24. Chapter 62: Prelude to War: Part Three(2)

"So you're letting me go fight alongside my friends?" Luz asked.

"I do not condone violence, but if it is necessary to protect your community, then I can't stop you," Camila answered while Luz went up to hug her mother.

"Thank you, Mama," Luz thanked and her mom hugged her back.

"It's no problem, Mija," Camila told her.

"Ahem." Eda cleared her throat and Luz saw that Eda was holding up a crow. "There is someone that wishes to speak to you."

"Really? Who?" Luz asked while taking the crow. "Hello?"

"Hey Luz." Amity's voice was heard, surprising Luz who turned to Eda.

"You get a fifteen minute call for the day," Eda said as she and Camila left the room.

"Wow… it's good to hear your voice again," Luz said to Amity.

"It is good to hear your voice again too," Amity replied. She was currently sitting by the window, watching the egg in the aquarium.

"So… how's the kid doing?" Luz asked.

"She's still an egg," Amity answered. "But she's safe. How about you? How did taking Camila to school go?"

"It went well, since now she is letting me fight in the war against Glandus," Luz said. "And it was nice letting her see more of my life. What about you? Have you been preparing for the war?"

Amity stiffened a laugh. "Well, at Abominations I've been modifying my Abomi-suit and creating all different kinds of weapons. Snope said that it's a good alternative to summoning Abominations. And to our surprise, Puffer and Lambi showed up."

"Puffer and Lambi… those two were in the Abomination track last semester, right?"

"Yeah, they asked if there were ways to use Abomination magic with their current tracks. Snope suggested to Lambi that the Abomination gunk can be used to be like casts if she used her Healing magic on it. I showed Puffer a magazine Gus gave me about auto-parts from the human world as well as some military artillery. To give him ideas for stuff he could make with his Construction magic, like a tank."

"An Abomi-Tank… that would be a sight to see," Luz commented while leaning in her chair.

"Yeah," Amity agreed, looking at the evening sky before letting out a sigh. "Hey, Luz, can I be a little honest…"

Luz looked concerned. "What's the problem?"

"Nothing, there's no problem, it's just…" Amity sighed. "I'm scared… not because of the war, or Glandus, or Emily… but I'm scared for you, Luz."

"Is… this about the fight I had with Emily?" Luz asked.

"Not just the fight, but… you tend to take things head on whether it is the Emperor's Coven, giant plant monsters, or the Emperor himself… when you snuck out to the Conformatorium, I was worried. I was worried because it… reminded me back when you got captured and when I heard you faced the Emperor… I couldn't help but think what could've happened if you weren't sent back home."

"Oh…" Luz said in a whisper, feeling guilty.

"I'm just… worried, you know?" Amity told her. "I'm worried about what could happen to you if I'm not by your side, like we promised to each other."

"I-I'm sorry, Amity, I know how I went down there alone went bad-"

"It was bad! Who knows what Belos could've done to you!"

"How was I supposed to know Belos was there-?"

"I'm not saying-"

"A-And what? Was I supposed to not try to save the BATS? Levi and his dad?"

"WHO WOULD HAVE YOUR BACK IF YOU FAILED!?" Amity yelled and they were both quiet for a moment "Luz… I care about you and I know that you will always go out of your way to save your friends and family. Telling you to stop won't stop you. Back then, it was what I admired about you and it was part of the thrill when we started dating. But after that raid and Belos and your fight with Emily… I'm never going to try to stop you doing what you do for the right reasons, just… I want you to know my feelings about it."

"And I'm glad you told me this, Amity," Luz responded.

"Really?" Amity asked her. "You're not… upset?"

"It's… something I needed to hear," Luz said with a sigh. "I know I can be reckless and impulsive, and sometimes I don't think about how that might affect you or my moms or the other people I care about. I don't blame you for being worried. I… I should have been more considerate of you and I shouldn't have broken our promise."

"Luz, I don't blame you either," Amity replied. "Did we… just argue?"

"Y-Yeah," Luz responded. "I think this was our… first argument we've ever had. Does that mean… we're on the rocks?"

"I'm not sure if we're on any rock," Amity replied, taking it literally. "But I think… us arguing isn't that bad. Do you feel bad?"

"I… I do feel bad," Luz responded. "But I think it helps. Sometimes these things have to happen."

"Yeah, but I don't want to have fights with you or anything," Amity told her.

"Yeah, I mean… Titan, this is complicated," Luz replied, rubbing her temple.

"I know," Amity agreed. "But I guess it comes with the territory since I am the love interest while you're the hero."

