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Luz stared at the book that Eda had given her. Amity and Gus were reading it over her shoulder while Hunter was braiding Willow’s hair behind the three studious kids. “Okay dokey… I think I got it! Everyone stand back!” Luz and the gang ran outside. Luz snatched the large potion glass that was on her desk and poured out the glittering liquid onto a circle she had drawn out into the dirt on the ground. The markings Luz drew in the ground resembled what seemed to be glyphs. She had also noted that King’s titan blood slit from the rest of the potion, the blue liquid bubbling away from the red and yellow glittering potion. Luz ignored that before standing in the middle of the circle and swinging her staff around. Hunter, Willow, and Gus stood a bit further back while Amity stood behind.

”What is this spell even for Luz?” Amity asked.

“Supposedly it should work like the time sand portals at the beach!”

”What?!”

Suddenly, the ring and the patterns on the ground began to glow yellow and blue. The ground began to shake and crack, the cracks also glowing with the same yellow and blue glow. Amity gasped before quickly forming an Abomination goo shield to protect herself while Willow used her plant magic to protect the three behind. Luz used her staff to stand her ground and squeezed her eyes shut as dust began to swirl around her. She could also hear some shouts behind.

”Kid! What are you-.”

///

Luz groaned as she woke up, her head throbbing just trying to stand. She slowly felt next to her and felt Stringbean nudging her. She sighed as the purple snake slithered up to her neck, whining loudly. “Alright I’m up-… what the Titan..?” She quickly ran over to her unconscious friends lying on the ground, their palismen also trying to wake them up. Luz had to slap them a couple times to wake the, up and soon they were all groaning and gagging before seeing the sight in front of them.

They were in a whole new Boiling Isles.

The sky was a drab grey-green with the Titan’s skeleton covered in green gooey moss. The Owl House, or where it should have been, was vandalised and wearing down. There were what seemed to be old shards of painted wood in colors of pinks and yellows and purples. There were shattered blue shards lying everywhere and what seemed to be red lights resembling as eyes. Bonesborough, or what was left of it, was also looking like it was rotting away, the green moss overtaking the town. Luz and the others quickly hopped onto their palismen and flew towards the ghost-town.

When the kids landed, they could hear hushed whispered and scared muttering from people hiding inside their homes. There barely seemed to be a spark of life in the town if it wasn’t for Luz and her friends piquing the villagers’ interests. Amity spotted Edric and gasped before running up to him. The villagers gasped and parted the way, almost avoiding Amity as if she was the plague. Edric reeled back with a startled cry, leaving Amity staring at him confused.

”W-What’s wrong?” Amity stuttered, conscious with all the eyes staring at her in shock.

”S-She… you are not with them anymore?” Edric stammered, struggling to get up and wiping his glasses.

”Who?” Amity asked, tilting her head.

Right as she said that, there was an ear-piercing scream, causing the villagers to scatter and hide away back inside their crumbling homes. Gus and Willow were quick to have their guard up, magic ready at hand. Hunter’s eyes glowed yellow as he gripped onto his staff tight with anticipation. Seconds later he was pinned to the ground, the figure masked with the Golden Guard’s mask on his face. Hunter screamed before whizzing away, leaving a glowing yellow trail behind him. The figure tilted his head, almost like a curious cat before more people followed behind. They each wore a mask, the leader wearing a dusty purple cat-like mask with a wide grin cut across it. The one wearing the Golden Guard’s mask teleported next to the leader and whispered something to them. Immediately, the leader waved a bright red bat at Luz and the masked figure were quickly to gather up the rest. Willow and Gus didn’t even have a chance to fight back as they both were bonded up by thorny plant vines and extended up into the air. Amity had a small chance to fight back, using her Abomination monsters to defend. The goo monsters quickly turned on her though and wrapped her up into the goo. Hunter and Luz were blinded up by what seemed to be glossy blue chains. The gang struggled as they tried at their bonds and failed.

”Let us go!” Willow shouted. The one with the Golden Guard’s mask whipped around and jabbed their staff into Willow’s leg sharply. She yelped in pain before Gus shouted at them.

“Leave us alone! We just got here!” Gus scowled. He wanted to use some sort of Illusion magic to trick them at least but his hands were tied up. The one in the split blue mask stared at him for a long time before darting off to catch up with the rest of the masked people.

”Who are they?!” Luz hissed to Hunter. Hunter didn’t respond, his eyes wide with shock. Luz groaned before trying at the glowing blue bonds. They weren’t glass or plastic but they were see-throughd, almost like Gus’s illusion magic. Her head shot up to look at the masked crew once again. Five people there, five people with her. Each had the same powers as her friends. But, they couldn’t possibly be… right?

Chapter Text

“Hey you! Purple mask leader, look at me! I know you can hear me!” Luz shouted, tugging at the blue chains. The figure in the purple mask had dismissed the four others and strode up, waving the red bat dangerously close to Luz’s head. Luz’s face remained neutral, though she was ready to dodge an incoming swing from the bat. “What are you doing, Luz?”

Hunter and Amity stared at Luz in confusion. Willow and Gus had fallen asleep up in their thorny bonds. The figure in the purple mask chuckled, though it sounded more mean than friendly. The figure slowly pulled off the mask and revealed an older Luz with a smug smirk on her face.

”You really must be from the best dimension to get it so quickly!” She chuckled, brushing out a stray strand of hair from her face and adjusting her beanie. “Mmm… Now I’m only half sure to bring you to him…”

”Who’s him?!” Hunter asked. “And why are you Luz?! Are the others us!?”

The older Luz chuckled. “You can just call me Zada so you don’t confuse me with your Luz okay?” The first thing that Luz caught was that other Luz (now called Zada) had a stronger accent than she had thought. “And if you haven’t guessed it, you’re in a different Fallen Isles.”

”Fallen Isles?” Amity asked, still stuck in her Abomination goo prison. “Is this place just named different?”

Zada tapped her chin slowly. “Hmm, remind me how old you are again?”

”18.” Hunter answered.

Zada nodded. ”Okay, we’re a year older than you lot. Tell me, how is your Collector and Belos?”

By now Willow and Gus were awake and startled at seeing double Luz. Amity explained everything to them while Luz caught Zada up about her place. “For starters, the Collector is friends with King and killed Belos. Well, we thought he killed him but then Belos followed us into the human realm and uh… long story short, the Collector is chill and Belos died in the boiling rain, courtesy of me!”

Zada chuckled. “Mmm, so you can change out of your Titan form?”

”Not really. I need King’s blood to change and even then I barely use it.”

”You got the best dimension then.” Older Hunter remarked as he strolled in. All the others yelped in surprise seeing an Older Hunter. He looked much more rugged with scars mapping his face and being about a head taller than Zada. “The other Luz that we got was stuck as Titan Luz. Poor girl was growing more crazy by the day!”

Gus looked around the empty base. “And where is she? And where are we?!”

Zada glanced to older Hunter. “I’m not gonna explain.” Hunter chuckled.

Zada growled before rolling her eyes. “If you’re not gonna help will you at least bring Amity down?”

”Which one?” Hunter said with a playful tone.

”You know what I mean!” Zada snapped. Hunter giggled as he darted off. “Mmm… this is gonna be hard to differentiate the different versions of us… Ya know what? Just call us older ones the Betas.”

”The Betas?” Gus asked, tilting his head.

”Mmm… we were technically the first ones.” The group jumped hearing a new voice from the shadows. The golden glint in the shadows revealed to be Beta Willow lounging behind them playing with what seemed to be a Venus Flytrap.

”How long were you there for?!” Gus exclaimed.

”Long enough to know that The Collector is really gonna like you folks.” Beta Willow snickered, her short blue and green streaked hair all ruffled. “But… I suppose we could keep them here a little while longer.”

Soon Beta Amity and Beta Gus came out from down the hallway, Beta Hunter giggled before glowing yellow and darting away. “So they’re awake?” Beta Amity asked, her purple and brown hair half up and down, her pony tail turning into Abomination goo like Darius’s hair.

Amity tried to manipulate her Abomination prison and failed. “How come my magic isn’t working?” An Abomination goo hand forced her to face Beta Amity.

”You’re not in your home anymore! Magic here is much more wild than you think.” Beta Amity grinned. The giggles sent chills down Amity and Luz’s spines.

Beta Gus rolled his eye with his arms crossed up on his chest. “They look… weaker and softer than I thought. And he,” Beta Gus pointed at the younger Gus. “Does not look like a child prodigy.”

Gus gasped. “What do you mean?! Of course I am! How did you think I got this?” He wiggle his ear which had the blue and golden Illusion glass pinned on.

