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Chapter Text

Luz honestly had no flipping idea where she was.

I mean, there was no way that this dark empty abyss of a place was the Conformatorioum. And she was pretty sure that the guard that occasionally came to give her food- the dude said his name was Henderson, he was a decent person, for a Coven guard- worked for the Emperor’s Coven, given his bird like mask.

She had long ago collected that she was in the castle dungeon.

On one hand, it was a castle dungeon. She had dreamt of things like this.

On the other hand, it was the Emperor’s castle dungeon, she had no clue where Eda was, and her brain was so foggy that she almost forgot her own name.

Those cons outweighed the pros by a million to one.

On this very normal day, when Henderson came to give her her slop-it was actually really nice if you compare it to other foods on the Isles and Earth cafeterias- he tied her hands in what looked like a cross between rope and flexible steel.

He gently apologized for tightening it way too hard and turned to go back to whence he came, leaving Luz in the dark-both literally and figuratively.

What seemed like hours passed her by, until the familiar sound of the dungeon’s door opening was heard.

Except, instead of the plague doctor like mask of the guards, she saw a pale face with cold dead eyes, staring at here rigidly.

“Lilith,” the girl growled at the witch. One of the few things she could remember-and the one thing she hoped she could forget- was this woman and all she had done.

“Human. I see the scout did his job.”

“How do I know his name, but you don’t?” the girl retorted with a slightly smug smirk on her lips.

“You are already on thin ice, Human,” the witch said as she opened the cell. “The Emperor wishes to see you now.”

Luz expression slowly changed as she realised what exactly Lilith had just said.

“Voy a morir hoy.”

Lilith gave the girl a questionable look as she pulled the chain like rope-and the girl- up.

What in the Titan’s name had Edalyn seen in this human to make her risk her life?

“You’re tugging.” hissed the human in pain as she pulled back from the dark hallway, they were somehow in. “You’re tugging while my wrists are wrapped in flipping steel.”

“Quiet.” the witch stated as she stared at the two double doors infront of her. “Listen, just… Do not disrespect the Emperor and we’ll both make it out of this alive.”

“Prefiero que me lanzan el pozo puntiagudo.”

“And please do not speak… Whatever your native tongue is. It will just anger him.”

The human proceeded to mumble what Lilith knew were swear words as the two guards standing infront of the door opened said door to the Coven Leader and prisoner.

Lilith squared her shoulders and led Luz in through the two doors.

Luz, however, was actively pulling her… Chain? Rope? Whatever it was, she was pulling it in quiet desperation as they entered the very dimly lit room.

It looked exactly like how she had seen in-the torches were still ablaze, there was a giant throne pushed to the wall facing her, there were no guards, but the occupant of the throne was sitting on it.

“My Emperor,” Lilith said as she knelt, still holding the end of Luz’s rope-chain.

“Ah, Lilith,” the voice of the Emperor-was that a freakin’ English accent- echoed through the empty rooms sending shivers down Luz’s spine. “You brought me the human.”

Aaand, Luz could feel him staring at her from behind his mask. She turned her head to the side, just to avoid his gaze and caught a glimpse of someone’s cloak from behind a pillar.

So either this was a surprise attack and there was a guard behind each pillar, or whoever that person was was just intrigued by the fact there was a human here in the Demon Realm.

She honestly wished it was the first one, and they had very sharp weapons.

“You’re not listening, are you?”

Aaand, she totally blacked out infront of someone who could kill her on a whim.

“Lilith,” The Emperor said with a small sigh. “Golden Guard, will you leave us?”

“Thank you for your time, My Emperor,” two voices chorused at the same time.

One was Lilith’s but the other one belonged to…

Someone dressed in what looked like an almost exact replica of the Emperor’s cloak stepped out from behind a pillar. He also had a golden owl ma-

Golden Guard. I get it now.

Lilith’s form almost slumped-almost. So either she had some pretty mixed emotions about leaving Luz, or she didn’t like this guy, reminder to try and make him a kinda ally in the future. That’s if she has a future.

Lilith, somehow, had tethered her chain thingy to the ground as she and the Golden Guard exited the throne room.
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“Well she’s dead.” the Golden Guard stated as soon as the doors closed behind the two.

“The Emperor is trying to erase Edalyn’s influence from the face of the realm,” the witch said curtly. “It is bound to happen.”

“It’s what happens when you get stuck with a wild witch and nowhere else to go.”

“Do you speak from experience?”

“We both know I’ve lived here my entire life.”

Somehow, the two were walking down the hallway.

“You do know that he’s not going to kill her… Right?”

Lilith stopped, blinked and looked accusingly at the Guard before saying, “We’re going to go find Kiki for no reason whatsoever and then we are going to go back and drag the human away to get branded. Again.”

“I think that’s already the plan, but okay.”

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Luz pulled at her chain.

