, Hunter. Fight him off!”

Belos flips Luz off of him, and Amity creates a bridge of ice and vines to catch her as you swoop down and break her fall. Letting her roll off you, you quickly sit up.

Flapjack starts chirping and pecking at Belos's antlers, but the he immediately catches the small palisman. Everyone freezes, and Belos chuckles darkly.

“That's right. You wouldn't want me harming your precious palisman, would you?” His grin drops for a moment, before returning. “Oh, but then again, I don't care what you want. Goodbye, Evelyn.” Belos sends sharp parts of himself shooting through Flapjack. You gasp, tears welling in your eyes as he lets go of the bird

“Flapjack!” You cry out, Luz crawling over as he lands in your hands. “Flapjack, you'll be okay.” You gently caress the top of his head, and he chirps at you.

Hunter groans, holding his arm as he stands up. “You know what I'd like, Belos?” He slowly trudges towards the lake, the vial of Titan’s blood in his grasp. “'d like to leave the Emperor's Coven and never step foot in that throne room again. I'd like to study wild magic, and learn how to carve palismen. I'd like to attend Hexide as a regular student and play flyer derby with my friends. I’d like to be able to see my partner without worrying about you killing them. But most of all, I'd like to make sure you never hurt anyone again!” Hunter throws the vial of Titan's blood into the river, and Belos takes over again.

“No!” Belos jumps into the water, managing to catch the vial but falls unconscious as a result.

“No!” You gasp, standing up and moving to the edge of the bridge.

“Move.” Camila says sternly, brushing past you. She jumps into the water to save him and a few moments later, manages to rescue him.

“Be careful with him!” You shout, moving to the edge to help.

The others help you and Camila hoist Hunter onto the surface, you gently set his head on your lap, hands cupping his face.

Belos finally leaves Hunter's body as he takes the monstrous form he previously had.

“Caleb, you would stab me in the back?”

Luz stares at him angrily, “You did it to him first.”

Belos, outraged, smashes the vial of Titan's blood into the archway, opening a portal to the Demon Realm. Your mouth drops open, but your glare remains.

Belos growls, “This is for the good of your souls. You'll thank me later.”

He goes through the portal, leaving everyone speechless.

“That's the Belos you've been fighting this whole time?!”

You turn to the group after shaking Hunter for a while, “Guys, Hunter isn't moving.” You cry, tears in your eyes as you lean down to his face to listen for breathing.

“Vee, call an ambulance.” Camila says, and Vee nods, standing up and pulling out her phone.

“Uh, do human doctors know about possession?” Willow asks, eyes welling with tears.

“Or Grimwalkers?” You ask, looking up at Camila desperately.

“Possession?!”

“Grimwalkers?!”

“We should still call a doctor.”

“I'm not getting cell reception.”

“What do we do?”

A weakened Flapjack flies out of Luz's pocket to Hunter, and the others watch despondently. Flapjack rubs his face against Hunter’s cheek and chirps sadly, then settles down, sacrificing his life to revive Hunter as the others sadly watch on.

Hunter groans and slowly opens his eyes, which have turned brown, “Hey, guys. Is everyone else okay?”

Gus and Luz share a glance before turning back to Hunter, “Actually, Flapjack...”

“Don't. Don't.” He cries, hand clutching his chest where Flapjack last laid. “I already know.”

The tears you’d been holding finally fall as Hunter sits up, leaning back on you for support as you hug him from behind tightly.

“Sit up slowly, baby. Are you in pain anywhere?” Camila asks worriedly, placing a hand on his shin.

Hunter squeezes your forearm as you cry into his back. “I'm okay.”

You don’t really hear the others talking about the Collector over your silent cries and sniffs, but when Hunter turns around and takes your face into his hands softly, you feel grateful.

“I thought I lost you,” You sighed as he stood and pulled you up, not letting go of your hands,

“I’m here.” Hunter smiles, pulling you over to Luz and the others.

“Mija, now that I've seen what you're up against, there is no way I'm letting you go back there alone.” Camila says firmly. “It is our duty to help your friends get back to their families.”

“But...” Luz starts, but Hunter steps over with you right behind him.

“You were tricked. That's what Belos does. He tricks people.” Hunter says grimly, earning a squeeze on his hand from you. “But if it weren't you, it would have been someone else, and then there'd be no one left to fight back. So let's do that. Let's fight back. Please? For Flapjack?”

