Chapter Text
The ground shook.
Edric gasped along with his friends and family and looked up. As he inspected his shaking surroundings, he noticed glowing pink wraps coming from the sky.
The wraps brought Edric's friends into the sky one by one. The first one to disappear was Gus. He screamed, Luz and Amity gasping at the sight. Suddenly, Amity was taken away too. Luz tried to reach for her before the wraps stole her too.
Emira frantically looked around as her teammates disappeared. Before she could do anything, Alador was taken away beside her. "Dad!" she called.
Edric just stood in shock as his father was taken away. He heard a scream from beside him, turning around to see Hunter be taken away by the glowing wraps. "Hunter!" Edric called desperately.
The last thing he saw was Emira running toward him as he was blinded by bright white light.
When Edric opened his eyes again, he saw the bright and warping colors of the old portal ahead of him. He groaned as he tried to reach into it.
"What... happened?" Edric groaned.
"Hey!"
"We were just about to enter the Archives..." Edric continued, slowly reaching further to the warping colors.
"Hey!"
"We were just about to rescue Raine and King..."
Edric spread out his fingers as the warping colors of the old portal got brighter. He was blinded yet again with an unfamiliar voice calling out to him.
"Edric! The human!" it called. "You have to wake up."
Edric could only hear the faint beating of a heart as he opened his eyes. He had no idea where it was coming from. His own heartbeat was much softer than the faint one he was hearing.
After about a minute, Edric slowly sat up. He groaned, a hand held on his throbing head. He had no idea why he felt so weird. The faint heartbeat, the pain in his head, the fuzzy memory... It just made no sense. Edric had to find out what happened to his friends and family.
Edric turned his head around. When he did, he realized why he could hear a faint heartbeat that didn't belong to him. He was in the throne room of the Empress's Castle. The place where the beating heart of the Titan was located.
"How did I get here?!" Edric wondered with panic. He quickly got to his feet and looked down. He instantly regretted it. Edric noticed he wasn't wearing his Alvanic costume. He was wearing an outfit that looked eerily similar to something he would see Eboni wear. He screamed at the sight of it, falling onto the floor.
"What is this?" Edric asked the silence. "Is this a dream? Ow!"
He felt pain in his arm. Edric looked over to see a bat with one eye and tall ears on his shoulder. He was so happy to see his Palisman. Batric was a face he didn't expect to see, though.
"Oh, Batric, you silly goober!" Edric said as his Palisman flew into his hands. "I'm so happy to see you!"
"I had to make sure you were safe!" Batric replied, flicking his tall ear.
Edric chuckled. "Thanks, buddy. Are Dad, Em, and the others okay?"
Batric shook his head with a sad squeak. "I haven't seen anyone."
Edric hesitantly looked over his shoulder. No one was there. He just sighed, got to his feet, and let Batric fly onto his shoulder. "Come on," he said. "We'll find them."
The walls of the castle were different. They weren't emerald-etched like they usually were. They were still green in color, but they were dark. This caused the hallowed halls of the castle to be dark too. Edric hated that. Not only did it make it difficult to see, but it also made the castle seem creepier than usual.
Eventually, Edric could see light. He still hadn't found anyone. He quickly turned a corner, running over to the light. Once he was right in front of it, Edric realized it came from a window. A stained-glass window. At first, he thought it was the same one of Eboni and a large claw that he always saw in the castle. But it was different. Eboni wasn't pictured in the stained-glass.
"Who is that?" Edric asked himself. Batric wasn't being very helpful, just shivering on his shoulder.
Upon further inspection, Edric could make out some things about the figure in the window. Brunette hair, rectangular glasses, golden eyes, a mole, pale skin... The figure was even wearing the same armor and cloak Edric had woken up with.
"Is that... me?"
Batric squeaked defiantly. "That can't be right," he protested. "This is the Empress's Castle. Besides, my witch would never try to wipe out everyone on the Boiling Isles."
