Chapter Text
Luz grabbed the door handle of the shack and threw it open for what had to be the fifteenth time in 5 minutes.
"Luz." Amity put her hand on her girlfriend's shoulder. "It's not going to work…" Her voice was quiet.
"But-but it has to! We have to get back there! We have to help them!" She shouted, tears streaming down her face. "We're stuck in the Human Realm and everyone else is back there! With The Collector!"
Amity opened her mouth to say something comforting but realized she didn't have any bright side to this predicament.
Amity looked over her shoulder at Hunter and Willow who were trying to calm down Gus. He was sobbing and shaking.
Luz suddenly got a far away look in her eyes. "My house is near here." She had a hard time keeping her anger and fear out of her voice.
Her girlfriend nodded and walked over to their three companions who were huddled on the ground.
Their Palismans were chirping and chattering nervously, they rubbed their heads against their owners legs trying to provide comfort.
"L-Luz says her house is near here, we should get out of the rain." Amity placed her hand on Willow's shoulder. She wordlessly nodded in acknowledgement.
"C'mon you two." Willow said solemnly, standing up and brushing the grass from her knees.
Hunter grabbed Gus by his shoulders and shakily got to his feet. Gus kept his eyes trained on the ground. He was the youngest of them and it was a fact that wasn't hard to see at the moment.
They traveled in silence, following behind Luz. A few minutes later they were in a neighborhood and Luz started to walk up the driveway of one of the houses.
When they reached the door Luz hesitated. Amity grabbed Luz's hand. "Sweet potato." She whispered so only they could hear, and Luz cracked a small smile.
It may not have meant much to anyone else but to Amity, in that moment, it meant the world.
Luz raised her right fist and knocked on the door thrice.
"I'm coming!" A voice came from inside, and they all held their breaths.
When the door opened a woman looked very similar to Luz, but with glasses opened the door.
Her eyes widened and she covered her mouth. "H-hi mom, I'm back!"
The woman immediately pulled Luz into a hug. "Luz!" She cried. "I was so worried!"
It was then that Camila realized there were four kids standing behind her daughter, all of them having pointy ears and an animal sitting on their shoulders.
"What in the-" She whispered.
"Mom, these are my friends! And we really need to talk."
Camila gave them a questioning look. She was most likely asking herself why these four kids with pointed ears were covered in scraps and blood with tears streaming down most of their faces standing in her front yard.
The woman gave a small nod and gestured for them to come inside. As soon as they had made it to the living room a young girl with a green tail walked in.
"AHH, BASILISK!" Amity screamed, Willow summoned a vine and stepped in front of Hunter and Gus. In addition the former had pushed the young behind him.
The girl's eye widened, she flinched, and she covered her head in fear.
"WAIT, NO, NO! THAT'S VEE, SHE'S COOL!" Luz screamed, stepping between them.
Everyone hesitantly put down their magic.
"Well that answers the question of if magic works in the Human Realm…" Hunter whispered to himself.
Luz turned to her friends. "...I think you should all go get some rest… You can take my room, it's upstairs on the left, I'll… I'll be up in a bit."
They all nodded, and Amity grabbed Luz's hand.
"Go, I'll be alright." Luz whispered to her girlfriend.
After they had left the room and Camila sent Vee to bed both of them sat down on the couch.
"Luz… Please, tell me what's going on."
Luz opened her mouth and the whole story began to spill out…
_
After they had gone to Luz's room and shut the door the realization of what just happened really set in.
They were all faced with the gut wrenching possibility of the deaths of everyone they knew.
"My dad, Edric, Emira, what is The Collector going to do to all of them!?" Amity sat down on the floor and clutched her head.
"Darius, and all the others, they're all trapped…" Hunter whimpered quietly.
"My dads, everyone at Hexside!? We have to help them, we have to find a way back!" Willow grabbed her knees.
"My dad, the rest of the rebellion, they-they can't be gone!" Gus was crying again.
"You all need rest." They were so entrapped in their thoughts they didn't hear the door open.