Luz turns her gaze back to you, and she’s reminded of her family on the other side. Your shared family. You smile encouragingly at her.

“For Flapjack.”

The portal pulses, and the group turns their attention towards it.

“The portal's closing.” Vee points out.

“Then we better head in.” Luz nods, and you and Hunter make your way to the portal first.

Standing before it, he looks to you, and you look at him. You give him a smile reassuring smile, and he sighs shakily.

“Time to go home, Flap.”

[lampmanliveblogs]

(i watched a few seconds further than this screenshot implies and saw Fake!Augustus push Luz down into a pit)

Fake!Augustus calls Luz a hypocrite, citing how everyone helped her get back home to her mom (even though they were doing that before the Day of Unity and once it became clear that DoU was major bad news, Luz stopped her attempts to get back to the human Realm to try and prevent it), but now (supposedly) because of her, Gus will never get to see his father again. Meanwhile, a group of people, students and teachers at Hexside, with their faces shrouded by heavy shadows, watch on…

Befitting of Gus, the showman illusionist, this takes place on a stage in front of a large crowd. The confrontations with Fake!Amity and Fake!Willow were private, but Fake!Augustus is loudly accusing Luz for all the world to see and hear.

Luz stammers out a weak proclamation, that she won’t stop until she’s saved everyone, at which point Fake!Augustus pushes her over the edge to meet ”him.”

It’s gonna be Hunter, isn’t it?

Called it, Hunter was next on the list.

And with a giant statue of Flapjack in the distance, body cracked and broken, a not so subtle reminder of a wound that is still open and fresh. A life that Luz was unable to save.

Wait… is it just me or did the animation suddenly go super smooth? Why are we getting sakuga of Hunter crying on the floor? When I’m crying on the floor, it never looks this good.

(speaking of things being high-quality, Zeno Robinson, is, as per usual, great as Hunter. the grief and rage in his voice… mwah!)

Fake!Hunter brings up how (and I’ve talked about this before) how before he met Flapjack, he never ever considered disobeying orders or have any rebellious thoughts. But when he met Flapjack (and also Luz, but let’s ignore that) and the bird palisman became his best friend, he started becoming a more free individual. This culminated in him finally being freed from his shackles to Belos… only for Belos to return and use Hunter’s own hand to mortally wound Flapjack. Now Flapjack is gone, with all that remains is a sliver of magic power within Hunter.

And Luz? She gets her own palisman, her own lifelong companion to be by her side through the hardest trial of her life.

This point about how Luz ”gets to have it all” is similar to what Gus brought up just a moment ago.

(Future Lampman here: Past Lampman forgot to bring this up, but each place we see these confrontations take place in is significant. Fake!Amity showing up at the bridge to the castle is similar to Eda showing up to challenge Lilith in Agony of a Witch, Luz encounters Fake!Willow in a forest that looks almost exactly like Willow’s mindscape from Understanding Willow, and Fake!Augustus on the stage is likely a callback to Enchanting Grom Fright. As for this scene… I’m not sure actually. I don’t think it’s a callback to any specific scene, more so just to Hunter’s upbringing in the castle.)

You and me both Luz. ”Witches’ Battle?” That’s not what that’s been called before. Saaaaayyyyy… do you think something weird might be going on like, oh, I dunno… your friends not acting like themselves???

Luz: ”You… look like Amity. You feel like Amity…”

Luz: ”But you don’t smell like Amity. Seriously, we really need to get you a deodorant you’re not allergic to. Come to think of it, how come the Boiling Isles have their own version of the internet, yet you people never invented deodorant? Wireless communication is no problem, but some perfume under your armpits is beyond even the mightiest of witches!?”

[writing-fanics]

⁂ starry eyed ⁂

✦ Hunter X Collector!Reader ✦

[Chapter Five: Watching and Dreaming]

previous chapter

[Y/n] smiles, as she sits up happy the war is over, watching as the sun shines between the clouds. She looked down at a puddle of water, and her reflection stared back at her, and her eyes were no longer that of the same as her brother. But, [e/c] and her hair was now, [h/c], and the purple batch on her face no longer there.

‘And that's how we saved the Boiling Isles.’

In the forest where the red pine trees are to be placed horizontally. A bird perches on one horizontally.’Well, as much as we could.’ 

At the Archives, where everyone starts to come out safely. 

‘We were so relieved to see everyone safely released from the Archives. They were spared the worst of it, at least.’