Beta Gus rolled his eyes. “You don’t have the burn mark on your arm.” He’d roll up his sleeve and reveal a terrible darkened patch of scarred flesh that covered most of his forearm.

Gus gasped. “Who did that?!”

“Perry…” Beta Gus sighed. “He didn’t do that to you?”

”Oh Titan no! Why would Dad ever do that?!”

”You call him Dad?” Beta Willow scoffed. “Gus was right. You are weaker and softer.”

Beta Amity waved her hands in between the two Gus’s. “Alright boys settle down. Can’t have these new folks be injured for the Collector.”

“What do you mean by that?” Willow asked, her eyes glowing green as smaller vines started growing from the ground. Beta Willow noticed and waved her hand. Immediately the small vines Willow was growing wilted and were slammed down into the rotted wooden floor.

Chapter Text

Hunter remained restless that night, his eyes glowing golden and always twitching around. It didn’t help that he kept hearing whispers and seeing ghost figures running around the corner. When Beta Hunter came down the stairs it gave both grimwalkers a fright.

”Great Titan… you can’t sleep?” Beta Hunter asked.

”Yea…”

”You seeing and hearing them?”

”. . . Yea. I don’t understand! Why now? Usually there aren’t that many here! There’s six behind you!”

Beta Hunter turned around to see six ghostly figures all donning the Golden Guard masks. “Hmm… they could tell there was a new grimwalker and got excited I bet.”

Amity stirred and woke up. “Mmmm… W-What’s going on?”

”Nothing… you got anything you wanna ask?” Beta Hunter asked, sitting on the ground with his legs criss-crossed.

”Where are our palismen!” Hunter gasped.

”Zada is keeping them safe with her. She can’t have you guys escaping. The Collector would be pissed if she lost you lot.”

Amity raised an eyebrow. “Why are you giving us to the Collector? He’s just a kid.”

”Just a kid?” The three jumped as they heard Beta Amity slink in like a cat and sit next to Beta Hunter. “He’s a freaking monster who wants every single version of us and won’t stop until he gets it.”

Hunter let out a soft sigh. “Then what happened to the Boiling Isles? I am almost certain that the green moss wasn’t from him.”

Beta Hunter chuckled. “Blame the moss on Uncle Belos. He tried to take over the Titan’s heart to somehow fight the Collector but failed. He didn’t leave the heart in time so he’s basically dead but stuck possessing the dead Titan.”

Hunter and Amity looked at each other, almost as if they could feel each other shivering at that thought. Amity gasped. “Wait! What about King and Luz- I mean Zada. Did she ever go back to the human realm?”

Beta Amity and Beta Hunter looked at each other with what Hunter could only describe as sad eyes. Beta Amity answered. “No… King failed to send us through the portal. We’ve been keeping him safe here but I think Zada has given up trying to get out of here. Her only goal is to stop the Collector, even if it means making a couple sacrifices.”

Hunter tilted his head. “Why are you hiding King?”

Beta Hunter shrugged. “Zada said it was to keep King safe and use his blood to make the world potions, the potion that brings alternate versions of you here to bring to the Collector. But I have a feeling that isn’t the full reason why.”

”Edric insisted that it was a bad idea.” Beta Amity chuckled sadly. That caught the younger Amity’s attention.

”Edric! Why was he so scared of… us?” Amity asked. “When we got warped here and I ran up to him, he almost looked like he would die just touching me!”

The younger witches could hear shuffling from the two older ones. “Amity calm down-.”

”Don’t tell me to freaking calm down grimwalker! Edric still hates me after all this time, how am I ever going to be calm?” Beta Amity hissed while choking back sobs. “Out of every witch on the Boiling Isles, we are the only ones trying to do something! And yet Edric still hates me?!”

”Hate you?! Why would Edric ever hate you?!” Amity asked in a hissed whisper, not wanting to wake up the others.

”I’m done! I’m not doing this if Edric or even Emira get brought up.” Beta Amity muttered. The two younger witches could hear the Betas scuffling and whispering to each other before the silence filled the air. It seemed as though that was all they were going to get for tonight.

///

The next morning the younger witches awoke to the Betas already getting ready to leave. Beta Willow was playing around with a mossy skull with a faded oink flower mask propped on her head, Zada was grabbing her mask and bat, and Amity was pulling on her own mask. Beta Gus and Hunter were bickering over who had to keep watch on the younger witches.

”You’re the Golden Guard so you should keep watch! You know all about guarding don’t ya?” Gus snickered.

Hunter growled before his blue bird palismen turned into a staff in his hands. “I’m the eldest in this group and the only reason why Belos hasn’t laid a hand on us! You better keep watch here or you’re gonna hear it from Zada.” He grabbed his Golden Guard mask and left the building. Beta Gus cursed under his breath before turning to see the younger witches in their bonds staring at him.

”What do you want?” He asked flatly.

Gus perked up immediately. “How did you do that?”

”Do… what?” Beta Gus looked at his younger version with a slightly judgmental look on his face.

”Those chains! You only have illusion magic so how did you make it physical?”

Beta Gus shrugged. “Quite simple. Just imagine your Illusion is real and it becomes tangible. Of course, being a child prodigy also plays a role in that.”

Willow rolled her eyes. “Why are you so obsessed being the child prodigy?”

”Oh, so she does speak huh?” Beta Gus responded coldly as he looked up to the blue haired witch. “Didn’t think she would have that much character.”

”Okay maybe we should reel it back with the insults.” Luz chuckled nervously. Since when was Gus so creative with his insults anyways? Beta Gus rolled his eyes before waving his hand. Out from his hand appeared two identical clones of himself made out of blue glowing light. They stood in front of the group and staring at them with a cols glare. Gus hopped onto the sofa and lounged on there for a while. It wasn’t before long when Luz realized that they were inside the rundown Owl House. “Wait a minute, why are we in the Owl House?”

The clones seemed to glitch for a split second. Beta Gus slowly got up and strode over to Luz. “You… recognize this place?”

”I mean, that is basically where Eda would have stored her potions to keep the Owl Beast at bay!” Luz pointed over to a small corner of the room.

Beta Gus mused for a while. “How is Eda? Back in your world that is.”

Luz shrugged. “She’s the coolest Harpy turning wild witch I have ever known! She even has a golden hook instead of an arm now!”

”Her sister Lilith also is really cool!” Amity would add in with a strained smile. If they could get Beta Gus to crack and open up, maybe he could help them leave.

”Lilith? My… haven’t heard from her in forever.” Beta Gus mused.

”What do you mean?” Willow asked. “And… where even are they?”

”Oh yea! Where’s Hooty even? He’s not on the door!” Gus pointed out.

Beta Gus growled. “You do know your voice sounds like a shrill cat drowning in the boiling sea right?”

”Hey!”

”That doesn’t answer his question!” Willow exclaimed. “Where are the three?!”

Beta Gus took a deep breath before going back to the sofa, the two clones every so often spazzing out. It wasn’t long when the other Betas returned back, Willow and Amity carrying two giant brown sacks. They dropped it on the floor and the contents were just food. It wasn’t the best looking food, but it was enough for the younger witches to salivate over. They hadn’t eaten in a long while since Luz brought them here.

”Oh my gosh! Kikimora’s face was priceless!” Beta Hunter giggled, running a hand through his hair. “If it wasn’t for Tiny then I could have punted the gremlin!”

Beta Willow just patted the blonde’s shoulder as a vine slid out from her hand, almost like a tendril. “I’m sure you could have love.”

The Betas soon sat on the flood and began to sort out the food by how long it could be saved for. They threw the apples over to the younger witches who took it greedily. It wasn’t long before Luz asked Zada where they got to food. Zada chuckled. “The villagers of course! This is basically their taxes as money is practically mierda here.”

Luz gasped. “You just-.”

”Yea yea yea, it’s not like I’m gonna get scolded here or anything.” Zada rolled her eyes. “Vee and Masha tried to scold me over through the one time I contacted them but eh, they can’t do much.”

Luz’s eyes widened. “How are they? How did you contact them?” Zada ignored the other’s question and grabbed something to eat from the pile.

Beta Willow rolled her eyes before combing through Hunter’s hair, cleaning it and playing with it for a bit. “Hmm… I wonder how your mom is doing Zada.”

”I dunno. Don’t think she cares at this point either.” Zada said nonchalantly, though Luz could hear the hidden pain behind her words.