Their heads snapped to the Basilisk girl, "Relax, I'm not here to hurt you." She was carrying a tray with four cups on it. The liquid was a strange brown color.
"W-what is that?" Amity asked tentatively.
"Hot chocolate. It's good, I promise." She smiled comfortingly.
"Thanks?" Gus was the first to trust her, grabbing the closest mug to him which was a light blue color.
Once he sipped his eyes widened. "By the Titan! That's amazing!" He cried.
It was then that the others also grabbed the cups.
Amity grabbed the lilac cup, while Willow got the dark green mug, and Hunter took the white one.
Soon the room was filled with soft smiles at the strange liquid that they definitely didn't have back home in the Demon Realm.
"As I said, you all should sleep. Here I brought pillows and blankets too." She stepped out of Luz's room for a moment and set the assortment of cushions and fabrics in the center of the room.
"I'm Vee by the way, call me if you need anything."
They were all quiet for a moment.
"Thank you!" Willow quickly shouted down the hallway.
Gus immediately grabbed a cushion and curled up on the floor near the foot of Luz's bed.
Amity laid her head against the far wall. "I-I should stay up and wait for Luz." She said fighting off a yawn.
"Oh, no, no you don't! You are sleeping right now missy." Willow shoved a blanket and a pillow into her hands.
"But-"
"Not negotiable Amity." Said witch huffed, but did as she was told.
Willow walked over to Hunter who was staring at the rain through a window. "Hunter, you need to go to bed."
"No, what I need is to find out how to get home! And I need to find out what I am!" He shouted.
"What do you mean, 'what you are'?" Willow asked, cocking her head to the side.
Hunter drew in a sharp breath. "Nothing. Forget it." He turned away from her and back towards the window.
"Hunter, what did you mean by that?" She asked, grabbing his shoulder gently. "Hunter?"
"Willow… Have you ever heard of a Grimwalker?" He asked nervously.
"No, why? What's a Grimwalker?" She sounded worried like she didn't really want the answer.
He sighed. "I… I'm not really sure either. All I know is that I'm some kind of-of copy of someone Belos made disappear."
Willow didn't know what to say to that. "That doesn't matter Hunter, you're still you."
He glanced over his shoulder at their two, already asleep friends. "Even if it means that I'm not really real?"
Willow laughed. "Well of course you're real Hunter!"
"But-" He protested.
"Just because Belos made you doesn't mean you're not real! You still think, you still feel! And you're still Hunter, our Hunter."
He smiled and shook his head. "I suppose." Flapjack jumped up onto Hunter's hand.
"Now," She said sternly. "sleep."
He nodded and walked over to the pile of pillows.
Willow yawned. "I guess I should take my own advice, huh?" She asked Clover who had landed in her hair.
The Bee Palisman buzzed in agreement. "Yeah, you're right." And with that she went to join her friends in the pile of blankets.
_
Everything was cold and dark.
Where am I? Gus asked himself.
There was a strange white glow over everything, and the walls seemed to be moving all around him.
This is strange.
He looked around and saw the same platform they had left the Coven Heads on.
The dust started to clear and Gus gasped to himself. He was standing in the center and all around him the bodies of all nine Coven Heads became more clear.
Raine, Eberwolf, Darius, Adrian Graye, Terra Snapdragon, and all the others!
But… Where was Eda? She wasn't here where they'd left her! But everyone else was? Where had she gone?
Suddenly the ground began to shift. Gus heard people screaming and saw fire everywhere.
There was a pulling sensation and the scene began to change again.
Everything was dark and quiet once again. There was a soft giggle and it made Gus's blood run cold. The Collector. He was coming closer!
The young boy couldn't help but scream. Then suddenly he was jolted awake. He looked around. The others were still asleep, and Luz had joined them at some point.
She slept cozily next to Amity, curled up with her head on her girlfriends shoulder and their hands entwined.
"A nightmare. Just a nightmare." He whispered to himself. "Of course it was, you're okay." But still, he couldn't shake the feeling that it had been something more...