Lilith hands over a puppet Steve to be returned to normal by The Collector. Steve then feels his body and sees Lilith, who offers him a hug. Instead, Steve scoops her into a big hug, much to Lilith and The Collector’s happiness. Inside everyone was reuniting with their families and loved ones. 

with their families and loved ones. 

‘Because of that, everyone got to reunite with their families and loved ones.’

Amity runs over to hug her father, who happily hugs her. “Dad!” Amity laughs happily, Odalia scowling to the side. Gus, looks around for his father worriedly. When he does, he releases several illusions of himself which all approach his father. Once surrounded, Perry tries to hug the first two illusions until he gets to the third one, who turns out to be the real Gus. He picks him up and hugs him as the other illusions disappear. 

Willow looks around for her fathers, accompanied by Hunter. He then suddenly smiles and points to someone. Willow instantly stares in shock and she runs to hug her fathers tight, who then kiss each other after. 

Hunter’s expression returns to gloom as he reaches into his pocket; pulling out the single wolf ear hairclip. He had forgotten to give it to her when they reunited, and something in him told him that he’d never see him again. The moment he saw the tiny stars fall from the sky in the archives, it was just that gut feeling. He looks down sadly, as he looks after realizing no one might be probably waiting for him.

‘And if someone thought they had no one waiting for them, well, they were in for a nice surprise.’ 

Someone suddenly ruffles Hunter’s hair, and he looks towards them in annoyance to reveal Darius and Eberwolf, with an appreciative looks on both of their faces. Darius then points to Hunter’s shirt to which he goes into detail explaining everything while Darius and Eberwolf look on, interested. 

Someone suddenly taps on Hunter’s shoulder, and he looks towards them in annoyance but turns into a look of joy, revealing [Y/n]. Emotions took over and he wrapped his arms around her, hugging her as if her life depended on it. She pulled back from the hug and smiled at him, the excitement of seeing her again and the emotions, just seemed to take over, cause the next moment he crashed his lips on hers. She was taken aback for a moment but slowly melted into the kiss and kissed him back. 

Back in Hexside, everyone celebrates the return of Principal Bump, which is met with applause. His long black hair, which is flowing in the wind, stops to reveal Amelia and Cat, who wave happily. Boscha suddenly pushes through the Blight twins who were in front of her, Edric falling due to his cast, runs over and hugs them, crying.

‘Still, there was a lot of work to be done—’

Various Bonesborough citizens, including Morton, observe all the damage done. Darius and Eberwold, inside the ruined castle, look on at the Titan’s hand, now in its new position. 

‘And not everyone was keen to change things—’ 

Belos’ ruined throne. Vitimir, Terra and Adrian all walk towards it with mischievous looks on their faces. Two big shadows loon over them, revealed to be Darius and Eberwolf. Darius forms his left hand into an abomination fist, seemingly threatening them, as the three coven heads walk away nervously. Vitimit suddenly returns to touch the edge of the throne and it is promptly smashed away by Darius’ abomination hand. 

‘But we were ready to give it a shot. All of us.’

Inside the owl house, Eda fixes the nest as she lays Raine down, then resting by their side. King jumps from behind, plopping into the spot beside Raine as Luz, Eda, and [Y/n] laugh. A blue light suddenly flashes and the gang turns to look at the Collector, followed by a hooded Lilith. The sisters reunite and hug as Camila and Amity, also enter the house. Amity and Luz hugs, and subsequently share a kiss. Camila then nudges Luz’s hand and the two share a hug. 

‘As for The Collector—’

The Collector then approaches King and decides to give him back Francois. King happily hugs Francois as he walks away.

‘he and I made a pinky promise to keep trying our best. He said he had a lot of growing up to do, so he decided to return to the stars.’

[Y/n] looks down at her little brother and hugged him, and he hugged her back “Even though, I’m no longer a Collector, I’m still your big sister.” She said, kissing him on the forehead. King then catches up with the Collector and decided to let him have Francois. He then whispers in The Collector’s ear, which makes him tear up. 

‘No one argued, but I think I heard King whisper, "I hope I see you again.” 

‘We got our happy ending, but I realized something in that moment.’

‘When the Titan had finally passed on, so did the powers of the glyphs.’

But there would be a new adventure.. 