Chapter Text

After the meal, Zada decided to let the younger witches free from their bonds. They were going to be watched, they were stuck in the house and their palismen would still be kept away from them but other than that they were at least able to walk and explore. The Betas had gone off to have a chat together so the younger witches were being watched by the blue glowing clones. Willow couldn’t help but explore the bathroom. She knew in their world that the bathroom was Hunter’s safe space, so she wondered if in this rotted abode that it would be the same for Beta Hunter. Most of the rooms were padded up or completed collapsed in and vandalised so Willow didn’t have a hard time finding the bathroom. Surprisingly, it was one of the cleanest rooms in the building. She took a peek before slinking away. It didn’t prove much for her but it was something to say the least. She soon walked past what seemed to be the meeting room and could hear the Betas talking. She slowly peaked through a crack from the door and listened in.

”The Collector has given us two days to prepare for them to be presented to him. He’s coming in for a house check so remember your roles alright?” She could hear Zada instruct. For being an older version of Luz, Zada scared Willow with her intimidating voice and presence.

”Do we really have to give the Collector this lot?” She could hear what seemed to be Amity’s voice asking. “They’re the best world ones. He wouldn’t like them that much right?”

A scoff was the response before Willow heard her older self speak up. “That’s the best part! Because they are from the best world, they are the perfect targets for all the messed up mierda he does to his little toys!” She could hear Zada audibly gasp and Willow could see a smirk on her older version as she leaned back in her chair, the Venus Flytrap coiling to her side and looking as if it was giggling. “You’re not the only one learning Noceda.”

She spotted Amity shaking her head. “That’s not the point! If we keep feeding the Collector with his little toys of us he wants so badly, then he’ll be able to build his army faster than we can stop him with our plan!”

Hunter rolled his eyes. “But if we stop giving the Collector his goods then eventually he’s gonna snap. This is basically keeping him at bay from the villagers, whether they know or not. If the villagers only had listened to us without Gus playing around with his light show then we would have had him gone for a long time now.”

”Well it’s not my fault I was trying to see if my spells could keep the Collector at bay so I could teach other Illusion witches to help me! I would have been able to build an army of illusionists!” Gus scowled.

Willow rolled her eyes before her Venus Flytrap started acting up. “Great Titan. He’s coming early.”

The Betas gasped before darting out. By then, Willow had run off back to the main room to not let the Betas know she was listening. Soon, she heard Zada shouting down the hall. “All you younger witches get over here now!” Immediately the five ran over. Zada muttered some Spanish under her breath before sending the five into a dark room with one dinky light hanging from the ceiling. “And don’t you think about coming out until you hear me got that?” And with that, the door slammed shut in their faces.

The five shuffled in the room uncomfortably, the air hot and stinky from the green moss and rot. Luz couldn’t help but feel saddened at seeing the state of ruin the Owl House was in. It wasn’t before long before they heard what sounded to be King squeaking. They made their way towards the sound before seeing King chained up to a wall in between two large potions tables. Each table had a cauldron bubbling away with the yellow and blue potion liquid with vials stored in the shelves. King had patches of wrapped bandages all over his body and his eyes were flicking a glowing blue. “H-Hello..? Is anyone there?” King’s tiny voice called out softly.

”King?!” Luz gasped, rushing over to the frail Titan. He looked tired to say the least. The chains were tightened to his wrists and neck and blue dried liquid had stained the bandages. “What on earth happened to you?!”

”I…” King began to sniffle. “I’m so sorry Luz! I never meant for any of this to happen! Now Eda is gone, Hooty is gone, Lilith is gone, everyone I thought I knew is gone! Even you and your friends are-.” He looked up at them before looking back down at the rotten wooden floor. “I’m so sorry!”

”Hey hey hey! It’s alright buddy!” Luz assured the Titan. “None of this is your fault. And-.”

”How did you know we weren’t your usual witches?” Amity suddenly asked, suspicion swirling around her.

”Because those witches always force me to go into the In-Between to pick out a good universe for them to drag the others into.”

”What do you mean by that?” Luz was now very curious.

King stayed silent for a long time. “Well… it would be hard to explain. B-But really it’s just-.” A loud slam was heard as the door to the room flew open. He bit his tongue so hard he drew blood, tears pricking at his eyes. “Go! Don’t let them see you with me!” He squeaked, his feet kicking under him as he backed himself up to the wall.

”I-.”

”Go!”

///

The Collector had to duck down to not hit his head on the door frame, his head barely brushing against the ceiling. He was cladded in white with dark blue moons and suns patterned on the cloak. His face was hidden and all that was there instead of his face was a glowing yellow crescent. His voice was echoing in the room, not in the creepy dark growl kind of voice but the sound of a giggling kid in an empty parking lot. To say the least, it creeped everyone out. The Betas kept their usual neutral faces, but the Collector could just smell the fear radiating off them. He giggled as his tall slim figure bent down to Zada’s eye level. 

“Where are the toys?” He asked, almost in a child-like way.

”We’re keeping them in safe keeping.” Zada said, shifting her stance and adjusting her beanie. “We don’t want them running away seeing the sight of you. From what I heard, in their universe you are a child!”

The Collector froze before his shoulders began to shake with laughter. “They think I’m that runt? That’s adorable!” He rolled his head and his shoulders before standing at full height. “Fine. I will make that exception just this once.” He paused for a minute before looking to his left and right. “Luz… take a walk with me will ya?”

The four looked at Zada and she nodded slowly before walking out with the space entity. She gave them a curt nod before closing the door. Immediately Amity went upstairs to the room. She slammed the door wide open and called for the younger witches to come out. She couldn’t help but notice Luz having a small vial in her jacket pocket but she would dismiss it for now. “You guys are lucky. The Collector is talking with Zada for the time being so you should get ready to leave.”

”Leave?!” The five exclaimed. “What do you mean leave?!”

Amity looked down to the ground, the Abomination goo in her hair bubbling more violently. “We can’t have the Collector have you. You guys are from the ‘best world’ realm as Zada calls it. If the Collector gets his hands on you, it would spell doom for every single world.”

”But what about you guys?” Gus asked anxiously.

”We’ll be fine.” Beta Gus snapped, a glowing blue bat manifested into his hands. “Besides, even if that backfires we can always keep you in here with the Collector thinking you got away.”

”I still think it’s a bad idea.” Beta Willow replied sharply. “If he does find out we lied to him, who knows what would happen to all of us! He’d just leave this body and hop off into a different body of his in a different realm where he could reset everything! It’s better to keep him here and give a couple sacrifices rather than have the whole world doomed.” Willow noticed Beta Hunter pulling the older blue-haired witch to the side to talk with her.

Beta Amity rolled her eyes before continuing. “Just… don’t let Zada know. There’s something she’s been doing behind our backs but we’re not sure what it is. If she knew about this plan we are going to try and pull off, she would be real pissed at us.”

Chapter Text

Zada walked next to the slim towering figure as she listened to him blabber on about his recent adventures his toys had gone on before stopping at the cliff’s edge and looking over to the sea.

”Dear Zada… do you know what happened to that Titan, King?”

Zada could feel her body tense at the name before relaxing. “I wish I did Collector. Even if I did know where he was, I would have brought him to you straight away.”

”Yes I know, but I could smell his blood reeking through the walls.” The Collector’s crescent that replaced his face glowed bright and spun. “You know, I can always cut the deal off.”

”No please!” Zada gasped desperately. The Collector looked at her before she regained her composure. “You know that the only reason why I’m here is because I can’t return home. If I can’t return home then the Boiling Isles would remain in this state. Remember?”

As much as the Collector was an all-powerful being with twisted abilities, he still was a bit of a gullible child. “Right right. Remind me of the deal again?”

”Once I return to you enough copies of my team from the different realms, you will send me back home.”

”Indeed. And what would happen if you fail to turn in three of them?”

”. . . Rampage?”

”Bingo! You get a gold star.” The Collector let his hand peek out of his cloak and hand Zada a big floating star that was pulsing with a golden glow.

”What’s this..?” Zada asked hesitantly, the star floating into her hands. It was about the size of her head and there were two black eyeholes with red pinpricks of light inside.

”Consider this a gift from me to you to thank you for all the toys you have given to me.” The Collector chuckled. “I would have given this to King who was my Titan Friend. Since he’s missing you would suffice as the replacement for the time being.”

Zada nodded slowly before the star floating to follow her from behind. “Is like those Blue Watcher stars?”

”Good stars no!” The Collector chuckled. “I lost a good batch of them ages ago from that stupid Rebellion down in the town.” The Collector paused for a minute. “Why are you helping me?”

Zada scratched the back of her neck. “Well, because I know that you just want to make the Boiling Isles a better place.” That wasn’t true of course, but she had to sucker up to him so she could save everyone’s skin. “The only reason why it’s in such disarray is because I’m the odd factor in the land. You saw what happened with Belos!”