It was kinda the only sound in the entire room, and it was definitely not going to budge.

‘Resilient little creature.’

“Where’s Eda!” Luz demanded eventhough she was clearly the desperate one in this situation.

“Petrified.” Belos curtly answered.

“Wow, you just actually answered my question. That never happens in things like this… I think I have an idea of what you’re talking about, but I am going to deny it for the sake of my sanity.”

There was a pang of silence that was filled by the beating heart-scratch that, bile sac- above the throne.

“What exactly is going to happen here?” Luz asked as felt a serious headache was about to hit her head on.

“Listen, Human, I will strike you a deal,” Luz’s eyebrow raised at that. “We both know that Edalyn Clawthorne is out of the equation. Permanently. So, join the Coven and help me find the portal-.”

“And what? You’re not going to let me go home. I rediscovered the ancient way of past magic. The second I get branded I lose all my freakin’ free will. Thank you for the offer, but I’d rather go back to my dark, empty, cold cell.”

The bile sac above the throne started beating a lot faster and Luz knew that it was either a warning or a ‘It’s way too late’ statement.

Either way, the girl started to pull vigorously on her chains as she lowly cursed everyone that had gotten her here-except Eda and King, of course.

“My patience grows thin, Human. I am being generous. You fraternized with a wanted criminal, eventhough it seems as if you were not in a place of suggestion.”

That last part stung deep. She had willingly stayed with Eda and put her in danger, but they thought that Eda had kidnapped her. That would be some pretty weird Stockholm Syndrome right there.

“You have a choice here, and believe me, denying will not have you sent back to your cell.”

The lump in her throat as Luz realized what exactly he meant.

‘You can’t die,’ she thought as she started to seriously hyperventilate. ‘Mami doesn’t know you’re here, she’ll be alone. Forever.’

So the Latina did the only sane thing she could, make a deal with the devil.

“Okay,” she started, thinking through the idea. There was no way he’d agree to an Eternal Oath, so she needed to think carefully. “I’ll join your stupid Coven. But when that portal is found, I want to occasionally go through and see my mom. Then I’ll come back. You could even send Lilith with me.”

The bile sac seemed to slow down, that or Luz had gotten used to the speed it was beating at.

“Deal.”

Well, that happened. Real life villains really liked going hardcore, didn’t they?

“So… Ummm… What happens-?”

“Kikimora.”

Then, like there was a universal cue card, a very vertically challenged red coloured demon with a blue hand for hair walked in through the double doors and did a quick bow to her Emperor before looking the human child right in the eye before, miraculously, undoing whatever hold they had to the ground and pulling Luz out of the room.

The second the two stepped out, Kikimora sighed, “You are the cause of Lilith and the Golden Guard losing their bloody minds? I cannot even begin to imagine Lilith feeling sorry for- What are you doing?”

Luz had taken part of her chains in her mouth, and was trying to chew through it.

“Titan, how are you still alive in this realm.”

Luz angrily spit out the chains before saying, “Easy. I wanted to learn magic, I learnt a lost way of magic. I wanted people to accept me, I got to be part of a found family trope. When I want something, it always gets multiplied tenfold.”

“That is… Logical, given your circumstances. But you do know you’re not getting out of this?”

“Yup,” Luz accepted, popping her ‘p’. “Pretty sure that I knew that when selling my soul to the devil back there.”

She paused before asking, “Does branding hurt?”

“Lilith passed out from hers and she slept for six hours, but it really depends on if you squirm.”

“Does that mean that if I don’t squirm, it won’t hurt?”

“It means that if you don’t squirm, you won’t pass out.”

Luz swallowed the lump in her throat and tried to focus on something else, e.g. the fact Lilith squirmed during her branding session.

Chapter Text

“Luz, they’re attacking head on!”

“My illusions won’t hold for much longer!”

“___, maybe I can give them some weight! Luz, light switch.”

It was dark, but a comforting kind of dark. The girl heard herself sigh angrily as a light switch was flicked on and she could maybe put a face to the voice.

They were all wearing purple cloaks and masks.

One was wearing a blue coloured chameleon mask while spinning their finger in a blue spell circle.

Another one seemed to have opted for visible eye holes in their yellow and black coloured bee mask, because she could see their shinning, dark green eyes.

The last one had a circle around her that she was pouring her magic into as her pure white cat mask reflected it.

“Luz,” the cat masked one said. “Eda can’t hold on much longer!”

“Then I’ll go,” she heard her slightly high pitched voice. “I’ll go and protect my familia.”

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Luz woke up in a cold sweat and immediately put her head back down on the pillow.

Her right wrist plastered itself to her face with a lot of pain radiating off of it-the Emperor’s sigel silently mocking her as a reminder of what she had done.

The room she was so courteously assigned to by a clearly silently depressed Lilith wasn’t that bad.

It was small but looked like a place she could plot stuff and have a little mischief.