"Really? Cause I've always thought it was the other way around," Luz countered.

"Come on, you have saved me more times than I could ever," Amity responded.

"Well, can we then agree that we are both the hero," Luz said. "Because you are not just my love interest, you are my co-star."

"Aw, you are my co-star too," Amity said with a giggle.

Luz nodded. "You know we'll have to face Emily together, right?"

"Yeah," Amity acknowledged. "Though one thing that's been bothering me about her and Stella."

"What's that?" Luz asked.

"Just Stella's body language when she is with Emily. She reminds me of… me, back when I was still Little Miss Perfect and my mother kept me in line. I don't know, it just makes me… uncomfortable."

Luz thought about it and frowned. "Yeah, I think you might be right," she admitted. "Emily already gave off a lot of red flags, but that is alarming…"

Boscha's eyes slowly opened as she found herself inside a dark dungeon. "What… where am I?" she asked as she got up and realized that she was wearing handcuffs that prevented her from using magic.

"You're in detention, Hieron."

Boscha froze and turned around to see Emily standing by the door with Stella by the side. "I'm very disappointed in you, Boscha. I let you live and this is how you repay me? By working against Glandus and trying to bug our principal?" She held up the rusty smidge and crushed it.

Boscha's eyes widened. "Where's Detective Boils!? What happened to him?"

"Oh, he's being taken care of," Emily said as she walked over to her and grabbed Boscha's face. "Don't give me that look, Hieron. You made your choice, so now you pay the consequences."

Boscha growled but then remembered who kidnapped her. "Wait… I thought this school didn't have Illusionists?"

Emily smirked. "That's what most of Glandus thinks. Only a few other students know about our secret Illusion Track, since they are our secret weapon. They answer to me and I had them follow you after our little talk earlier, since I still had my suspicions about your loyalty. Illusionists still have their uses… especially during times of war. If only Hexside knew what I had planned…"

Boscha glared at her. "Is this really all you do, instill fear to get everyone to obey you? That's how you got Northstar here on a leash, isn't it?"

This made Emily mad. "Watch it, Hieron. Cause you have no idea what you're talking about."

"You may fool anyone but you can't fool me. Because you are me," Boscha told her. "You built yourself up as the strongest and most powerful witch of this school to enforce a stupid survival to the fittest decree, since you're nothing but a control freak who keeps others in line, even your own girlfriend. You blame everyone else, including Luz, for your actions, and because of what? Because years ago you were at the wrong place at the wrong time and your shitty parents left you? Well, that fucking sucks but this won't make it better. This will only result in people getting hurt, including yourself."

Emily drew her sword at Boscha's face after walking closer to her, holding it close to her neck. "What do you think you are doing?"

"I am trying to warn you," Boscha told her honestly. "Emily, you're angry, I get it. Believe me I know what it's like. But you are making a mistake." She started to sing. "The path of hate is a dangerous track, you take a step and it's hard to turn back. It pulls you along and though it seems wrong, it feels right!"

Emily lowered her sword and turned around while Boscha continued. "Don't you see, this path you're on leaves a permanent mark, it feels good at first, but then it slowly turns dark. With each passing day, you're further astray from the light!"

Boscha remembered her own sins. "Suddenly you lose your way and lose the thread, you lose your cool and lose your head, every loss is harder to excuse! Then you'll see you'll lose your faith and lose your soul! Until you lose complete control! And realize there's nothing left to lose! Nothing left to lose!" She then spoke. "Emily, you have to call off the war, it's not too late! Believe me, becoming the villain won't-"

"Is that what you think I am?" Emily asked, turning around and shooting flames from her hands as she sang. "The path I'm on is a path painted black, I'm taking that road and I'm not looking back! Each twist and each turn leads straight where I'm yearning to go!"

"Yes it's true, my path is dark but I see where it ends, my rivals will fall as my power ascends!" She lit up the torches in the dungeon with her flames, almost bursting some near Boscha. "You can hate me, that's fine, I'm taking what's mine even so!" She pointed at Boscha. "Not like you, you lost your nerve, you lost the game! But you and I, we're not the same! I'm not weak, this fate was mine to choose!"

She shot out more flames and flew up into the air, which surprised Boscha. "So I chose to lose my doubts and lose my chains! Lose each weakness that remains! Now that I have nothing left to lose! Nothing left to lose!"

Boscha sang back. "But you have so much to hold onto!"

"I only want my rightful dues!" Emily sang, getting close to her.