The Collector shuddered at Belos’s name being mentioned. “That liar… he deserved what he got. But then again, now he’s stuck and dead and he can’t get out.”

”See? The humans are why the Boiling Isles are falling apart. So if I manage to leave with you helping me out, then the Boiling Isles would be safe again!”

”Can’t argue with that logic…” The Collector sighed. “Very well then. You can go back to that place you call the Owl House. Just to remind you, if you manage to bring me this final batch, then technically the deal is sealed and you can leave~.” And with that, the Collector teleported away.

Zada nearly collapsed on the floor after the entity had left. Now she really was torn. She knew that Amity didn’t want them to suffer in the hands of the Collector. That could have been them. All happy and chill with not being stuck in this absolute nightmare. Yet here they were, sacrificing their own lives from other worlds. She groaned before grabbing her bat and walking back to the house.

///

When she returned home, she spotted Amity ushering in the younger ones into an Abomination cage.

”Zada- You’re back early!” Amity chuckled nervously, her Abomination hair rippling.

Zada rolled her eyes. “Mi hermosa, what on earth are you doing?”

Amity wrung her hands. “N-Nothing.”

”She’s trying to sneak ‘em out.” Beta Willow responded. Amity’s jaw dropped before looked at Zada with big eyes.

”I-I felt bad a-and-.”

”I wasn’t going to be angry mi amor. I just want to know why would you do this without telling me. I would never try to hurt you.” Zada sighed as she brushed away a strand of hair from Amity’s face.

”They deserve to have the life we never had. They could have been us. Can’t you at least spare one batch this time?” Amity asked, her voice so small Zada could barely hear it. “Even Hunter and Gus agreed.”

”I mean come on! A world where I get to be a palismen carver would be awesome!” Hunter pointed out.

”And I suppose being a master illusionist teacher isn’t such a bad future for me.” Gus sighed.

Then everyone turned to look at Beta Willow. She scowled as she buried herself deeper into her dusty green trenchcoat, her gold rimmed glasses teetering on her nose. “I’m just saying that this is a terrible idea. You do not know what you are getting into Noceda.” A giant Venus Flytrap engulfed her, and she was gone from the room.

Zada cracked her knuckles before swinging her bat onto her shoulders. “So dear amor, what shall we do first?”

Chapter Text

“First! Their palismen?” Beta Amity pointed out. Zada sighed before heading upstairs. “Also grab one of the world potions!”

Luz gasped hearing that. “World potion! I’ve been meaning to ask, why is King up there? And why was he crying and bleeding and what not?!”

Beta Hunter’s and Gus’s eyes grew wide as they looked at each other then back to Luz, “Wait, he’s bleeding?”

”Yes! He was covered in bandages with his blue blood dried onto it!” Luz exclaimed, now nervous. “How did you guys not know?”

Beta Amity wrung her hands as she heard Zada creaking down the stairs with equally wide eyes. “You… saw him?” Zada said slowly. The other couldn’t tell if she was angry or not.

Hunter spoke up. ”Of course we did! We saw the world potion and the poor Titan was blabbering on about how this was all his fault and- ACK! What is that?!” Zada’s golden star zoomed up right to Hunter’s face, the red pinpricks for eyes boring deep into his soul. Hunter shifted on his feet nervously as the golden star slowly drifted back to Zada.

”I forgot about him.” Zada sighed as the golden star floated next to her. As the star did that, she opened the box she was holding and the palismen leapt out and were chattering to the younger witches. The younger witches started to giggle and talk with their palismen before Zada clapped her hands. “Alright amigos we have a plane to get down to.”

Beta Amity nodded before bringing the younger witches outside. She paused for a minute before whirling around again. “Wait, we need our Willow.”

”I’ll get her.” Beta Hunter sighed before getting on his staff and zooming off.

///

There was only one space where Beta Hunter knew Willow would be. It was in the most obscure part of the forest but it had the most gorgeous views he had ever seen. Sure enough, he spotted the blue haired witch and landed next to her.

”What do you want?” She snapped, holding her Venus Flytrap in place. It was a funny thing Hunter had known about Willow. The Venus Flytrap had a mind of its own but at the same time it also could channel Willow’s true feelings. As of right now, it seemed as though the plant wanted to be with Hunter more than anything but Willow held it back.

”We need you for the plan.” Hunter said slowly, sitting next to her. Willow scoffed before pushing her glasses up, the golden glint hitting Hunter in the eye.

”Why should I bother?” She muttered. “I told you this plan is going to spell doom to us all. If the Collector finds out about this then who knows what he would do! Sometimes… I can hear them.”

”Who?”

”My… dads… I can hear them screaming for me. Or just screaming in pain. Or whatever.” Willow pulled her knees to her chest, her trenchcoat basically engulfing her. “I hate hearing that. Sometimes I hear them in the dead of night along with more screams. Nighttime is the worst. They always scream.”

Hunter stared her, his face scrunched up. “How do you… hear them?”

“Bring interlaced with plants gives you abilities you yourself wouldn’t know until it’s too late.” Willow sighed, pulling up her sleeve to reveal her arm just being leaves and vines. Hunter’s breath hitched seeing the sight.

”Why didn’t you tell us about that?!” Hunter exclaimed as he prodded at the plant arm. “No wonder your plant is always so close to you.”

”It was during the moss attack. It got on my arm and I cut it off before it grew any further. E-Eda helped me get that fixed up.” Willow stifled a gasp saying the last sentence. Hunter rubbed his hand on her back, running circles as she started to choke on her sobs. “It’s always so loud Hunter. They beg for help and all we can do is nothing. If you don’t give this batch to them, the screams will just get louder and louder.” Hunter pulled her into a tight hug as she gripped onto his sweater and her forehead was leaning on his chest. “But the silence is the worst.”

”My rose… I’m so sorry you have to go through that.” Hunter sighed as he nestled his face into her fluffy hair. “I hurts seeing you in this state. Just tell me what happens and I’ll listen.” He looked out from the forest’s edge and watched the sun setting. He lifted Willow up before hopping onto his staff.

///

“There they- what happened?” Beta Amity gasped as she ran up to the two and seeing Willow all puffy eyed. “You better explain later.” She hissed to Hunter before heading back to the group.

”Why do you need me?” Willow grumbled, her Venus Flytrap tugging at her towards the younger witches.

”We needed your Venus Flytrap to be on standby really.” Beta Gus chuckled.

”Whatever.” Willow sighed.

Zada rubbed her hands together as she stuck on a couple patches of what seemed to be glyphs onto her bat. Luz gasped and pointed at it. “You can still use glyphs here?!”

”Yes… but no.” Zada said slowly. “Well I can, but the magic is corrupted since that perra called Belos is inside the Titan’s heart. But in my case it’s better because it causing collateral damage.”

Luz rolled her eyes before Zada started to draw the symbols on the ground. “Have you… done this before? It seems like you know how to do this.”

”Nope. I’ve only done this to pull other universal versions over ourselves into here.”

”That’s horrible!”

”I know. Okay, you guys stand in the circle.” Zada huffed as she finished the symbols. The five stood on it, shuffling around to make sure not to mess it up. As soon as Zada popped the cork off the potion’s top, she heard ruffling and growling in the bushes. Willow’s flytrap started thrashing around violently. Zada quickly capped the potion but by then it was too late. Two giant beasts emerged from the bushes, one slow and looming and the other fast and growling.

Either way, Luz knew who they were. Eda and Lilith, mind controlled harpies.

Chapter Text

“Woah there… atta girl.” The echoing child-like voice chuckled as the looming figure emerged from the bushes, patting Eda’s head as the harpy leapt towards him like an excited pup. Eda and Lilith’s eyes were glowing bright as the Collector made his way towards them. He patted them on the head, though Lilith seemed more agitated with the touch than Eda. Luz stared in horror as she watched who was once her beloved mentor now turned into a beast. The odd part was that they looked more like the Owl Beast than the harpy forms that Eda and Lilith had adapted. Eda was smaller than Lilith but she sure had energy. Lilith seemed to resent Eda and the Collector, only growling at them and flicking them away if they got to close to her.

”E-Eda…?” Luz stuttered, gripping onto her staff tight. Eda’s gaping and glowing black eyes stared at Luz with no reaction, her missing front arm only a nub.

The Collector only laughed. “So the toys do know about them! Gotta say, Eda is like… the energetic pup that would do anything for her master, even if it means doing things her own way. Lilith on the other hand.” He yanked at a chain connected to a collar on Lilith’s long raven-beast neck, her black draping hair moving in the breeze. She didn’t dare to look at the Collector, only snarled. “She is a bit of a stubborn one. Won’t respond to a word I say!” He yanked her chain hard at ‘word’, causing her to yowl and attempt to claw at the Collector.