(She mentally noted to right all evil plans in Spanish, as no one knew what she was saying.)

The dream was all round terrifying, as the screaming that came from the background ringed repeatedly through her mind. Someone had mentioned Eda, the cat lady was the one. Honestly, she couldn’t remember anyone like them, whoever they were.

She rubbed her right wrist slowly as she was sure the pain wouldn’t go away until after a few days.

She pulled herself out from under the covers and gently picked up her somehow still charged phone. She was good at hiding things. Really good.

From what the phone said, it was three in the morning. Actually, more like two-fifty, but she rounded it up.

Sighing and knowing she wouldn’t be going back to sleep that night, she opted to leave the room and explore the premises a bit-maybe start plotting those evil plans.

The second she touched the door knob, she felt a shock of electricity as she recoiled back with a yelp of pain.

The door opened to show the Golden Guard carrying a book with his mask still on.

“Dude!” Luz yelled, cradling her right hand that was now in even more pain than before. “Why are you at the door at three in the morning? Don’t you sleep?”

“I do.” The boys puberty going through voice said, but one unbelieving look from Luz shut him down. “Sometimes.”

Luz just shook her head disappointedly as her right hand slowly recovered.

“I want to go for a walk,” she sharply said. “Let me through.”

“I can’t do that,” was the Golden Guard’s curt response.

“Why not?”

“No one can know that the youngest member of the Emperor’s Coven is a human. Including the witches in the Emperor’s Coven.”

“Fine, my hair’s been growing two feet every week since I came here. They said it was due to my exposure to magic. I keep cutting it, but I can just grow it out.”

“Can you grow it out by seven-thirty?”

“Why do you ask?”

“Because that’s when the scouts and the rest of the castle are due to clock in.”

“Oh.”

“There’s another option, though.”

Luz questionably raised her eyebrow as the Guard walked into the room and to what she had guessed was a closet before opening it to reveal what was the basis of his uniform, but silver and purple.

“How?” was all the girl managed to squeak out.

“Lilith’s been going to, what did she call it, the ‘Owl House’ as of late and happened to find something you wore.”

“Are you trying to tell me that the plan here was to throw me in the dungeon until I cave and join the Coven?!” Luz whisper-yelled.

“Pretty much.”

“That’s just messed up.”

There was a pang of silence that the Golden Guard ended by just straight up leaving.

But before that, he said, “There’s a library in the Leg wing. See if you can find it.”

Luz just picked up one of the uniforms and whistled in admiration.

“Cannot believe this came out from the measurements of my Grom outfit.”

That’s when her head started pounding. And it hurt, it hurt a lot.

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She came running back into the room, met with grim words.

“She’s gone, isn’t she, Luz?”

She felt as if she wanted to break down crying.

“They killed Eda, Guys,” she said tearfully. “They petrified her because of me!”

“Luz, don’t say that,” the cat lady comforted while she approached the girl, her magic still being dragged into the spell circle. “It’s not your fault.”

Her grip tightened on whatever she was holding.

“They want three things here,” she said quietly. “One was Eda to petrify. Two is me to work for them. The third thing is this damned portal. You guys just got caught up in the crossfire. You can still escape and live your lives.”

“Luz-.” The bee lady tried to start but was shut down by the girl.

“They want me to join their Coven by the Emperor’s orders. They won’t stop until they have me, and if you help, you’ll only end up like Eda. Plus, the headaches are getting worse and I’m forgetting more and more things. I don’t want to be around when I forget who you are!”

“Okay,” the cat lady said, much to her surprise. “Go ahead.”

“What!”

“_____, have you lost it?!”

“Listen guys,” the cat lady started. “Luz is right. They won’t stop until she joins them, and who knows what’s gonna happen when she forgets us. The best we can do is let her go willingly. And maybe, as farfetched as it seems, we’ll see each other again.”

The bee lady seemed to have started crying.

“Yeah,” she said in between sniffles. “You were a good friend, Luz. I’ll work so had that I’ll become the Plant Coven leader. The youngest one ever! A protégé of plant magic.”

“And I solemnly swear on my dad’s job that I’ll be the powerful illusion protégé so that we can hang out,” swore the chameleon boy.

“And I swear on my life to you, Luz Noceda, that I’ll get better and better in abominations, work harder and harder under Lilith Clawthorne, and one day join the Emperor’s damned Coven all just so I can see you again,” the cat lady sadly worded out the next few years of her life.

She could feel her tears as she smiled a little and took up the cat lady’s hand, putting whatever she was holding in it.

“Remember to keep my memory alive. And to clean Hooty once a week.”

With that, the brave Luz Noceda left the room to deliver herself to her enemies.

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Luz was just lying down on the floor as her brain recollected itself after her little… Was that one of her memories, or a dream. She certainly didn’t remember ever having friends, then again, she didn’t remember a lot of things. Especially things from the Human Realm.