Boscha and Emily argued. "Listen please(Emily: I won't lose!) You've lost your grip, and you lost your mind(I'm not gonna lose)! All's not lost(I refuse!) don't be so blind! Cut your losses, drop the IOUs(I refuse!)! Oooh, choose!"

"I lose no tears, and lose no sleep!"

"It's time for you to choose!"

"You can't stop…"

"The turning of the screws!" they both sang before Emily turned for the door.

"You'll stay in this dungeon until this war is over, Nina will be here to make sure you don't try anything. Consider yourself lucky, since I would have done much worse to you if your parents weren't so important."

"And what about my parents? They'll notice when I don't come home!" Boscha told her.

"Already taken care of," Emily said while nodding to Nina, who entered the dungeon and gave Boscha a smirk.

Once the door closed, Emily and Stella walked away from the dungeon, Emily singing the final note. "Now I… have nothing… left to lose…" she sang while Stella looked at Emily in concern.

Meanwhile Hardy Boils had been dragged to an unknown location with a bag over his head. He heard mocking laughter as some pulled the bag off of his head.

"Wakey, wakey, Hardy!" Craig grinned sadistically. The tattoo on his face plus the lighting makes him look sinister. "Look at you, the great Detective Hardy Boils, caught snooping around where he shouldn't have! Looks like you won't be crossing that bridge after all, huh? Get it?"

Hardy glared at him. "Aren't you that former Coven Scout who got booted out for wanting school girls to fight to the death," Boils said in disgust, Craig responding by kicking him in the stomach.

"Know your place, you whelp!" Craig told while turning to his henchmen. "Feed him to the Beast."

They nodded and dragged Hardy across the floor toward a trap door. Hardy struggled against them and when he fell through the open trap door, he managed to catch one of the henchmen and take him down with him.

"Oh no, he's got one of ours with him!" one henchmen stated.

Craig shrugged. "It is just one guy," he said as the trap door closed. "Maybe if we're lucky, the Beast will leave enough of him left to recover…"

Luz was sitting on her bed when Eda opened the door. "Hey, how was the crow call?" she asked, holding something behind her back.

"It went great. Thanks for allowing it, mom," Luz replied "Though, I think it went on for a little longer than fifteen minutes…"

"Well, I wasn't always the best at telling time," Eda replied with a wink. "But I also figured that you two needed that talk."

"Yeah," Luz nodded. "We talked and for a brief moment… we argued."

"What did you two argue about?" Eda asked.

"It was about me sneaking out and the fight with Emily. I appreciated her for spilling out her feelings, but I can't help but think about how this might be our first real argument. Is that… something to be concerned about?"

"Well I wouldn't worry too much, kid," Eda answered. "Arguments are bound to happen, even in the best of relationships. But in this case, it means that you are communicating. And I think that is a good thing."

"Yeah, I guess that's true," Luz said before noticing that Eda was holding something. "What's that you got there?"

"Oh this?" Eda held up the folded black jacket. "Well, this is something that I thought you should have. It was given to me by an old friend of mine and it has some faded patches but I think you can add some stuff of your own to it as well." She offered it to Luz. "I thought that by wearing this you could show Glandus what a badass witch of both worlds looks like."

"Wow, this is… thanks, mom!" Luz said as she tried the black jacket on, standing up. "How do I look?"

Eda looked at Luz in Angel's jacket. She knew that Angel would have wanted Luz to have it. "You look perfect," she said with a smile and Luz went to hug her in response.

"Thank you, mom. Maybe after I win this war for Hexside and all this is over… we could do something as a family," Luz said as Eda hugged her back.

"Yeah… I'd like that," Eda agreed.

Elsewhere in the Boiling Isles, a lone figure was walking through the woods playing his guitar.

"Daddy doesn't treat me right," he sang. "Momma doesn't kiss good night."

He looked around at his surroundings. "Surely this is not my home," he sang to himself. "All I do is feel alone…"

He came out from the edge of the woods. "Gotta find the fast lane out of here," he sang. "Suddenly my path is clear…"

The figure placed his guitar on his back as he stared at the distant Bonesborough. The man had pointy ears, dark skin, tall black hair that obscured his ears, and a bandana wrapped around his head. He smiled. "Boiling Isles, it is good to be back. How many centuries has it been?"

The Pied Piper had returned.

Later that evening, Emily, Stella, Tito and Nina were meeting up with someone in a secluded place. Emily heard what this kid had to say.

"So you came all the way down here to tell us how you think we can defeat Luz Clawthorne?" Emily asked with her arms crossed.