”What did… how is she like that!?” Luz exclaimed, tears trickling down her face.

”Aw. You worried for the Clawthornes?” The Collector mocked and making his voice go higher. “Don’t bother. They’re stuck like this. Tried to get them into their Harpy forms so they would be more stable and better for me but noooo they had to be stupid and stick this form. I don’t even know why they are stuck like this. Had my eyes on Eda but seeing Lilith like this was a treat! I call ‘em bird-beasts for the moment. They are very fun to play for my adventures. They keep breaking my toys so that’s one thing I have to train them not to do.”

”Breaking your toys?” Beta Willow looked up to the Collector with horrified eyes, the most expression she had shown in quite a while.

”Toys break all the time! Just don’t understand why they have to be so noisy when I have to fix them.” The Collector scoffed as Beta Willow slapped a hand to her mouth. Beta Hunter had to catch her and pulling her into a tight hug. He glared at the Collector before Zada spoke up.

”What are you doing here?” The Collector tilted his head, the glowing crescent spinning on his face as the golden star he had gifted to Zada drifted towards him. The star soon exploded into confetti the moment the Collector touched it. The witches flinched as the Collector snapped his fingers, the two harpies retreating back to his sides.

”That golden star of yours had more than one purpose Noceda.” The Collector giggled. “After I heard about what you were planning on doing, I sent my lovely pets to go get ya! Came in at the right time by the looks of it. Now give me my toys.”

”No!” Beta Amity shouted, stepping in front of Zada. “I-I can’t let you have them!”

”Mi amor, what are you thinking?!” Zada hissed at the purple haired witch. The Collector giggled as he bent down, his glowing crescent face radiating onto hers. This was the first time Amity got to see the Collector’s face up close. It was weird, like staring into a black void with nothing but the glowing crescent.

”So this is your little love bug Noceda?” The Collector asked, his voice considerably more low. “What stupid plan did she force you to do?” He shoved Amity to the side, knocking the wind out of her, as he looked at Zada expectantly for an answer.

Zada took a deep breath. “Nothing. I was planning on handing them to you now actually. She just wanted to see if she could make them look pretty for you. You know I’d never want to disappoint you right?”

The Collector chuckled. “Don’t lie to me Noceda! You know I can always cut the deal short right?”

Zada’s smirk didn’t fade. “But you do want your new world here to be all nice and pretty and fixed up right? You can only get that once we complete the deal and you help me.”

The Collector growled, “Don’t you smart talk me you little human!” His voice began to distort, sounding as if there were multiple voices overlaying his own. He was also beginning to lose his temper and act more like a sophisticated spoilt child (the best way Zada could put it). “You’re lucky I haven’t bother to smudge you out yet. Just give me my batch of toys and you’re good to go.” Zada only stared at the Collector. By now he was losing it, his voice was warped and distorted, his glowing crescent face began to fail and flicker, and the bird-beasts were growing restless. “Well Zada? I have been planning on using this new batch for a new game to play to get them used to me but if you don’t give them to me now it’s not going to be fun anymore!” He growled. Zada only gripped onto her red bat tightly, her eyes still fixated on the Collector. Luz could feel her heart racing. Any moment an attack could land and it would be all out chaos. She noticed Willow instinctively growing thorny vines to give them protection around the circle they were in.

”I bargain for a day more.” Zada finally spoke. The Collector stared at her before an ear-splitting shriek exploded from him. Everyone cowered and covered their ears, including the bird-beasts.

”You dare challenge me for another day?! I have waited patiently for my new toys and this is what I get?!” His voice was now incredibly distorted. Zada nodded, keeping her calm facade on. This only aggravated the Collector more before releasing his grip on the bird-beasts chains. “No. I’m the one in charge! I’m meant to be the one playing! If you don’t want to play with me then you can play with my pets! Atta girls!”

The bird-beasts were let free.

The Collector summoned out giant glowing crescents as the ‘fences’ to trap them all in. Immediately Eda leapt up and charged at Luz, who was quickly intercepted by a large wall of blue energy. Luz and Eda whipped their heads around to see Beta Gus with his fist in the same glowing blue and his eyes aglow. Eda screeched before charging at him. While Eda was going on her rampage, Lilith began to hide in the shadows, attacking the others from behind. Amity quickly caught note of that and smashed her fist down to the ground, giant Abomination hands reaching out from the cracks and grabbing Lilith’s feet. She screeched as she thrashed around, hitting younger Gus over to Eda in the process. The Collector was laughing manically in the background, watching them with his glowing crescent face spinning in circles. Beta Willow looked over before blasting a giant vine, grabbing the Collector and dragging him into the ring. He screamed as he got accidentally trampled by the rampaging Eda. He managed to teleport away in time but the damage was done. This was also causing for the crescent moon ‘fences’ to start to glitch and flicker. The Collector snapped his fingers, the bird-beasts teleporting to his side all tired and growling. The witches saw the two Gus’s under Eda’s grip before the younger beast threw the two boys over to Lilith’s grip.

”You little jerks! Turning on your own leader!” The Collector screamed, basically sounding like an angry and all-powerful child. “If you want your boys back then I want to see white flags! White flags outside at dawn or you are dead!”

And with that, the three teleported away with the two illusionist boys.

Chapter Text

Zada stared at the empty spot with wide eyes. Everyone did really, but she was just… stunned. Her teammate, one of her friends, just was whisked away as if it was nothing. Her grip on the bat loosened before feeling someone tackling her from behind. She yelped before turning around and pushing the person away to see a mess of dirty blonde and blue hair.

”Vee?!”

”Luz!”

”No uh, just call me Zada.”

Vee stared at Zada with blank eyes before Masha and Camila walked up behind. They all stared with wide eyes as they saw the crew and what appeared to be a copy of the crew. “Uh… hi mama.”

”What happened Luz?!” Camila exclaimed, running up to her daughter and bringing her hands to her daughter’s face. She began to fuss in Spanish about how she was so worried for her and if she was injured and such. Zada groaned before gently pushing her away. Everyone remained quiet as they watched the four talk.

”Mama I’m fine.”

”Well you clearly aren’t fine with how we just saw you uh… eight just staring at nothing.” Masha pointed out. “We want to help. What do we need to do?”

”First of all, why are there clones of you?!” Vee interjected before Zada could answered the other human’s question.

”I- No time for that now!” Zada snapped. “I uh… you three watch on the clones of us! The rest of us will go find Gus.”

”Gus? Who’s Gus?!” Camila asked quickly. “Why do you have to find him? Does this place always look like this?! How have you been eating? How-.”

”Mama please!” Zada shouted. Luz and Vee gasped before seeing Zada run her hand down her face and putting both hands in her mom’s shoulders. “I-I’m sorry. I’m nit mad I’m just very stressed with everything and with you guys coming over suddenly and with Gus gone… I don’t think I can handle this much longer mama.” Zada’s head dropped almost in shame before Camila pulled her in for a hug. Zada squeaked before burying her face in the crook of Camila’s neck.

”Darling… everything’s gonna be okay. We’ll help you!” Camila chuckled as she pulled Zada away to look her in the eyes. “First! Introduce me to your friends. Then tell us how to help!”

”Yea!” Vee and Masha cheered at the same time before blushing and giggling together.

Zada wiped her nose and sighed. “Alright then… but uh, how did you guys even get here?”

Masha rolled her eyes as Vee explained. “Masha and I wanted to find and help you after we managed to contact you. We solved the that we found in the puzzle that we got from the museum and found Titan’s blood buried! We used it to get here.”

”Titan’s blood in the human realm?” Both Hunters gasped before looking at each other.

”I know! I was stunned too!” Vee giggled, bouncing on the balls of her feet. Zada rolled her eyes before ruffling the basilisk’s hair.

”Okay then… let’s get to business.” Zada sighed as she cracked her knuckles.

///

Gus banged his head on the bars with a groan. There was no way out of this oddly pastel prison. He had tried everything and failed. It didn’t help that there were five giant stars with red pinprick eyes watching the two.

”Can you shut up?” Beta Gus hissed, curled up in the corner of the cell.

”Well I would if you were actually going to try and help me!” Gus snapped, his eyes glowing and faint outlines of his clones appearing. Beta Gus curled up further, his knees up to his chin and a scowl on his face. “If you  can stop being such a whiney prick then maybe we would be outside of this cage right now!” Gus shouted, stomping over towards his older self with glowing blue eyes and a furious face. Gus jabbed a finger at Beta Gus’s face before being slapped away.

