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rosemaidenvixen · 2 months ago

Text

Algea

Chapter 9

Ao3

Luz let out a breath once Owlbert touched down; she, Amity, and Gus dismounting. Owlbert going from staff to bird form with a soft hoot. The others and their palismen behind them doing the same as Luz led the way into the owl house. It was a rare peaceful night; dark and quiet, no shrieking banshees or biting fairies, no trouble flying back from the castle.

Despite that there was still a heavy sinking feeling in Luz's stomach, a deep queasiness that had been with her ever since she learned...

She swallowed hard and pulled the front door open as gently as she could, not wanting to wake the snoring Hooty. Sometimes the house demon's enthusiasm was just what they needed, but not now, not for this.

Even now everyone was deathly quiet, a thick gloom hanging over all of them.

Once the last of them filed inside Luz eased the door shut with a soft click. Owlbert and the other palismen fluttered and scurried over onto the couch. Cuddling up in a giant nap pile in the crook of the armrest. No one stopped them or even questioned their actions. Two people could fly on a staff easy, but three was a strain. They deserved their rest.

The sound of claws scuffling on the wood floor echoed from down the hall, starting quiet but getting steadily louder until Barcus and King dashed around the corner and raced into the front room.

“Bark bark bark!”

“You’re back!”

King scurried up to Luz and clamped his whole body around her calf. Barcus kept running towards Viney and Jerbo, they dropped down to the floor and the three of them pulled into a tight hug.

King dug his claws into her leg, not enough to hurt but enough to make her acutely aware of King’s presence. Reaching down Luz grasped him under the armpits and pulled him off her leg, lifting him up and squeeze him tight against her chest “Yep…we’re back,”

King snuggled into her embrace before lifting his head and looking around the room “Hey where’s Willow?”

Everyone in the room visibly flinched, Luz had to fight the reflex to squeeze King as hard as she could. Viney’s face was buried in Jerbo’s shoulder but Luz could still hear the sharp whine she let out.

Barcus pulled away a bit, glancing around at all of them, letting out a confused whimper.

“Willow’s…Willow’s dead,” Amelia said in a hoarse whisper.

Barcus let out a sharp bark of alarm, King went stiff in her arms.

King pulled back enough to glance up at her “What? Willow can’t be…” he trailed off, apparently the look on Luz's face told him just how serious they were.

Luz forced herself to only squeeze King half as tight as she wanted to “I’ll…I’ll get the spare blankets and sleeping bags out of the closet. We need to try and get some rest,” she turned and walked out of the room, King still snuggled up against her chest.

A few minutes and one raid of the closet later she headed back down the hall, arms loaded with blankets and pillows and King scampering behind her carrying a similar, though much smaller, load.

Before she could step into the front room Amity poked her head out of the doorframe “Here, let me help you hand those out,”

“...thanks,” she shifted the blankets around so Amity could grab half of them, the three of them moving into the room.

Skara was crying on the couch, flanked by Cat and Amelia patting her shoulders, faces hollow. Jerbo, Viney, and Barcus were all sprawled out in the middle of the floor leaning on each other. Boscha was standing near the wall, staring out the window with her arms folded, expression flat. Gus was sitting slumped against the side of the couch, staring at nothing.

Throat going tight, Luz made a beeline for Gus, passing him a thick knitted blanket.

“There’s space in here and a bit more in my room, settling where everyone bunks down will be tight, but we can make it work,”

Gus grasped the blanket with limp fingers, his expression not so much as twitching. It was like Luz hadn't spoken at all. Like everyone else in the room didn't even exist.

Luz swallowed hard but continued on passing out the blankets and pillows with Amity and King. Once they were done the three of them were left standing awkwardly in the middle of the room. Luz knew she should say something, do something to raise everyone's spirits. But what could she possibly say to try and--

Amity cleared her throat, causing a few of them to look up and turn in her direction “Miss Eda’s gathering our parents, they should be arriving soon. The best thing we can do is get some rest for tonight so tomorrow we can be ready for t–”

“How did it happen?”

Immediately every head in the room snapped towards Jerbo, who flinched under the scrutiny.

“Look I– I know it’s hard and it might be too soon, but I just can’t take not knowing anymore. What happened? Why did you guys get dragged into the Emperor’s coven? How did Willow…”

He trailed off, thick silence filling the room.

“Coven scouts grabbed us off the field at school during practice,” Skara said at last, face streaked with tracks of wet and drying tears, her voice was soft but held steady without breaking “They said we were under investigation for treason,”

Luz felt her jaw dropping open, glancing to her side she saw Amity had an equally shocked expression.

Treason?