[ four years later ] 

Owlbert flies next to Willow, who is now a professional flyer derby player. Together, they dive into the forest, where Hunter is carving a palisman from palistorm wood to give to Braxas. Willow lands on the ground and surfs on thorny vines. Hunter turns and he has a bluejay on his shoulder. He glances at the Bat Queen and Eda’s parents working in the garden. He catches up with Willow and walks before sliding down a steep incline. Hunter loses his balance and Willow breaks Hunter’s fall, and they are in shock. 

They look to the side and they warmly smile. It is a gravestone for Flapjack, and Willow conjures delicate vines to decorate the gravestone. Hunter and Willow fly off to Bonesborough. They stop at the library, which is in the process of renovation. Mattholomule is seen overseeing the construction, while Kikimore is struggling with the wooden beams. Lilith unfurls her plans for a library wing, and Hooty eagerly watches. 

The wind suddenly picks up and an Abomintaion themed blimp lands in front of them. Amity steps out and hugs Lilith. Lilith then revealed her new harpy form, which resembles a raven. [Y/n] lands on the ground, and holds her staff in her hand while holding a sketchbook in the other. She smiled happily seeing, everyone, and walked towards Hunter kissing him on the cheek.

‘Jasper, stop I’m trying to listen!’

‘Me too, shh be quiet Stella!’ 

Sitting in a chair sat a much older [Y/n] her hair had been cut short, and there was a wedding band around her left ring finger. Closing the picture book in her hands she looked down at the children in front of her. A boy with blonde hair and [e/c] eyes looked at his twin sister with an annoyed look. A girl with [h/c] hair and brown eyes stuck her tongue out her at older twin. [Y/n] shook her head, and watched as her children bickered over them continuously interrupting the story. 

“Knock it off you two,” She said, looking at the twins whose gaze shifted back to their mother, who still held the book in her hands. She opens the book, and was about to continue reading. 

“Mommy?” Stella said, causing her mother to look up from the book. “Yes, sweetie?” [Y/n] said, looking at her daughter. “What, was it like when you kissed daddy?” She asked, and Jasper looked at her disgusted making a barf face. 

[Y/n] chuckled, patting her lap Stella stood up and waddled her way towards her, and she picked her up. “Well, the first thing there was a lot of emotion behind it.” She said, smiling looking down at her daughter, “We hadn’t seen each other in almost a day, and he thought he’d lost me again, and that he’d never see me again.” She said, sadly causing Stella to frown. 

“But, the moment he saw me it was like seeing an old friend after years of being apart. And all that emotion just took over.” She said, recalling it and smiling warmly at the memory. “Then he said I love you?” Stella asked, and [Y/n] shook her head, “Nope, not yet thats my little star.” [Y/n] said, nuzzling her head against Stella’s. “Is a story for another day.” She said, causing Stella to frown. 

“Awe, did I miss storytime?” A voice said, the children looked over towards the doorway, a much older Hunter stood there. “Daddy!” the twins exclaimed, running over to their father he knelt down wrapping his arms around his children. 

“How’s, my little stars?” He asked, Jasper looked at his father happily, “Mommy’s telling us the story of how you and everyone defeated Belos.” She said, and Hunter looked at her, “They’ve been begging me nonstop.” She said, and Hunter just rolled his eyes with a smile. “Plus, they wanted to stay up so they could see you.” she said, smiling and placing a bookmark in the book for later. 

She pushed herself up from the chair, revealing her bump of a stomach. “Now, that you back….Bedtime!” She said, clapping her hands, causing the twins to whine. “Daddy! Can we stay up to finish the story?!” They asked, and Hunter shook his head, “Nope, mom said it’s bedtime.” Hunter said, and they pouted folding their arms across their chest. 

“Plus, mommy needs rest,” Hunter said, gesturing toward their mother’s growing stomach. “But, I’ll finish the story tomorrow,” Hunter said, looking down at the twins whose eyes lit up with joy. 

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[mdhwrites]

You mentioned how Amity cant really be categorised as a good person.

Do you think the same could be said of Luz? I was rewatching the show and alot of her actions seem selfish but never really get fixed or challenged. I.e. pressuring Willow into forgiving her bully because well, LUZ likes her and wants to live out her redemption fantasy. Or her tendency to lie, or just do whatever she wants even if it upsets or hurts people.