That’s when she remembered that the Golden Guard had told her that he would be in the library if she wanted to read anything. She thought.

She looked over to the uniform that she had dropped on the ground next to her and immediately knew what she would call herself.

The Silver Guard.

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So either the human was lost or she passed out on her bed.

“Weak.”

“Who ya calling weak!” someone yelled and their words echoed through the entire library.

“Are you trying to wake up the entire castle?!” hissed the Guard as the human appeared, miraculously, beside him. “Where is the mask?”

“There’s no one around. There’s no point for it.”

“There are people on the night shift.”

“The hood is covering my ears.”

“They’ll wonder where you came from.”

“Great. Tell them the Emperor kidnapped a child. What- Ow! Are you mad! The sigel still hurts like crazy! Why’d you hit me on it?!”

“Never say that again, Human.” the Guard whisper-hiss-yelled as he slapped his palm to cover up her mouth. “He can hear you.”

There was a pause before, “Are you licking my hand?! Gross!”

“You’re gross!” Luz yelled back. “Anyways, any books on memories in this place.”

“You’re not allowed to read books on memories, Emperor’s orders.”

“I guess that explains the memory loss.”

Luz paused before asking, “Has Lilith taken any apprentices under her wing lately?”

The Golden Guard lightly tapped his masked chin in slight thought.

“No, I don’t think so. She does have a very old one. Amity Blight. She comes here with her friends on mostly Tuesdays. Why do you ask?”

“No reason. Now, do you have anything on the history of the Isles?”

Even with the mask, she could see his grin as he pushed a giant pile of books in between the two of them.

“Take. Your. Pick.

Chapter Text

Amity Blight had a ton of problems in her life. Most of them seemed to revolve around her horrible mother and her decidedly kind but out of it dad. Her siblings made a ton more complications than problems, but when they made problems, they made big problems.

She used to have an easy, straightforward life plan. Go through school as top of the class, get elected as Student Body President, graduate as Valepythonissamarian, join the Emperor’s Coven and become the youngest Coven Head that had ever lived.

See, easy.

The main problem began when an unexpected variable that had dropped into her life at the end of Middle School.

Luz Noceda, the human witch.

They hadn’t seen the girl in weeks, and that’s exactly how Luz had wanted it when she left.

“I swear, the next time Boscha puts paint in it, I’m gonna! Ugh!!!” Willow had half yelled as they sat down in the cafeteria with their lunches.

“C’mon Willow,” Gus had said as he sat next opposite of the two girls. “You don’t need to take anymore of her nonsense. I could prank her for you?”

“I don’t think we need that kind of attention, Gus,” Amity had said as she sat down, half out of it, looking over her… Gus called it a human delicacy? A Hot Dog. “Luz disappeared without a trace, so the Coven must be looking for any loose ends. If they found out about us from the school, they’d start investigations and literally look through our files and houses. And if they found the portal, our only hope would be that someone there thinks that it would be better to immediately brand us.”

“Amity, I’m not really sure a harmless prank would do any of that, but you’re the boss.”

“I still want my plants to drag her into the ground and suffocate her and then I’ll use her as fertilizer, but okay.

“Guys,” Amity had started, her brain yelling at her to shut up. “It’s been literal weeks since Luz gave herself up, and even more since Eda was captured. There has been no talk about her around the Coven, but Henderson-a scout in the Golden Guard’s whatever the name for the group is- was talking about the human prisoner in the dungeon that he was in charge of.”

Willow was staring at the girl as if she was mad, and Gus had put his arms around himself in anticipation.

“I followed Jean-the person he was talking to- and she told me that it was classified. But then she came close to my ear and whispered that said human was at an audience with the Emperor.”

“Amity, please stop,” Willow had begged, her voice cracking like she was going to start crying.

“No. This next part is important. So I did the unthinkable and went to the throne room but made a run for it when I saw Kikimora pulling out this girl. I followed them all the way to her branding session, which looked painful as hell and nearly got to talk to them. I-I was st-topped by Lilith, who was finally ready for my training session. I could see them walking away while cradling her newly branded arm! For all we know, it could’ve been Luz! I mean what other human girl with her exact skin tone could be on the Isles.”

“How long was the diary session you had when you wrote this?” Gus asked in a very grim tone.

“It’s not funny, Gus!” Willow said on the verge of tears. “Why can’t we do something! Get our friend back!”

“Because she told us not to, Willow. She told us to live our lives because she didn’t want us to die. She wanted us to find her, and that what we’ll do.”

That was the conversation the three had had a solid two months ago, and it still made her worry, even after finding out it was Luz and that public initiation into the Emperor’s Coven as the Silver Guard.

“Willow?”

“Yeah, Am?” Willow answered as her plants were still shattering rocks like they were thin glass.

“How did that multi-sexual Grom outfit make something so damn professional? And, you know, that?”