“They dragged us into their airship brought us to the castle, then they left us in a holding cell for hours, then we were taken to–” Skara choked up “t– to–”

“We were taken to the Emperor,” Viney finished for her, tone dead flat.

Luz felt the air get knocked out of her, her jaw would have dropped if it wasn't already gaping open.

They were taken directly to Belos himself? For treason? But why them? What did he think they di–

“Then the Emperor brought in the Gold–” Viney swallowed hard “He brought in Hunter,”

Without thinking Luz found herself scrambling towards Viney and dropping down on the floor next to her “Hunter was there!?”

“Y- yeah, Hunter came in and then the Emperor asked if he knew us– but the way he asked it was like he already knew that he did,”

Amity gently knelt on the carpet, joining the rest of them on the floor “What happened then? What did the G– what did Hunter say?”

“He said he'd never met us, but like I said, the way he asked I think the Emperor already knew that he knew us. Then Willow…” Viney choked up, eyes filling with tears “Willow…”

“Willow told Belos that Hunter was telling the truth.”

Every head in the room snapped towards Gus, now standing in the center of the room, knitted blanket hanging around his shoulders, looking smaller than Luz had ever seen him.

“Willow tried to stand up for Hunter and say he wasn't lying, but Belos grabbed her, then Clover got loose and tried to sting him and Belos smashed her to pieces.”

A choked sound escaped Luz's throat. She knew she should be saying something, comforting them, but nothing came out. She couldn't think of the magic words to say to fix this, to make everyone feel better.

“I don’t think it was about Willow, it was about Hunter,” Gus' voice was still flat but a deep look of hurt flashed in his eyes “Belos had pictures, from Penstagram, it's like Viney said, he knew we were Hunter’s friends. I think this was all some kind of messed up way to punish Hunter,"

"Why--" she squeaked out at last "Why would Belos..."

Next to her Luz heard Amity let out a choked gasp.

"He hurt Willow to punish Hunter?" Amity whispered, staring at Gus with wide eyes.

Gus nodded slowly, jerky and stiff “Belos started saying stuff about how this was all Willow’s fault and that she was the one who ‘tempted’ him...” his monotone cracked into something sharp “Then Hunter tried to say that he didn’t know her and she didn’t matter to him, but Belos didn’t listen and then he– he–”

Luz scrambled to her feet and ran towards Gus, sweeping him up in a tight hug “It’s ok Gus, you don’t have to finish,”

Gus let out a sharp sob, burying his face in Luz's shirt while she squeezed him against her as hard as she could. She could hear and feel others around them coming in and joining them, turning their hug into a group one, but her mind was somewhere else entirely.

Belos killed Willow? For…tempting Hunter? Why would he–

“The Emperor had his assistant take us away after that,” Cat said from the couch, still rubbing a sobbing Skara’s shoulders “She took us to get uniforms and…sigils, and then other scouts took our palismen away and brought us to the barracks. And that’s where we were until you guys found us,”

Cat trailed off, staring down at the wrist of her free hand with a pensive look on her face.

Reflexively, Luz glanced back down, spotting the golden mark on Gus' own wrist, another on Viney's wrist from where she had her arms wrapped around both of them.

Viney caught her gaze and flashed the fakest smile Luz had ever seen "It's ok, it's an Emperor's coven sigil, we can access all magic, so I guess technically we can still do our mixed tracks..."

Luz found herself nodding back, still holding Gus tight, but on the inside her mind her mind was going a mile a minute. Willow was dead, Belos killed her for…tempting Hunter. But tempting him how? Was it because she got him to play flyer derby with them? Was that tempting? Maybe she shouldn’t think about it too much. Belos was pure evil and evil didn’t always make sens–

“So what are we going to do?” Boscha strolled to the center of the room, hands cocked on her hip “We’re technically enemies of the state and we can’t just stay at this owl shack forev–”

“Shut your fat mouth Boscha,” Viney growled.

Boscha snapped her head around in an instant “Excuse me?”

Viney broke away from the group hug and stomped towards her, hands balled into fists at her sides, getting right up in Boscha's face “This is all your fault! You wanna know how Belos found out about Hunter and us!? He saw your stupid post!”

Boscha’s face went blank for a moment before sliding into disdain “How does that make this my fault!? How was I supposed to know that was the Golden Guard?”

Viney snarled and reared back a fist, Boscha sneering back and igniting her fingertips. But before either of them could do anything Luz and Jerbo rushed them.

“Don’t do this Viney, not like this!" Jerbo moved behind her and looped his arms under her shoulders and around hers, struggling to hold Viney back "You’re a healer, don't lost control like this!”

“Fighting with each other isn’t going to fix anything," Luz got directly between them and pushed her arms out, trying to create as much space as she could between the two witches "We need to work together so we can stop Belos--”

"Yeah you should listen to your little human, don't pick fights you can't fini--"

“Belos cut her in half!”