"Yes," he responded. "I just want that human gone, and if you can manage it I want the human-lovers gone as well. If you want to take her down, her weakness is her friends. My advice is to go after the weakest link of her little friend group… Augustus Porter."

"Thanks for the information, Horace," Emily told the snitch. "You made the right decision to switch sides."

"I don't care who wins or loses, I just want Clawthorne out of the picture. Hexside can rot for all I care!" Horace said.

"Then we have something in common," Emily replied, patting Horace's shoulder. "And I promise that afterward you will be rewarded…"

In Latissa there is an apartment complex that belonged in the Saltstar name. Inside lived Cain, who had just returned from Glandus. His apartment looked more like a training room as he walked over to a bed. He sat on his bed, taking his helmet off of his head.

The shadows mostly covered his face, but he had brown hair. His eyes were also visible as he looked at a photograph on his night stand. He grabbed the frame and looked at the photo of his family back from when he was a kid. In it he was with his younger brother and his sister Beck, his mom hugging him and Simon while his father gave a smile while raising his fists up and striking a pose. He mainly focused on his mom.

On the day they got the news Simon and Cain were in the living room, wondering when they would hear back from their mom. Beck leaned on the wall with her own thoughts, while Boris sat on the couch with his knee fidgeting. Eventually, they heard someone knocking on the door and their father went to answer it. It was Orsan Pawculus, their mother's aid.

"Orsan… is my wife okay? I heard she fell ill and was taken to the Healing Coven-"

"Mr. Saltstar… Sam… there's… no easy way to say this," Pawculus sighed, looking up at the towering man. "Head Witch Delara Saltstar, your wife… died."

Hearing the news not only shocked Samwitch, but his children as well. Beck fell to the floor on her knees, Simon looked like he was about to throw up, while Boris looked angry. "What? What do you mean she died!?"

"It was the Red Death," Pawculus explained, but he was suddenly grabbed by Boris.

"Take that back! There's no way Auntie Delara died!" he shouted while Samwitch separated Boris from Pawculus.

"Boris, please!" Samwitch said before turning to Pawculus. "Please Orsan… is this…?"

"I wish it wasn't… but as you know the Red Death is fatal. We think that she may have caught it from her trip to the Knee. Tell me, did she act… strangely after that trip?"

"Yes, she was having migraines and she said she had a vision while we were up there-"

"Ah, hallucinations," Pawculus said with a sad nod. "Those must have been symptoms. I am so sorry for your loss."

Cain just stood there, trying to process what he heard. "No… mama isn't…" He looked down before sprinting out of the room, running past his siblings.

"Cain, wait!" Samwitch cried out. But Cain was gone, shutting himself in his bedroom as he started crying. Not wanting to look weak or have anyone see him like this, he put a helmet over his head…

In the present day, a single tear hit the framed picture before Cain returned it to his nightstand and put the helmet back on his head…

Darius had no idea how long he and the Golden Guard had been running for. It was hard to tell time here. Truthfully, it was hard to tell what exactly 'here' was. It resembled the Emperor's Castle, but every hallway looked the same. Darius didn't even know where he and the Golden Guard were escaping to, he only knew what they were trying to escape from. Though how he got here in the first place was another mystery, since Darius was struggling to remember...

Darius came to a stop, which was noticed by the Golden Guard.

"Come on, we have to keep going," he said to Darius.

"Not until I get some answers," Darius told the Golden Guard. "That... thing seemed to know you. What was it?"

"I don't dare give him power over us by saying him name," the Golden Guard answered. "That creature is a plague to the Boiling Isles and everyone on it, devouring anything and anyone that he is able to. For a long time it has been poisoning the Isles, bringing about all kinds of misery. The Red Death, the Forest of Fear, Grom... it all goes back to him. And unfortunately, I led him to you."

As Darius listened to the Golden Guard's explanation, the mention of the Red Death made him remember something. "Wait... I was at your funeral," he recalled. "You... you're dead." His eyes widened and he looked down at his hands. "And that must mean... I'm dead too."

"Not quite," the Golden Guard answered. "Right now you are in between life and death. This place was constructed from your memories. I actually replaced your memory's recreation of me when I realized you were here. I wanted to help you... but I'm afraid that I put you in more danger. I'm sorry."

Darius didn't answer right away. His memories were starting to come back, including the one right before he ended up in this place, which involved his body being torn apart. "What now?"

"Now we find you a way back," the Golden Guard revealed. "Sometimes a door is left open."

"What if there's not one?" Darius asked.

"Then he will devour you," the Golden Guard said grimly before he started moving again, Darius quickly following after him to avoid being left behind. After all, they were not alone here...