“Am, when I said take a break from studying, I did not mean take a break and fall in love with that girl all over again.”

Amity turned pink in the cheeks as she slipped the pictures into her back pocket.

“Didn’t Gus want to follow us to the castle?” Amity asked, looking around they’re woodland hangout site.

“He said he’d meet us there,” Willow replied, finally finished taking her anger out on a bunch of boulders. “Something ‘bout having a surprise for us.”

“Augustus Porter has a surprise for us at the Emperor’s castle? Is that boy mad?”

“Probably. We better get walking, Am. It’s a long way from here.”

They didn’t notice a girl in a purple and silver uniform watching them.

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Luz watched intently as the two girls walked of.

She did a double take on the destruction that they left behind.

The plant girl had wrecked ten boulders without even trying, half of them without looking. She was good enough to get into the Plant Coven and rocket to the top, eventhough she looked like a freshman.

The abomination girl had sat down on a rock and had been studying while willing an abomination out of thin air and making it just randomly destroy things. The plant girl, at some point had asked her to stop studying, so she pulled out two different pictures. She couldn’t exactly make out what was on the photos, just that they were photos.

The statement the plant girl made about abomination girl’s crush made her slightly giggle.

“Human!” a voice yelled. “Human! I swear if you don’t give me back my mask!”

Luz laughed and yelled back, “No way, Witch!”

She heard him groan like he was dying and yelled, “Hunter, just apologize for saying that The Good Witch Azura series sucks!”

“Never!”

“Then you’re never getting your mask back!”

“Luz, we need to get back to the castle or else Kiki’s gonna kill us!”

“Kill you! You’re the oldest, remember!”

“UGHHHHHHHH!”

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Amity and Willow approached the bridge on latter’s dad’s staff.

“Now you two be good,” he said as they landed. “I don’t want to hear that you destroyed an entire wing of this place because you got angry. Again.”

Willow blushed profoundly as her papa commented on her ‘little’ accident that had happened the last time she came to the castle.

“Papa, it was once, and I got rid of all my explicit emotions.”

“That, for some reason, doesn’t sound healthy at all.”

The three turned to see a silver and purple clad guard that had what looked like a silver cat mask.

Willow curtly whispered to Amity, “Oh. My. Titan.”

“You better not be talking about me, Silver.”

And the Golden Guard appeared out of thin air beside the Silver Guard, holding his staff.

“Oh. My. Freakin’. Titan.”

“What if I am?” the girl asked the Guard before turning to the two protégé’s. “Nice to meet you.”

“Yes, it was nice to meet you and now we have to go explain our disappearance,” The Golden Guard said before getting cut off.

“You have to explain our disappearance. You’re in charge of me.”

The three bystanders watched the two verbally fight.

“Do not start with me, Silver.”

“Do not start with me, Goldie.”

“I told you not to call me that.”

“I told you to get along with Lilith. Both of us don’t get what we want.”

The Golden Guard momentarily turned to the bystanders then back to his partner before grabbing her by the wrist and teleporting.

“Those two are two of the most powerful and important people on the Isles.”

They all broke down into fits of laughter as Amity realised that they had a sibling dynamic.

“They act like they’re related.” Amity said as Willow’s dad flew away.

“That’s what I wanted to say, Am.”

“She acts like Luz.”

“Yeah. I didn’t expect the Silver Guard to be-.”

“Exactly like her.”

Willow’s face pulled into a tight frown.

“We’ve been over this, Amity,” she said as she gave her friend a side hug. “She’s not our Luz, but we’ll try to get to know this Luz. I mean, she probably remembers who Eda and King were, has a faint memory of us and still has our influence, but she’s different. You need to understand that.”

“We both know that that won’t happen, Willow.” Amity replied sharply. “She put her life on the line for ours. I just need to breathe a little.”

There was a pause as they started walking towards the castle gates.

“Let’s just focus on the fact that Gus is probably gonna get us kicked out of our apprenticeships.”