Edric smiled. He even felt a bit of blush appear too. "Thanks, buddy..."
"Why else would I name myself after you?" Batric continued. "You're a great witch."
Edric let out a content chuckle. "I really appreciate that," he said. "Anyway, we should keep looking for the others." Batric nodded.
Edric made his way to the next light source. It came from what seemed to be the outside world. As Edric got closer, he realized he had found the entrance to the castle. The drawbridge was completely in view, leading to the forest.
Hesitantly, Edric took a deep breath and made his way out of the castle. As he walked over the drawbridge, he realized that absolutely no one was in sight. That actually made Edric's skin crawl a bit.
"Where is everyone?" he asked. Batric didn't give an answer. Edric made his way to the side of the drawbridge. When he looked into the abyss below, he gasped with fear.
Everyone was below him. Everyone was clustered together. Everyone was frozen. Everyone looked like they were screaming. Everyone was gray all over. Everyone was stone. Everyone was petrified.
Edric made a few slow steps back. "No, no, no, no..." he let out. "What happened—"
"Ed!"
That voice was familiar. It was the voice that would comfort Edric when he needed it. It was the voice of someone he wanted to see so badly. He looked around desperately in search for his sister.
"Em?" Edric called. "Em, where are you?"
He could hear panting in the distance. Emira appeared in the entrance of the castle. She caught her breath for a moment before standing up straight. The only thing that made Edric feel weird was how she was still in her Evil Witch Cassidy costume. Why had his clothes changed and not hers?
"Ed, there you are!" Emira called with a happy smile. "I saw you in the hallway, but didn't catch your attention. I've been following you through the castle since."
Edric sighed with relief. "That's good to hear," he replied. "Are you alright? Have you seen the others?"
"No," Emira explained. "All I found was dark versions of my fake friends haunting me. When I saw—" Then she gasped. "What are you wearing?"
Edric looked down at his new armor and cloak with a whimper. "I don't know!" he shouted. "I just woke up like this! And then I looked over the drawbridge and everyone was... everyone was... petrified!"
Edric began to breathe heavily as he continued. Emira was gasping at the sight of the petrified bodies below her. "Did I do something, you think...?" Edric let out as he breathed heavily. "Did I accidentally petrify everyone? Did I... Did I ruin... everything...?"
His breath just quickened and quickened as he stopped talking. Emira walked up to her brother and firmly held onto his shaking arms.
"Ed, calm down," she advised. "This isn't your fault. I'm sure of it. We're going to get out of here and find the others, okay?"
Edric nodded with a whimper. When his sister took her hands off him, he sighed to calm down. He looked over the drawbridge again.
"But when did this happen?" Edric demanded.
"Don't you remember?"
That was Hunter's voice. Edric would recognize it anywhere. He swiftly looked over, Emira doing the same.
Hunter was standing at the end of the drawbridge, his staff in hand. But he seemed strange. Hunter's hair was down to his neck just like when he lived in the Human Realm, but he was wearing his black shirt with three red stripes, ripped jeans, black and red sneakers, and red flannel like he would before arriving there. Edric was so confused.
"This is all your doing, Ed," Hunter continued, his blonde hair flowing in the breeze. "You helped Eboni meet the Collector. Your actions led to this."
Edric stiffened. His boyfriend told him everything he was terrified of happening ever since learning he helped Eboni. His worst nightmare was becoming true right in front of his eyes. Hunter turned to face him.
"You've been the real villain this whole time!" he shouted. Edric even thought he could see tears in Hunter's brown eyes.
"What?!" Emira exclaimed. "Didn't we just go over this?"
Edric had to admit, she was right. Right before returning to the Demon Realm, his friends told him they didn't care that he helped Eboni. They cared for him no matter what. Everything Hunter was saying completely contradicted that.
But Edric wasn't listening to his sister. "Ed?" she said nervously. He didn't listen to that either. He just frantically took his cloak off his shoulders.