A lot of the general same points about Amity as a good person can be made about Luz. We see little kindness for kindness' sake from her, she doesn't go above and beyond for others very much unless they're VERY close to her, her motives are commonly selfishly motivated, etc. like that. Episode 1 is actually one of the closest to a genuinely selfless act to strangers she does, helped by the fact that freeing the prisoners to help Eda is still essentially to help save a stranger since she barely knows Eda and King at this point. After that those generalities, where I could talk about how Amity was at least MAYBE trying to be better, well...

The specifics get a lot rougher. This is partially due to Luz's archtype of main character. A LOT of S1 is characterized by a formula of Luz wanting something/playing out a fantasy, Luz fucking something up in the pursuit of this and then her having to work to fix it. It's actually pretty standard kid's show fair but without the clearer morals usually included in shows like this, or TOH has redundant morals for that matter. A lot of people will point to her doing things like checking on Amity post Covention as a moment of her being a good person to even an enemy but Luz is at least partially the cause for why she's upset and already messed up so setting that right, or just comforting a crying teenager, is kind of the bare minimum that most human beings will do. I've called this and stuff like Eda not letting a teenage girl die "the bare minimum of being a good person" for a reason. You genuinely have to discard good morality entirely in order to not be affected by death or the consequences of your actions.

Which... Gets into how Luz does get a LOT more questionable as even the bare minimum of a good person once the second half of the show begins. Falls and Follies starts on a normal foot for her where the only reason she reaches out to help an enemy is selfishly motivated as a way to prove her own hypothesis. This is like how in Teenage Abomination, it's really easy to draw a line from "I want to get into the magic school" to "Let me be your abomination to show Amity up... And get into the magic school so don't worry about the rules!" Elsewhere Elsewhen is also explicitly about helping someone for her own gain but... Well, she manages to stumble here. She misses Lilith's party, a theoretically important moment for Lilith, and then demands a favor from her after just an apology. Now yes, she has a reason because she was focused on the portal door stuff but it's a precedent. Luz actively seeming to dodge how others may feel while focusing only on herself as she becomes increasingly selfish, usually made worse with context or framing, and all the show, or fandom, can do is give her a flimsy excuse for why she's justified.

Reaching Out's final big Lumity conversation contrasts with their last talk in Covention PERFECTLY to exemplify this. In Covention, Amity and Luz are both in the wrong. Amity instigated the conflict, Luz escalated it into a fight and then cheated and then Amity was tricked into cheating that same fight. I would probably put more blame on Amity due to her antagonism but both have been wronged here. So when in character, Amity demands Luz say she's not a witch, it feels correct even though it hurts to see her so angry and you want the bully to stop being mean. But Luz, again in character as the better person of the two at the moment, acquiesces and gives Amity what she wants before trying to show her why she should be given a chance. A moment of compassion that is then met with compassion by Amity dispelling the everlasting oath. Both were in the wrong but both, through who they are, set things right and find understanding with one another. It's a beautiful moment and one of TOH's absolute bests, even to this day.

Then you have Reaching Out. Amity has done NOTHING wrong this entire episode. Meanwhile, Luz has gotten bored at watching her girlfriend fight, actively ignored Amity's pain, even when it's pointed out to her, and lied the entire episode for what feels like no reason because she was willing to at least admit that SOMETHING was wrong to Eda and King, made even worse with the context that three episodes ago, she agreed to be more open. Luz is inexcusably in the wrong and her father's death does NOT make up for it.

But... When the two sit down, Luz doesn't apologize. Not immediately. She doesn't do more than ask to sit, acting more nervous than she did while Amity was a bully to her. Then Amity literally lists Luz's crimes of that episode... Before asking towards the root of the problem. Despite having run away due to being so upset, Amity is a fucking saint in just wanting an explanation without getting even an apology first. Then Luz gives the explanation, remembers right at the end to apologize but gives Amity nothing else. No words of encouragement, no acknowledgement that what she did today was wrong... Just an excuse. And yes, Luz says it's not an excuse but do you know what you do when you don't want to claim something as an excuse? YOU APOLOGIZE FIRST AND DON'T PUT THE EXCUSE FIRST. Instead, her entire confession is just her justifying why she's been so selfish that episode. It's also an explanation, sure, but she also uses it as her motivation and reason for eactions. Why she did all of this. Shunts everything she did onto this one event going on, a very emotionally manipulative event that will make most people uncomfortable when brought up like this, and then... Amity gets up, vows to make things right for Luz and then heads off.