Chapter Text

“Gus, what is your problem?”
The boy had set up what was probably the most complicated glyph activated consequence machine known to anything.
“What,” the boy asked passively. “A guy can’t make a glyph activated over complicated machine.”
“Oh, a guy can,” Amity stated as she looked at the machine. “But a protégé to the head of the Illusion Coven can’t.”
“Why is that what you say every time?”
Willow removed her glasses and massaged her temple. “Because it’s the truth.”
“The Coven heads are having a meeting, so I thought I could do this… Why does Amity look like she’s seen a ghost? Did one from Hexside follow you? I thought I told ‘em to back off?”
“It’s because she has seen a ghost, figuratively speaking,” Willow said as she put back on her glasses.
“The Silver Guard?” Gus gasped unbelievingly. “I try my best to avoid her when I come here for that exact reason.”
“I keep telling her that she needs to have a real conversation with the Guard, but she won’t listen.”
“You try walking up to your crush who lost all memory of you and is now suddenly your superior,” Amity said sarcastically. “She’s literally made it to the highest rank of the Coven in a few weeks. I don’t even want to think about the power difference if I ever join.”
“Girl needs a grip.” Willow stated to absolutely no one.
“Yup.” Gus responded to no one in particular.
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Luz was sitting cross legged on her bed with Hunter sitting at her desk. Both were reading copies of the same book: ‘Bones to Earth: A Study of Wild Magic’.
“Who were those two at the gate? I’ve never seen them before.”
“Willow Park and Amity Blight?” was Hunter’s unbelieving reply. “You know, they train under Coven heads? It was in this week’s report? How do you not know this?!”
“Eh,” Luz said offhandedly. “My brain trails off after the tenth page. Fantasy world politics are only slightly more interesting than Human world politics.”
Hunter shook his head in disappointment as he turned back to what he was reading.
“Who’s Augustus Porter?”
Hunter slammed his book down and turned to stare at the girl.
“If you want to know about these protégé’s so bad, go and talk to them!”
“Okay,” the girl said cheerily as she went to her closet and opened it. “So, do you want to wear what your wearing or the hoodie I made you?”
“Just give me the hoodie.”
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Amity, Gus and Willow ran through the halls of the castle as they tried to get away from the scene of destruction Gus had made.
“Worst day to wear jeans ever!” Willow yelled as they turned a sharp corner.
“Really Willow?!” Amity yelled. “That’s what you’re worried about. Not the fact Gus probably murdered five different people!”
“I don’t even know how it spiralled out of control,” Gus confessed. “I mean-.”
“Shut up, Gus!” the two girls yelled in unison.
Before they turned the corner, they dragged into a crevice in the wall by two pairs of hands.
It was all round dark until one of their saviours made a little ball of light.
When the three finally adjusted to the dim light, they saw the two people that were in the crevice with them.
The girl was wearing a white and purple stripped shirt with a green jacket and brown jeans. Her hair was back length and had parts covering where her ears would be while she was wearing a red beanie hat. Her expression was a cross between excited about something, completely confused and, as Amity would say, got to the front of the line for the newest Azura book, only to be told it’s sold out as her hands dug into her jacket’s pockets.
The boy on the other hand had his face tight and straight as he looked over the three saves. He was wearing a stripped yellow and white hoodie, his hands laying in the pockets, with blue jeans. His carefully schooled expression clashed with the girl’s completely random one.
“Who are you two?” Amity finally managed to ask as she thought the girl oddly familiar.
“Is that really how you say, ‘Thank you for saving us and not turning us in to the proper authorities’, Miss Blight?” the boy said, only to get a punch from the girl.
“Hunter, don’t you think they would turn us in to the proper authorities for running around out of uniform?” the girl said, and even her voice was familiar.
Hold up. Did she say uniform?
“You’re part of the Coven?” Willow asked innocently, making the two show their hands deeper into their respective pockets.
Well, there was the answer to that question.
“So,” Gus started. “You’re Hunter, but who. Are. You?”
The girl momentarily pushed her back into the wall as if she wanted to disappear.
“Call me Sombra,” the girl said quietly, getting a silent look from her… Was he her brother.
“Hunter and Sombra,” Gus repeated. “You guys don’t look or sound like your siblings.”
“We’re adopted.” the two chorused.
“So, why do you work here?” Amity asked, looking over the two. “What positions do you guys hold?”
“Us?” Hunter said slapping his hand over his sister’s mouth before she could talk. “Oh, we are but humble scouts who have no parents and were collectively adopted by the Coven. Nothing more, nothing less.”
Willow eyed the two suspiciously and shrugged before saying, “We better get going. Nice to meet you two. Guess we’ll see you two round.”
The three protégé’s exited the crevice in a fit of confusion and wonder at the two ‘scouts’ they had stumbled upon.
Back in said crevice, Hunter removed the hand covering Luz’s mouth and sighed, “Sombra? Really?”
“C’mon, Goldie,” Luz said leaning against the wall. “You’re the one that came up with all that ‘Humble Scout’ crap.”
“It was a cover. What happens if they found out who we are?”
“Absolutely nothing, Hunter.”
“Absolutely everything, Luz! The Emperor would-!”
“I don’t wanna hear it, Hunter. You put on that hoodie willingly.”
“Well at least I-.”
“Enough!”
The two turned their heads to look at the figure that had stopped their bickering.
There, at the exit/entry of the crevice was the Emperor, staring right back at them.
“My Emperor.”
“We are sorry for breaking dress code. Luz just wanted to-.”
“I don’t want to hear it.” was Belos’ simple reply. “Now go before someone sees you.”
He took one step aside as the two carefully came out, bowed and went on their way silently.
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Kikimora had done a lot of things in her life. A lot more bad than good, she must admit. But why in the name of the Titan did anyone think she could oversee two overly everything teenagers with abandonment issues.
“And you didn’t report back immediately why?” she asked the two as they toyed with their respective masks in her office.
“They didn’t do anything to wrong, Kiki,” Luz said as she pulled down the hood of her cloak in order to properly put on the silver mask.
“Didn’t do anything wrong?!” the short woman repeated. “They sent six different guards to the infirmary, two to the emergency room, eight into a full body cast and two nearly back to their maker. They did everything wrong!”
“She does have a point, Luz,” Hunter said smugly, still holding his mask in hand.
“You had a hand in this madness, too, Golden Guard. You both are off mission duty for the rest of the week.”
“What! No.”
“C’mon, Kiki. This isn’t fair!”
“Enough! I am still your superior in both age and rank. Now, to your posts.”
The two groaned as they walked out of the room, Luz pulling up her hood and Hunter putting on his mask.
“Kids,” Kikimora sighed as locked the door behind them. “How do they still cause so much trouble without actual magic?”