"I—I would never do this!" Edric objected. He threw his cloak over the edge of the drawbridge. "S—See?"
The hands of the petrified people were rising as the cloak flew down to them. Edric watched it nervously. Despite his words, Hunter didn't listen.
"I'm sorry, Edric," he said softly. Hunter's tears fell down his face as he narrowed his eyes and created a spell circle. "But I have to take you down!"
Edric took a step back as yellow potion liquid formed behind Hunter at his command. It lifted him into the air and helped him lunge over to Ed and Em.
"Hunter, please!" Edric called desperately.
Hunter didn't listen.
He flew right past Ed and Em as they ran out of the way. Hunter stopped behind them, creating another spell circle. This spell caused the potion liquid behind him to attack the twins. Or, more specifically, Edric. They both quickly got onto their staffs to fly away.
As Edric made his way to the entrance of the castle, he looked over his shoulder. Hunter was standing on the drawbridge, turning around. He tried to attack his boyfriend with more potion liquid, but he missed. The large doors of the castle slammed shut once Ed and Em were inside.
"Ed, I don't think this is a dream," Emira said as they swiftly flew down the halls of the castle.
"You're right," Edric replied. "This is a nightmare!"
Raine gasped as they woke up. They found themself in a cell. Not just any cell. It was a cell of the Conformatorium. A cell that Raine had been in plenty of times.
They looked around, desperately searching for King or Hale. They were the last two people Raine remembered seeing. But they were alone. King wasn't hugging their leg in his cute outfit Collector had given him. Hale wasn't brewing a new elixir or hugging Puppet Sparky nearby. Raine was alone in their dark cell.
There was only one thing they could think of doing. Raine transformed into their phoenix form, using their strong feet to bust down the bars of the cell. The rest of the Conformatorium was empty too. No one was in any other cells. There weren't any guards patrolling. This was strange.
"Hale?" Raine called. "Sparky? King!"
The only reply they got was the echo of their own voice.
Raine sighed with frustration. Their family either wasn't here or was locked up somewhere else. They had to find them. In order to do that, Raine flapped their fiery wings, getting into the air. They bolted to a nearby hallway of cells, fire following in their wake.
The cells ahead of them were empty too. Raine was getting really sick of being alone by now. When they found the doors, they kicked them open. Raine flew through them, panting as they flew higher and higher into the night sky.
When they looked up, they noticed something ahead of them. Raine gasped as a large net got closer and closer. Before they could do anything, the net trapped them, bringing them swiftly down to the ground. Raine screamed as they fell. Once they were on the ground, they slowly sat up, spotting two figures standing by the doors of the Conformatorium.
"If you think you can keep me from my family, you've got another thing coming!" Raine shouted bitterly at these mysterious figures.
"Oh, don't worry, Raine."
That was Hale's voice. Raine would recognize it anywhere. They had been with their brother long enough for the past few months. He was one of the figures. And the other one was Raine's mother. She was standing right next to Hale, her face seeming much more menacing than usual. Even if it was usually menacing.
"We're all present and accounted for," Hale continued.
"Hale! Mom!" Raine called with a smile. "Thank goodness! But do you think you could help me out? We need to find King."
"No." Raine was taken aback by Hale's response. He slightly turned around, his mother doing the same. "You'll be staying right there."
"Huh?" Raine let out. They looked around at the sound of footsteps to see two barrages of scouts surrounding them. Each one was holding a spear defensively.
"Dangerous beasts need to be kept in cages, after all," Hale said.
Raine nervously held onto the half of their missing arm. "What are you talking about?"
Hale and Mom moved out of the way. In the shadows of the Conformatorium was Ma. She still had her scar over her eye that Raine gave her when they were younger, but she had another one now. This one was even larger than the original one.
"Oh, Raine..." Ma let out, holding onto her new and bloody scar. "I forgave you..."