”Don’t touch me!” Beta Gus hissed, though Gus could see tears forming in his eyes. Gus slowly took a step back and looked at the older version of himself.

”Are you… crying?” Gus asked softly, his stunned eyes wide. Beta Gus remained quiet, rubbing her burnt forearm up and down while muttering something and tears slowly streaming down his face. Gus sat down in front of his self. “Are you… scared of me?”

”No! Of course not!” Beta Gus gasped, almost offended that Gus would think that. “I just… really hate being trapped in rooms. Brings up bad memories.”

Gus raised an eyebrow. “Mind… telling me?”

”Why would I ever tell you?” He asked, sounding a bit disgusted at the thought.

Gus rolled his eyes. “This is going to sound really stupid, but, my dad always told me that it’s better to ask people what they are thinking before jumping to conclusions. I just want to know what you are thinking.”

Beta Gus stared at Gus before rolling his eyes. “That was stupid.”

”Don’t judge! It’s a good thing to know!” Gus chuckled, playfully swatting at Beta Gus before realizing he reacted badly to it. “Maybe we can… start with why you hate being trapped it rooms?”

”Mmm… promise not to make fun of me?”

”Of course! Why would anyone try to make fun of you for sharing your emotions?!”

Beta Gus would shrug before sighing. “Basically… Perry was a jerk. When he found out I had skipped levels he was thrilled. But I think that the status went to his head because every time I didn’t get full marks, which was occasionally, he’d trap me in my room to help train me with my magic. I’d sneak out of course but he soon found out. And then that’s where the burn came.”

Gus stared at Beta with wide eyes. “That’s horrible! Why would Dad ever do that?!”

”Eh… this isn’t your Perry. This is my Perry. I guess not all of us are lucky.”

Gus shifted side to side. “Well… this time, you can sneak out without any consequence!”

”Or we can sneak out and get the worst consequence in history.” Beta Gus said dryly.

”Come on man, I’m trying to help! Surely you have something up your sleeve right?”

Beta Gus mumbled something under his breath. “Okay, those stars are watching us but from their reactions they cannot hear us. So act naturally and follow my lead.”

Gus nodded. He soon saw Beta Gus drawing three glowing blue circles onto the ground and his eyes dimly glowing. He drew three dots inside each circle before slamming it down. Instantly, five glowing spikes shot out of the ground under the stars, shattering them to bits. He then formed a key in his hand and rammed it through the keyhole on the other side, the cell door clicking open.

”Let’s go.”

Chapter Text

The two illusionists wandered down the halls of the Collector’s palace. It seemed to have endless twists and turns as far as the eye could see. The halls were in a sickly pastel pink that could fool almost anyone into thinking that was cotton candy. The palace would have seen to have come out of a fairy tale book with the pretty blues and purples and pinks that colored the palace of it wasn’t for the ugly and dark green and black moss that ate at everything in contact. They continued to wander around until they found a very ornate doorway and frame with a plaque on the top. In very gaudy and curly lettering, the plaque read ‘Doll Room’. The two boys looked at each other before slowly pushing in. There they stood, in an infinitely tall circular chamber with dolls lining the walls, hung up in wooden pegs with equally gaudy and ornate plaques above them with their names on it. The dolls were in very decorative and frilly clothing, some looked like princesses or court jesters. Some looked like rogues or adventurers. The only thing that made the boys want to throw up was the sight of twisted and broken dolls on what seemed to be a giant workshop bench, hammers and screwdrivers of all sorts of sizes scattered about. Gus felt like he would throw up seeing this sight of what seemed to be one of Willow’s dads lying on the bench with his whole arm popped off and thrown to the side, the exception of the string connecting the shoulder joints together. There was a separate little cubby space where the Coven Leaders were. They were all dressed up in frilly clothes and seemed to be posed to be in perfect posture.

”Over here.” Beta Gus hissed. The two Gus’s stared at their dad. His glasses were at the tip of his nose, his eyes wide and dead. He was in a very loose white blouse with brown leather pants and boots to match. The younger boy looked up to Beta Gus. Suddenly, in the blink of an eye, there was a glowing blue blade at the father’s throat.

”Wait! What are you doing?!” Gus hissed, pulling the older witch’s arm down. Beta Gus just stared at his father, his face contorted with fury and his eyes pricking with tears.

”He hurt me Gus! He basically tortured me to become the way I am! I should give him the taste of his own medicine so he can see how far I have come.”

”But that won’t make you any better than him!”

The two boys fell silent before hearing chirping and growling. “Oh Titan, is that who I think it is?”

The two boys began to weave and dart around before leaping behind a shelf which had even more witches hung up on pegs by the strings. Beta Gus stared in front of his with wide eyes, staring right in front of him was Emira. She had on a frilly dark purple dress with green and gold trim in the sides. Her golden eyes remained wide and dead like the rest of them, but the tear stains on her face suggested otherwise. Soon the two boys heard someone muttering before seeing the Collector walk in. His hood was off and his head of messy white hair was now in the air. Gus clamped a hand over his mouth while the older witch guided the two and weaved around the shelves to not be seen by the giant entity. Beta Gus made a glowing arrow to point at the open door from where the Collector had just came in from. The two nodded before slinking their way towards the door. While slinking their way there, they could hear the Collector talking to himself.

”Gotta get the new batch of toys and then I’ll finally be finished. Then that human can leave and everything will be mine… hmmm. I still need to collect those pesky villagers. But that’s such a hassle. They always have to be so stubborn and fight back. I just need them for my games but they never want to play! Maybe I just need to send out my stars. They like stars right? I just need that human to listen to me. She knows about the deal and she needs to leave so why won’t she leave? Maybe I should’ve have made my threat more clear. Hmmm, if I take the whole village that would get the human’s attention right? Ooooo. I could get the whole village to turn on them and work for me. Maybe I should have done something to those witches. Right! Those boys! I should go get them.”

‘The two witches quickly darted out before the Collector could turn around to see the two and made a beeline out of the castle. They were at the entrance gate when they heard the earth-shattering scream from the Collector. The two illusionists nodded before getting on their staffs and flying away. It wasn’t long until they crashed into the village. Instantly all the villagers gasped and darting inside their houses. “Wait! We’re not going to hurt you!” Gus said to assure them.

”That’s what they always say.” A familiar pink haired tri-clops scoffed as she slowly came out from one of the taverns. “Wait… two of you?”

”Please listen to us!” Gus pleaded. “We need your help! The Collector is planning on taking all of you!” That got the villagers’ attention. Soon a crowd formed around the two boys as Gus began to explain. “The Collector wants to take me and my friends. We are from a different world, that’s why there’s two of well, us. But your Luz is trying to help us by getting away and leaving so we don’t cause anymore damage here. We sort of fought against  the Collector but it ended up with him kidnapping the two of us.”

‘Beta Gus continued. “When we were making our escape, we heard him talking about how he wanted to take you all to be his new toys to fight against Luz and our crew. But in reality, she’s trying to help all of us!”

”Then why do her and her crew always barge into our place and steal our food?!” Viney shouted angrily, Skara and a few others shouting in agreement.

”Because we have to keep up the facade that we are working with the Collector somehow.” Beta Gus sighed. “Look, I know that in the past, we were jerks. But we have to push all of that aside and work together if we don’t want the Collector to win! At this point, the Collector basically has an army of mind controlled witches at his disposal with the coven heads! If he decides to fight all of us with the coven heads and all the other witches, we are going to lose. We have to work together to stop the Collector once and for all!”

”And what if you’re lying?” Boscha shouted with her hands on her hips.

”Why would we lie about trying to work with you guys?” Gus exclaimed.

”To gather us in one spot for the Collector to just swoop in and take us?” She scoffed, almost as if it was really going to happen.

”If that was the case Boscha then he would have been here ages ago.” Beta Gus said with a dead-pan voice. Boscha looked away, a bit embarrassed.

”Well I can confirm he isn’t lying.” Another voice chirped from the back of the crowd. Everyone turned to see who it was, and it was a dirty blonde and blue haired girl. Right behind them was the crew with Camila and Masha following behind them. “We were just about to save you from the Collector.”

”Vee?!” Gus gasped with wide eyes. Beta Gus looked at her then back at his younger self.

”Who’s she?”

”She’s Vee! Basically Luz’s basilisk sister.”

”She’s a basilisk?”

Zada got in her broom and flew up into the sky to get the crowd’s attention. “Everyone listen up! The Collector expects us,” She gestured to her crew. “To return and surrender our other selves. If we do this, he will use all the other versions of us that we had given him to become his personal army to defeat and rule the Boiling Isles. While you all stayed here doing nothing, we were trying to make a plan to stop him, even if it meant having to be mean to you. But now with what Gus has just said, we’re all going to need to help each other if you want to reclaim your homes back. I shouldn’t even be needing to yet I’m the one taking charge! If you want to still be alive on the Boiling Isles and not be turned into one of his playthings, you can join us and help fight against him at dawn!”