Chapter Text

Amity ran across the woods, silently begging that the tree canopy would protect her from the boiling rain. Last time she ever turned down a ride home from Willow.

The girl turned a sharp corner and finally found what she was looking for. A hollowed out tree to hide out from this lethal downpour.

Crawling into the surprisingly large insides of the tree, she was met by a masked and cloaked figure pressing their self to the side of the tree.

“Hello, Miss Blight,” the figure said in a clearly not into the current situation.

“Silver Guard? What are you doing in a tree?” Amity asked as she adjusted herself to sit as far away from the girl as possible.

“I jumped out my room window and ran, then it started to rain.”

Amity’s eyes widened at that.

The Guard seemed to have noticed this and said, “No, no, no. I didn’t betray the Emperor. I would never do that. I can’t do that. You know, branded and all. I finished my shift and I just wanted to go for a walk and I had to wear the uniform and- I’m ranting, aren’t I?”

Amity slowly nodded a yes and turned to face the other side of hidey-hole.

“Is the mask a must?”

“We’re not allowed to show our face while in uniform, and we’re not allowed out of uniform while not in our rooms. Plus, there’s also the fac- Why am I telling this to some random girl I met five hours ago in the middle of a fight with my brother?”

“You just need to get it off your chest,” Amity said like a therapist. “Someone helped me do it once. Haven’t seen her since the Owl Lady’s petrification.”

‘At least the actual her.’ Amity thought silently.

“Her name?”

Amity spun her head back round and stared at the purple and silver clad girl.

“I can track her down if you just ask.”

Amity stared with wide eyes.

On one hand, she could tell her Luz Noceda, let the Silver Guard know that they used to be friends, find out what the hell to do about the whole branding situation, tell Willow and Gus and try to cope with the feeling of wanting to rebel while being trained to become Coven Heads.

On the other hand, the Silver Guard could maybe remember that she gave someone the portal key and arrest Willow, Gus and her for treason against the state.

Yeah, no way she was risking that.

“Nah, it’s okay. I’ll get in contact with her one day and then join the Emperor’s Coven with her. If I work hard enough.”

The Silver Guard only shrugged.

“Do you like being Lilith’s apprentice?”

Amity had to do a double take on that one.

“How did you know that?”

“Apparently, it was on this week’s report. Now answer my question.”

“I mean, it’s gonna be a succession thing. When Lilith retires, she wants me to take her place. And, like, I’m fourteen and she’s, like, forty-somethin’. So me and my friends are in the running to take over from our mentors at a really young age.”

“My brother’s in charge of the Coven with Lily.”

“Lily?”

“That’s what we call her. She retires, you’re in charge with us.”

“How old are you?”

“That’s confidential.”

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Lilith suddenly regreted telling that kid to buzz off.

“Thank you sooo much for losing a teenager, Lilith,” Kikimora sighed sarcastically as she appeared beside the woman.

“Her brother is going crazy,” the woman groaned silently. “It’s raining. For all we know she’s dead.”

“Well don’t say it!” Kiki complained as she sat at the other woman’s desk. “I remember when you first joined the Coven. You cursed everyone that crossed your path. And all the bad things you said would happen to them happened.”

“Potion and Oracle magic work great together.”

Then, a soaked to the bone Luz appeared out of thin air and went to her knees while gasping for air.

“Oh my Titan!” Lilith yelled as the girl miraculously appeared.

“Luz, I swear. What have we said about the damned invisibility glyphs?” Kikimora scolded.

“Don’t use them to spy on private conversations,” the teenager repeated off-handedly before getting up and walking out of the room.

“Are we the parental figures here, Kiki?”

“I think we are, Lily.”

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Hunter involuntarily hugged his adoptive sister not even caring about the fact she was somehow wet, warm and cold before sitting her down and scolding her.