Raine gasped. Their worst fear was hurting their family. Anyone in their family. Even people who felt like family. Ed, Em, King, Hale, Mom, Ma... Raine's worst fear had become a reality all those years ago.
And now it happened again.
King's eyes were wide when he woke up. He was laying on the ground. It was cold. Even his soft fur couldn't warm him up. When King sat up and shook his head, he also realized that he wasn't wearing the cute clothes Collector had given him. Those were pretty warm too.
Once King's yellow eyes were fully open, he gasped. Fire sprouted on both sides of him. There were skeletons everywhere. Mostly, there were skulls. Skulls with horns and thick teeth. Titan skulls.
King got to his paws, taking a step back. "Nice, right?" a voice said from behind him.
King yelped and jumped forward. When he turned around, he saw Bill, the leader of the Titan Trappers, wearing his Titan disguise. King hated looking at it. Especially since Bill was disguising himself as a Titan in order to trap them. King's family.
"Bill!" he shouted, narrowing his eyes. "You crazy jerk! How'd I get here?!"
"I brought you here," Bill replied. He slowly stepped forward, his arms extended. King nervously looked over his shoulder. "I wanted you to see our new collection..."
When King faced Bill again, he stopped in his tracks. The Titan Trapper tilted his head to the side. "What? Don't you recognize your siblings?"
King didn't answer. But that didn't matter. Bill continued as he stepped forward and grabbed King's shoulders. He tensed.
"But don't worry," Bill told him. "We saved the best spot for you..."
King slightly turned around. Amidst the Titan skulls and skeletons stood a long platform. Behind the platform was a symbol. The symbol showed a sun with half of its surface being deep blue. It reminded King so much of the Collector. Eerie light shined on the platform. King fully turned around, whimpering.
His greatest fear was to be taken away from his family. Raine was nowhere to be found. Hale wasn't there either. Despite her annoying voice, King wished Sparky were there. Even if she was a puppet right now. What made this fear coming true even worse was how King would be excuted by the Titan Trappers.
That was the worst way to be taken away from his family.
Edric eventually got off his staff. Emira did the same. Batric and Daisy stayed in their staff forms, though, just being held in the twins' hands. Edric was just running through the castle with his sister, panting.
As he ran through a hallway, his surroundings changed. Instead of being in a grim castle, Edric was in a grim forest. There were bandages you'd find on an oracle ghost wrapped around each tree. Their purple glow was faded, only some of it being visible. Inside the trunks of the gray trees were picture frames. Each image was dark and faded.
It looked so much like Luz's mind. Trees, glowing bandages on the trees, and picture frames in them. The only differences were how ghosts weren't flying around, animals weren't everywhere (or anywhere, actually), and it wasn't colorful. The only bright color was the faded purple glow of the bandages. Oh, and there were zero unicorns.
"Trees?" Emira said.
Edric didn't respond. He just stopped to catch his breath. In the distance was a familiar girl with tan skin and curly brown hair. She was wearing a Hexside uniform with purple sleeves and leggings and was on her knees in front of a tree.
"Luz!" Edric called, running toward his younger friend.
Emira looked over. "What?" She gasped before following her brother. "Luz!"
Luz didn't react. She just stared at the ground, her curly hair blowing in the wind. "Luz, you have no idea how happy we are to see you!" Emira explained.
"Yeah," Edric agreed. He nervously looked over his shoulder. "But we just ran into Hunter and... So, do you know if—"
Luz slowly got to her feet. She turned around, revealing a pink flower in her hands. "You know, Ed, my life changed after I met you," she said eerily. "I thought that I had this big, bright future ahead of myself..."
The flower in Luz's hands disintegrated. She sighed, slightly lifting her head to reveal tears running down her face. Luz's eyes were glowing purple.