It's shit like this that makes Luz not a neutral person or just a nice person to their friends but a straight up ASSHOLE. Hollow Mind has her FINALLY getting upset about Belos... When his policies mean she can't get her magic cloak fixed. She at first refuses to go save her girlfriend from being under house arrest because she's too focused on her guilt about Belos and Eda and so would rather literally do NOTHING than go save Amity. And then of course the big one:

In S1, she CONSTANTLY made up for the mistakes she made. She fucked up with her own choices time and time again. One of her few truly redeeming, completely positive traits was this willingness to accept she'd fucked up and set things right. But now that her choices, selfish choices, has potentially destroyed an entire WORLD... She'll do nothing. Absolutely. Fucking. Nothing.

The show frames it as self martyrdom. She frames it as learning from her mistake. But if that were true, she might actually have tried to change her behavior. To not still be focusing entirely on herself. To bring up how she is fucking over her friends and found family. Even acknowledge the collateral that comes with this choice or that she needs someone else to make the choices because she no longer can have faith in herself to do so. Instead, it comes across as her realizing this will be hard this time and just going "Fuck this."

It doesn't make Luz evil but it means that you cannot call her a good person. Especially since, you know, she has still been caught lying TWICE to Amity and seen the pain that lying to her girlfriend causes her and STILL WON'T TELL HER THE TRUTH! Tell Eda and King though? She does that literally at the start of Edge of the World, despite already supposedly hating herself for all of this.

It's bad. There's no two ways around how Luz behaves. You can try to excuse it. Say she's depressed and traumatized. That she can't deal with it. I did an entire teaching blog on fantasy trauma because of those excuses and how profoundly stupid they are if you actually know fantasy. Also, she didn't have to react like this. Anne was still a good person but clearly, at least if you're looking for trauma responses instead of thinking the only response is to cry and throw yourself a pity party, shows severe signs of not being able to handle what just happened during True Colors. She literally can't talk about everything because it overwhelms her. However, instead of deciding, "Fuck the Plantars, Marcy, Sasha, AMPHIBIA," her response is to work herself to DEATH to fix it. And this is despite the fact that her own trust and choices on who to trust, Andrias, Sasha and Marcy all included in this, directly helped lead to potentially a friend's death, three different betrayals and who knows what to Amphibia at that time.

TOH, time and time again, could have chosen to have Luz act in a way that still portrayed her as even trying to be a good person but always chooses not to, instead using excuses for it instead of her actual actions. She could have been OVERLY worried about Amity and thus make her line about "I don't want my problems distracting her," feel a lot more honest and she still fucks things up but out of care instead of selfishness. She could have come to Eda, conflicted and asking permission to go help her girlfriend because she feels like she'll do nothing here but that Amity is safe like this, while they're not, so if they need her, she'll let Amity know and stay here. Eda says she's not needed and you still get her caring about the stakes of the Isles while not making it look like she'd rather have the CHANCE to do something than actually pursue helping her girlfriend. And for staying home? Have her talk to... Probably Hunter as the best option since he already knows everything and this is most in character for him. She admits her fears, instead of through a bullshit, autoplay video diary, and Hunter, worried about the consequences of his own actions and how his own drive hurt so many people while as the Golden Guard, says maybe she should just stop. They'll be okay without her but yeah, you do meddle with things and you've practically destroyed the Isles. Maybe it'd just be better if you tried living a quiet, normal life. She still gets her angst, Camila could overhear and wrestle with what she wants her daughter to do until committing at the end of the episode by going into the portal but you don't have Luz just callously throwing everyone's lives away when supposedly she is uncertain about her ability to make the right choices. Admittedly, this still means keeping the secret from Amity but like... If she did tell Amity, she'd be told not to blame herself, that they need her and get the clear conscience she needed to actually go fix things. You know, the same reason she can't fucking talk to any friends during the episodes because the writers backed themselves into a corner.

But each time, TOH goes with easiest, dumbest, WEIRDEST choices when it comes to how to frame Luz in the second half of the series, to the point where if her angst arc is our mental health representation, I'd rather wait another five years thank you very much! I already have to deal with a brother who excuses his abuse and selfishness with his mental health issues. I don't need fictional characters doing it too, let alone their fandoms. Because as always: Trauma and Mental Illness are not excuses to be ASSHOLES.

And I'm flatly sorry but in the second half of the series, after Vee calls her out on it, Luz is just a selfish asshole and it's hard to say otherwise.

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