The crowd looked at each other nervously before a green haired fellow shouted, “I’ll join.” Beta Amity looked at her older brother with wide eyes. “We all want to live back to our normal lives. We all have lost family members, loved ones, and friends to the Collector and now sit in his castle as his playthings. What are we doing? Waiting around for some miracle to happen? We’re going to do it ourselves everyone!” Edric shouted before slinging a hesitant arm around his sister. “We’re going to get everyone back.”

The crowd began to cheer and pipe in saying they would join too. Zada and Luz looked at each other with wide grins before leading everyone to the Owl House where they would prepare for the Collector’s arrival.

Chapter Text

Everyone had begun to prepare for all out battle against the Collector and possibly his ‘dolls’. They were getting geared up and training on their magic in the woods. Luz, Hunter, Gus, Amity, and Willow couldn’t help but feel as if there was this thick and looming cloud of fear hanging over everyone. They also could hear the witches whispering the Coven Heads’, Eda’s, and Lilith’s names. The others knew why the witches would be scared to fight the Coven Heads, but why the Clawthorne sisters? Luz went up to Zada to ask. Zada’s shoulder slumped at the mention of the Clawthorne sisters’ names.

”Well… when the Collector started to interrogate where King was, Eda and Lilith stepped up and basically sacrificed themselves to the Collector in place of King. He then trapped them in their… corrupted forms, and uses them as his service pets.” Zada spat in disgust. “King basically beats himself up everyday about it.”

”Speaking of King, why was he chained up and bleeding in that room?! You never gave us an answer!” Luz exclaimed suddenly.

Zada rubbed the back of her neck. “It looks worse than what it was actually meant to be. We had to use him to warp the other versions of ourselves over to this world and we had to use his blood to make the potions. He also picks on the bandages a lot. He has tried to escape before but if he did then the whole Isle would be doomed. Chaining him up was a bit loco but I had to make sure he didn’t escape.”

”See! It wasn’t that hard to explain that!” Luz sighed.

///

Amity was sitting in the floor dealing with the palismen when she saw Edric walk over. He didn’t look much different from her own Edric, he just had longer hair and looked more tired than usual, kind of like Dad. He rubbed his neck as he sat down next to her. “Hey… other Amity.”

”Uhhh, hi? Whatcha need?” She looked up at him while playing with her own palismen.

”Just wondering… what is it like back in your realm?”

”Oh! Like, the life there or family or-.”

”Yes! Family!” Edric pointed at her with wide eyes before quickly withdrawing his finger with pink on his face and muttering a sorry.

Amity leaned back with a chuckle. ”Well… Odalia was a jerk so Dad isn’t with her anymore. Between you and me, we think that he has a thing with Darius. But if that’s the case then Hunter could technically become my brother or something and that would be weird.”

Edric stifled a laugh with wide eyes. “Dad and Darius! I could never!”

”Oh but have you seen them when they talk! I mean, come on!” Amity giggled. She spotted Beta Amity watching them, almost enviously. “I think someone else wants to talk to you.”

‘Edric looked up and saw the other Amity turning away. “Oh my gosh! I completely forgot why- thank you other Amity! I have to go talk with my Amity.” And with that, Edric scrambled to follow the older Amity.

///

Beta Willow was panicking. She couldn’t think straight with all the noises and screams in her head. It was getting louder and strained and more painful than she had ever experienced. She was pacing around in circles, her fists nearly ripping her hair out. Her Venus Flytrap in her arm started snapping at anyone trying to get to close to her, though they were trying to warn that she was making all the plants around her start growing out of control and nearly attacking the others at this point. Beta Hunter wasn’t there so it was just the younger Hunter and Willow watching on, not knowing what to do.

”Willow calm down please! I’m sure we can talk this out somehow!” Hunter shouted nervously. “Why are you even mad at us?”

“She’s not mad!” Willow shouted. “I-I don’t think she is! That is not the face you would call someone mad by right Hunter?” Hunter looked at his Willow nervously before looking up at the other Willow. She was right, Beta Willow angry. So why was she like this? He turned around to see the other Grimwalker ghosts trying to guide him somewhere.

”What..? I’m kind of busy right now?” They pointed towards the forest, showing a trail of yellow sparks. Hunter’s eyes grew wide before excusing himself from Willow. Willow was hesitant to say the least but she let him leave. He soon followed the trail of sparks to see his older self sitting on the edge of the cliff, the ghosts circling behind him while he held on to his blue bird. Hunter slowly walked up to the blonde and sat down next to him. “Hey… you good?”

”I mean… not really.” He grumbled.

”What do you mean?”

”It just feels weird doing this final fight without… him.”

‘Hunter’s perking ears dropped slightly. “Flapjack?”

”. . . Yea.”

”Can I ask… how did you lose him? You never went to the human realm.”

Beta Hunter stayed silent for a minute. “We were defending the Titan’s heart when Belos, ya know. Then he jumped from my body to the heart while trying to crush Flapjack for any hope to get some boost of power. Then Flapjack… had to sacrifice himself for me. I don’t think I can ever forgive myself for that.” He could hear his voice breaking.

”But that also means you have a bond with Flapjack forever right?”

Beta Hunter shrugged with a sniff before both of them turned to see Willow sprinting towards them with wide eyes and plants in her hair. “O-Other me! She’s gone crazy!”

///

Willow was right, she was going crazy. Her eyes were glowing green with Venus Flytraps sprouting all around her and wind was swirling around her, blasting the other witches too far to get close to her. She wasn’t speaking anymore too, it sounded more like garbled with multiple voices overlaying it. “I don’t know what happened but she just started freaking out and now she’s like this!”

Beta Hunter rolled his neck and started weaving through the plants like it was nothing before getting to the Center where Beta Willow was. “Flower dear?”

”S-Stay away from me!” She whispered, her voice barely audible gassing the rushing wind. She slowly began backing away from Hunter with her arm up, muttering under her breath while tears streaked down her face. He noticed that her arm was now overgrown with thorny vines as well. “Y-you’ll be hurt too.”

”Nothing hurts me more than seeing you like this Willow! Calm down and just tell me!” Hunter had to shout over the wind. He was glowing yellow and moving at hyper speed just to avoid the flying plants around him. She slowly began to take deep breaths in and out, the wind and plants slowly subsiding as she slowly hugged Hunter. He squeaked in discomfort as the thorns on her arms began to dig into his side. “Maybe let’s start with removing the thorns okay?”

She nodded slowly before sinking on the floor. “Everything hurts…”

‘Hunter nodded before carrying her in his arms and walked into the woods. He was really going to have to talk to her about the plant thing.

Chapter Text

The Nocedas stared over the cliff. This was it. The two Nocedas were going to stall the Collector back at the Owl House for some time. Willow would be notified when the Collector would be coming through the plants. The villagers and other witches remained at the edges of Bonesborough. Willow was in the front of the Plant Coven, Amity for the Abomination Coven, Gus for Illusion Coven, and Hunter stood with the Potions. The other covens had elected the strongest witch of their coven to lead and they all stood there as the sun rose up. Vee, Masha, and Camila were also with the villagers but were under the protection of Hunter.

Sure enough, a giant cloud of pink, blue, and yellow swirling smoke blasted before the two Nocedas. The Collector was fuming, his voice distorted and his glowing crescent face nearly blinding the two humans. Eda and Lilith were at his sides along with the dolled-up versions of the Coven Heads. “Where are the white flags Noceda.” The Collector growled.

”I’m done working for you Collector. The deal is off.” Zada shouted.

The Collector giggled. “I knew this would happen.” The collars on the bird-beasts were removed. Eda growled happily and began to leap around with bloodlust in the empty pits called eyes. Lilith seemed more hesitant to fight but the Collector kicked her forward. He then buried the dolled-up Coven Heads in Eda’s and Lilith’s backs before snapping his fingers. The dolls soon came to life and their eyes were glowing bright. “I bet they’d like to find your friends.”

Luz’s eyes grew wide before she ran to the Venus Flytrap hiding behind them. “BONESBOROUGH, THE BIRD BEASTS AND COVEN HEADS ARE GOING-.”

The Collector threw a giant glowing crescent towards Luz. Zada managed to deflect it over the cliff before having to dodge another one of the Collector’s stars. “Zada! Behind you!” Luz shouted.