"But that didn't last long, did it?" she continued. Edric took a step back. Luz lowered her arms. Two spell circles appeared at her fingertips. Edric tensed at the sight of ghosts slowly breaking out of the ground all around him. "You destroyed my home and any chance I had at happiness. I have no future now... None of us do!"
Once the ghosts erupted from the ground, they roared and bolted right for Edric. Luz's eyes narrowed with anger. Edric screamed, jumping out of the way of a ghost. Emira grabbed his arm and pulled him away with her.
"Ed, come on!" she said.
Edric obeyed and followed his sister to escape the fierce ghosts. Their roars eventually disappeared. Edric turned around as he panted, confused. Emira turned around too. Suddenly, a spotlight turned on and a curtain appeared in front of the twins.
Edric turned around and covered his eyes from the spotlight. It was bright blue. He was in the middle of it. Emira wasn't even in it fully. Gus wasn't too far away, wearing the bright blue suit he wore at Grom.
"Look, everyone!" Gus said. When Edric lowered his arm, he realized he was standing on a stage. There was a big crowd watching him with faded faces. "It's good ol' Edric!"
The crowd cheered.
"Seriously?" Emira said, annoyed. "Am I invisible or something?"
"Not the time..." Edric told her through clenched teeth.
Gus stepped forward, letting out a chuckle. "And he... just might be... the biggest hypocrite ever!"
The crowd booed.
"W—What?" Edric let out. Before he could do anything, Gus walked up to him. He seemed angry as he forced him to move back.
"Everyone helped you get back to your dad..." Gus continued with narrowed eyes. "But because of you... I'll never see mine again!" Tears were in his eyes now.
Edric began to stammer. This nightmare was worse than any he'd ever had before. "Gus, no..." he began, turning around. "W—We'll get him back. We'll get e—everyone back! I won't stop till we do!"
"Tell that to her!"
Before he could do anything, Edric was pushed by Gus into the dark void below. He screamed, Emira running to the edge of the stage in the distance.
"Edric!"
Emira clutched onto her staff and jumped into the void after her brother. Luckily, Edric found solid ground. He did land on his face, but he had found solid ground nonetheless. Emira landed not too far away. She groaned.
Neither twin spoke to each other. Edric just groaned and slowly sat up. He was on the balcony of the Empress's Castle now. Amity was standing at the edge of it. Her hair was pale purple and down to her shoulders with brunette roots at the top. She was wearing the clothes she wore underneath her old Emerald Guard attire. Edric could even see the new scar on her ear from after she was possessed.
And there was a huge statue of Ghost in the distance.
"You know, I always just followed orders," Amity said. Edric got to his feet with Emira doing the same beside him. "I never thought about going to school... or making friends..."
Amity's shoulders rose. Her voice became softer as she continued. "But then I met Ghost. She was more than a Palisman. She was my best friend..." Amity swiftly turned around. Her hand was clutched over her shirt and tears filled her golden eyes. "And then I lost her! Helping you! But you still get to have your own Palisman?"
Edric didn't even think about that. He didn't think about how Amity would feel about him connecting with Batric. She had lost Ghost. Her Palisman was gone. But Edric, the person who had ruined her life, got one. It must've crushed her.
He doubted her seeing him as a brother even more at that moment.
Amity fell to her knees with a sniff. "Why, Edric...?" she let out softly. "Why do you get to have it all...?"
Edric watched with a heavy heart as Luz, Gus, and Hunter appeared in front of Amity. "I'm sorry," Hunter said with a stone-hard expression. "But for the sake of everyone you hurt..."
Emira looked over at Edric nervously as tears filled his eyes. "Ed, are you okay...?"
Edric didn't answer. But he didn't understand why he should. None of this was okay. His tears fell down his face.
"Please... no..."
Hunter continued. "I challenge you to a witch's battle!"
Edric swore he heard that wrong. Battle? That couldn't be right. It didn't sound right. Edric gasped, his tears disappearing.
"Wait..." he croaked. "Say that... again?"