“What were you thinking!” he practically yelled. “Didn’t you see the rain clouds?! You could’ve died!”

Luz shrugged as she removed her mask and dropped it on his room’s desk.

“It rains cold water in the human realm. I kinda just forgot about the boiling rain.”

Hunter groaned as he put his hands protectively on her shoulders.

“This whole spotty memory thing is way too dangerous. We need to do something.”

“The Emperor has forbidden me to say a word about it to him ever again.”

“I know, but-.”

“Hunter, you’re not talking about treason, are you?”

“Never. I’m talking about the books in the archive.”

“What about them?”

“They might have something on stabilizing the memory of things you should know while keeping out the things that Belos forcefully omitted and he doesn’t really have a hold over that part of the castle.”

“So that way, I won’t suddenly start remembering things out of nowhere, and the Emperor will never find out!”

“Exactly!”

The two high fived, which Hunter still labelled as an ancient human hand ritual, and started thinking up the details to their devilishly smart plan.

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Amity had gotten home half soaked. Maybe listening to the Silver Guard about making a run for it was a bad idea.

As the girl took off her warm and wet jacket, an abomination holding a tea set on a serving platter opened the door and let the girl in.

Walking past the abomination without even a thank you-as usual- she found herself reviewing the conversation she and the Guard had had.

It was weird, actually.

The girl had once been a prisoner. She wasn’t sure why, but the Emperor had been looking for a portal and enlisted her help. She had made a deal with him and sealed her fate. She had said it was better than the other option.

What in the name of the Titan was Luz thinking!!!

It was one thing to even make that deal, but to willingly accept?

Girl really must’ve had memory damage to do that.

“Hey, Mittens. You’re soaked.”

“Not the time, Emira,” the girl said, flopping unceremoniously onto the living room couch. “I’m thinking.”

“Welp,” the older girl said as she plopped herself down next to her sister. “Edric’s out on a date and I have no one to bother, sooo, I’m bothering you.”

Amity sighed and massaged her temple.

“Listen, Em. A ton’s happened in the last few hours of my life. I don’t need you to make it even worse.”

“Fine. Be like that,” the girl said, getting up with a small frown. “Mom asked for you. By the way she looked, you’re in real trouble.”

Amity’s eyes slowly got wider as she swallowed down the lump in her throat.

‘Titan damnit.’

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“Go, Eda!” Luz cheered as the owl beast ran around the oh so familiar throne room.

“Don’t cheer on this madness, Human!” Lilith yelled as she ran after the animal.

“You brought me in here, sooo this is your fault,” Luz off handedly responded.

Lilith groaned and drew a spell circle in the air, hereby capturing her sister’s owl beast form in a blue bubble.

Then, in the literal second, scouts marched in and became two straight lines.

Before anyone one could process what was going on, a small red demoness appeared from the door and announced, “All kneel before Emperor Belos.” and stepped to the side in a bow.

Two piercing blue eyes appeared out of the darkness of the door, and soon, the entire body of the figure followed.

He was genuinely tall and like a solid six feet somethin’. His cloak was pure white with a golden trim and whatever the brown part was.

Lilith had dropped to one knee in a fixed bow as she said, “My Emperor. I have successfully brought my sister and her human pet to you.”

Luz growled as she edged closer to the bubble, but even that minimal amount of comfort didn’t last long as the owl beast broke the bubble and immediately leaped at the Emperor.

That attack didn’t last very long or reaped any results as it ended with said owl beast pinned to the ground in red magic ropes.

Luz starred with wide eyes at the scene for a second before noticing that the Emperor had his attention on her.

Well, I am the only human here.

It was all to sudden when Lilith grabbed her by the wrist and went to stand infront of Eda.

“My Emperor,” she started with as much grace as she could with a fourteen-year-old pulling on her arm. “Please pardon my sister. She is still in cursed form. I’m sure she’ll make a useful asset to the coven…Once you heal her.”

Either he didn’t care enough to actually give a response or he didn’t want to talk because he didn’t say a word as he took out his definitely mechanical staff, raised it and shot a beam at red magic the owl beast who roared in unfiltered pain.

“Eda!” Luz yelled as she watched the scene go down, trying to escape from the black-haired witch’s grasp.

“Don’t worry, Human,” came Emperor Belos’ cold tone as he brought down his staff. “It’s your turn.”

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Luz slowly blinked herself awake. Where the hell was her brother when she needed him?

“Hun’er!” her surprisingly weak and slurred together voice called out as she sat up in her bed, pain radiating from her being.

Why was she in her room? She was in Hunter’s when she fell asleep.

Hunter.

He must’ve carried her back to her room.

Why did he have to care so damned much?!

She needed to tell him about this memory. It seemed to be the reason she was here in the first place.

But she couldn’t move, and if she did, it hurt a ton.

No.

Nonononono.

She was sick.