The Collector cackled before five giant stars with the red pinpricks for eyes swirled into existence behind the looming entity. “New game for me!”

///

“THEY’RE COMING!” Beta Willow shouted, summoning out a giant wall of thick vines right as the bird-beasts crashed in. Vines and thorns were flying all over the place as the mad rampage began. All sorts of magic was being used: mud, illusions, Abomination goo, plants, and potions. The Healing and Oracle Covens were inside the houses and used them as bases to help send out early information for the fighters as well as helping to heal them.

”WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU DOING VEE?!” Masha screamed as she saw her best friend inhaling blue swirls of magic from the ground.

”Being a basilisk! I’ll explain later.” Vee said quickly before leaping into battle and letting out the loudest scream that Masha had ever heard. The blue glowing swirls exploded from her mouth and blasted a lot of the dolls and stars down.

”Where’s the Nocedas?!” One of the villagers shouted. “Weren’t they meant to be here by now?!”

”I don’t know!” Amity shouted back. “I think they still have the Collector on their tails!”

It seemed as though the stars were summoning out more dolls to fight to their side. Any villager who couldn’t escape the Collector’s wrath or versions of the crew that had been turned in to the Collector were now the dolls fighting against the surviving villagers.

Gus had launched himself onto Darius before seeing what felt like a sticker of a glowing crescent on his head slowly peeling off. He closed his eyes shut and whispered a sorry before ripping the sticker off. Darius shrieked before going limp and glowing a bright white. Gus scrambled off the Abomination Coven head and saw him slowly stagger up in a daze.

”Where on Titan- OH MY TITAN!” Darius screamed as he saw the battlefield before him.

Gus stared with wide eyes before turning to the crowd. He summoned out multiple clones of himself and made them run around. “PULL OFF THE GLOWING STICKERS ON THEIR FOREHEADS NOW!”

”What is going on?!” Darius shouted, using his Abomination goo as a shield.

”We’re fighting the Collector. Come on!” Gus shouted before running back into the fight to notify everyone else.

”I-.” Darius stared dumbfounded. That wasn’t the Gus he remembered, right? He sprinted onto the field only to see multiple versions of that human and her friends as well as dolls fighting. What had happened? Last thing he remembered was fighting the Collector and now waking up here.

Chapter Text

This was it. The Nocedas were going to be defeated. They held up their best against the giant space entity but they could only do so much. The last resort was the blue vial Luz had in her jacket. She managed to dart towards Zada and grab her by the wrist.

”We have one shot to do this Zada.”

The older Noceda stared at her wide eyes before looking at the vial. “What if I don’t transform? I never turned into the Titan form before!”

”Titan form?! TITAN BLOOD?!” The Collector screeched as he saw the vial. Luz just grabbed Zada’s hand in between the glass vial before squeezing it, shattering the vial and covering their hands in the blue blood. They closed their eyes as the Collector blasted a giant glowing crescent at them.

///

The remaining dolls were the strongest witches and the Coven Heads, minus Darius and Raine. The bird beasts were still going wild, though it seemed as though Lilith was much more docile compared with the wild Eda.

“Eda please listen to me!” Raine shouted from the roof top they had somehow gotten onto. They waved around a golden potion which one of the witches managed to make. It wasn’t the best potion to stop Eda’s beast form, but it would at least warp her back into her harpy form in a why. Eda chirped before landing beside the Bard Head and stared at them with wide empty eyes. Raine gulped before locking eyes with the bird beast. “Please try and take this.”

Eda shrieked before launching herself at Raine, her one clawed front foot nearly slashing them in the face. Raine dodged just in time before throwing the potion at Eda. The best hope was that it would shatter on her face and the potion would be strong enough to take effect without consumption.

///

The Collector backpedaled away from the two humans. Well, what he remembered were the humans. They didn’t look like humans anymore. Like a mix of human and Titan. One of them looked more on the human side (he assumed that was the younger human). The other one… she looked really like a half human and half Titan.

”Woah… that is a much different form. Does it hurt?”

”No?” Zada stared at Luz. She had giant fangs protruding out of her mouth, with horns sprouting out of her head. Her hair was still in the same pixie cut style but much more curlier. Her eyes were black with golden irises and she also had the glyph patterns swirling around her. She had claws so big her hands were barely visible.

The Collector growled. “You can’t stop me!” He flung another glowing crescent at them which the two dodged. The next thing he saw was a one-two punch from the two girls in the air.

///

Eda had nearly fallen off the roof before feeling Raine catching her. She looked up with wild eyes before trying to wriggle free from their grasp and failing miserably.

”Eda it’s me!” Raine shouted. “I don’t know what it’s like in your head right now but try to listen to me, please?”

Eda would only respond in weak growls and grunts before her ears perked up hearing the familiar sound of the violin. She snapped her head back to the Bard and stared at them. This seemed to have calmed Eda for the time being. The battle underneath them didn’t exist for the time being. It was just the two of them.

”R-Raine..?” Eda squeaked before collapsing on the roof.

Chapter Text

The Collector was gone. One minute, the two humans were fighting a giant cloud of blue, pink, and yellow. The next minute, the world went black and white before a blinding flash of light enveloped everything. When they woke up, it had seemed as though everything had gone back to normal minus the green and black moss still covering most of the land. The two Nocedas looked at each other with wide eyes before scouring the land around the house and finding a burned spot on the ground. The message read, “See you soon.”

”What the hell does that mean?!” Zada yowled, her hands up in her hair.

”Luz! Zada!” The Nocedas looked up to see the crowd of witches around them with wide eyes. It seemed as they also realized what had happened. They began to bombard them with questions.

”We won!” Zada shouted to the crowd with a giant smile plastered on her face. Immediately the crowd began to cheer and disperse back out to celebrate. Luz stared at the older Noceda with wide eyes.

”You just lied to them?!”

”It would be better than having the whole town in constant paranoia right?”

Before Luz could reply, both versions of their crews toppled on top of each other with loud shouts of victory and giggles. The Betas just stood off to the side to talk among themselves before seeing the younger witches getting up with the help of Camila. Masha was off to the side helping a very happy but exhausted Vee. Amity giggled while Luz swung her around.

”I love this Titan form of yours!” Amity would remark before being peppered by kisses.

Gus would turn to the Betas. “How are we gonna get home?”

Willow smirked and went inside the house. A couple minutes later, she strode out with a potion bottle filled with the blue and yellow liquid and a small King trailing behind her. “Shall we begin?”

///

Luz and her crew shuffled into the ring of drawn glyphs and stood still as Zada poured out the potion around the rings. Before Zada casted the spell, Beta Willow slipped a flower to Beta Amity, who in turn gave it to the younger Willow. It was a beautiful waterlily with each petal in a different color.

”Willow is not one for gifts but she is also not one for not saying goodbye.” Amity chuckled softly as she looked at Willow’s awestruck face, her eyes fixated on the blossomed flower. “Sometimes magic from other realms slip into places where they shouldn’t be. This flower can be slipped over to your realm. Anytime you see this flower, you’ll know what to do.”

Willow looked up to see Beta Willow with her back turned to the group. She chuckled before nodding slowly and whispered a thank you into the flower. She looked up and saw the older witch turn around with slightly wide eyes, a faint pink dusted on her face. The Venus Flytrap, however, was squeaking happily and wiggling around.

King looked at everyone before waving slowly. Luz gasped and looked over to Zada. “You better take good care of King!”

”I will. The Collector is not here for him anymore.”

Beta Gus rolled his eyes and clapped his hands. “I love this little exchange but we gotta get a move on! We have a village to take care of!”

”Oh please, you can calm down kid!” Beta Hunter teased, resting his elbow on the illusionist. He immediately received a slap and the two began to bicker playfully.

Zada rolled her eyes before nodded curtly with a smirk on her face. “See you soon.”

///

“Ugh… my head hurts.” Luz groaned as she sat up from the dirt. She gasped before crawling over to the four bodies that were off to the side and also on their backs. “Guys wake up! We’re back!”

The four soon began to stir before Luz turned around to see Raine and Eda gasping. “What are you kids doing?!”

”That was fast…” Hunter grumbled before being yanked up by Gus. “Hey watch it!”

”You kids better get inside! It’s going to rain soon.” Eda snapped before chasing the kids inside the house. “What were you even doing anyways?”

The five looked at each other before shrugging. “Honestly, we don’t know either.”

Raine’s eyes grew wide before they slid up next to Willow. “Where… did you get that flower?”

Willow chuckled. “Found it deep in the forest. Probably won’t find it again.”

Eda chuckled before ruffling up the fellow’s teal hair. “Alright buddy. You’re going to help with dinner before sending Luz back off alright?”