"I said..." Hunter replied, "I challenge you to a witch's battle!"
"A witch's... battle?"
Batric turned into his alive form. Edric slowly stepped forward. Something was up. Battle wasn't the right word. He didn't remember it that way. He knew Hunter wouldn't either. At least, not the real Hunter.
Edric stopped right when he was in front of his boyfriend. He first squished his light cheeks, then flicked his ears. Hunter's earrings jingled.
"Bap. Boop."
"What are you doing?" Emira wondered.
"Just give me a second," Edric replied. "You look like Hunter. You feel like Hunter..." He paused. "But you're not Hunter, are you? Ha! You're not him! None of you are you!"
"How dare you!" Luz shouted. "Of course we're us!"
Edric chuckled. "I'm not believing that," he replied with a smirk. "It's 'I challenge you to a witch's duel,' he corrected matter-of-factly. "Not witch's battle."
"Ohhhhhh..." Emira let out. "Nice one."
Edric winked. He remembered when he told King his favorite part of the Wizards vs. Witchcraft games. It was on the day he fought Hunter at Covention. Not long before going to the event.
"But my favorite parts are when the battles start."
"And how do they start?"
"The Almighty Alvanic will walk up to whoever he's fighting and shout, 'I challenge you to a witch's duel!' "
"I thought Alvanic was a wizard."
"His opponents are always witches. You're ruining the point, Em!"
Edric also knew that Hunter loved the games as much as he did.
"And the Hunter I know would never misquote the Almighty Alvanic," he continued. Edric continued to smirk as Batric turned into his staff again and landed in his hand. "So, come on~ Attack me. I know what's going on now."
Hunter let out a battle cry as he lunged for Edric. Luz and Gus lunged forward too. Amity just stayed where she was. Edric had to admit that he was scared. He closed his eyes with a gasp, waiting for the clones of his friends to kill him.
But they didn't.
Edric opened his eyes when all he could hear was grunting. Emira had gasped from not too far away. Edric had to gasp too. Luz, Gus, and Hunter were wrapped in glowing pink wraps again. They were struggling to escape, their eyes closed.
Hunter gasped and opened his eyes. Edric hadn't even noticed that there was no shine in his boyfriend's brown eyes until at that moment. When Hunter gasped, the shine of his eyes returned.
"Ed...?" he let out, tears filling his eyes.
"Hunter, is that you?" Edric asked, stepping forward. "Is it really you?"
"Yes!" Hunter replied. "We've all been collected, including Alador. The Collector came from the sky and—"
"He's playing games with you, Ed!" Gus added, cutting Hunter off. "He's trying to keep you and Em away from Raine and King!"
"But if you want to save anyone," Luz said, "you have to wake up."
"How?!" Edric exclaimed.
"Think about it." Amity was staring at the floor. When she lifted her head, she was smiling. It seemed true. Edric didn't know how to feel. Didn't she resent him for getting a Palisman while she lost hers?
"What's the first thing you do when you wake up from a bad dream?"
Amity was covered in wraps too now.
But Edric didn't have time to think. Hunter slowly took one of his hands off his staff and lowered it. Eventually, it landed in Edric's palm, resting there. He stared right into his boyfriend's brown eyes.
"You turn on the light."
Hunter slowly moved his hand off Edric's. What took its place was a light glyph.
As Edric's eyes laid on it, he smiled. He looked into Hunter's eyes again, watching all of his friends smile back at him. Even Amity. She seemed so sincere.
At that, everyone lost the shine in their eyes once more. They were swiftly taken away by their wraps and disappeared into the dark clouds above.
Edric fell to his knees, still watching the empty sky. Emira crouched down beside him, watching him nervously. But Edric ignored her. He just sniffed.
He just stared into the distance.
He just lifted his arms.
He just clashed his hands together.
He just activated the light glyph.
Edric was yet again blinded by bright white light until he woke up.