Luz whirled on the still fuming Viney, Jerbo was so stunned he loosened his grip enough for Viney to pull herself free. Behind them Amity's face went chalky, covering her mouth in shock, Barcus letting out a sharp whine next to her. Gus flinched, which quickly turned into a full body shudder. Cat whimpered and buried her face in her hands, Amelia wincing like she'd been hit and Skara letting out a fresh sob. The last sound any of them made for the longest time as heavy, choking silence settled over the room.

"What..." Amity let out a strangled whisper.

Viney hadn't moved her gaze once, still glaring daggers into Boscha “He cut her in half and threw her torso in the canyon! All because of you, you and your stupid post!” Viney shouted, face bright red, entire body shaking with rage “Willow died because of you!”

“Hey it’s not my fault that the Emperor saw my post!”

Viney's face darkening was all the warning they got before she charged Boscha, both Luz and Jerbo managed to intercept her just before she could land her first punch, struggling to hold her back.

Which wasn't easy because not only was Viney all muscle, she was mad.

“You couldn’t stop being a stuck up asshole for five seconds, you couldn’t handle the fact that Willow was a better team captain than you ever were!”

Boscha jerked back at Viney's words, then her face flushed dark pink and she reared back in “Oh she was not better than me–”

“Viney please–”

"Willow was tougher, she was stronger, she worked harder, she was a better leader. No wonder everyone liked her more than you!"

"I'm the best grudgby captain Hexside's had in years! I was the one who got us the trophy against Glandus, St Epiderm, and Clavicle Academy! Not Willow!"

"Yeah that's what matters in the real world," Viney spat sarcastically "Sports trophies!"

"Guys please!" Viney and Boscha were shrieking right up in each other's faces now, and now how much Jerbo and Luz pushed and tugged they couldn't separate them “Fighting with each other isn’t going to fix anything!”

"You were jealous weren't you! You couldn't stand the fact that people finally figured out that Willow was twice the witch you ever were!"

Boscha's face was bright red now "No way she was--"

"I'll bet that's why you did it!" Viney was screaming now "You took that photo and made that stupid post to try and take Willow down a peg because you're a sad pathetic weakling who couldn't deal with the fact that--"

“I’m better than Half-a-witch Willow will ever be!”

Dead silence echoed through the room, every one of them staring at Boscha in open mouthed shock. Even Viney was so stunned she stopped struggling against Luz and Jerbo. Boscha, fuming and red faced, stood in the center of the room, fingers balled up tight and trembling, quivering from head to toe.

“What? Just because she’s dead I’m supposed to pretend that Willow was worth more than she actually was?" Boscha stomped forward, snapping her head around to glare at everyone in the room "Act like she was some great awesome witch? Well she wasn't! She was a loser, a weakling, and she always was!”

Luz couldn’t move, couldn’t breathe, it seemed the only thing she could do was stand there with her jaw hanging open along with everyone else.

But not Viney. Viney ripped free of Jerbo's grip and charged forward, already swinging her arm up. But before she could land a single punch Amity swiftly stepped in front of her. Catching her fist in a ball of abonimation goo sending Viney staggering to the ground, struggling to pull her gooped up arm free from where it was stuck to the floor.

Boscha huffed out a relieved chuckle "Thanks Amity I owe you on--"

“I think it would be best if you slept separately from the rest of us tonight.”

Boscha blinked all three eyes “Huh?”

Amity turned back towards her, expression cool and voice even “I think we would all prefer some space from you right now,”

Amity caught Luz's eye, glanced down at a blanket on the floor, then inclined her head towards Boscha. Catching the hint, Luz snagged the blanket off the ground and a pillow off the couch and stepped towards them.

“There’s plenty of space in the basement," she somehow managed to keep her voice even as she held out the blanket and pillow in Boscha's direction "Or the linen closet on this floor, take your pick,”

Boscha blinked down at the bedding then back up at them “Wait…you can’t be serious…you guys aren’t actually…”

"Believe me Boscha," Amity stepped forward, eyes narrowed "I am very serious,"

Boscha opened her mouth, shut it, then opened it again, eyes darting around the room, but everyone who met her gaze only did so with anger or chilly indifference. The goop around Viney's arm had dissolved, allowing her to stand back up, rubbing her arm and sneering at Boscha.

“Come on guys, you can’t--" Boscha was still glancing around at everyone, trying to look for some support "You can't seriously–”

Viney grabbed her by the back of her shirt and dragged her to the door, tossing her out in the hall.

Stumbling on her feet, Boscha looked back at them in open mouthed shock “Come on Cat, Amelia, you can't let them..."

Amelia turned away, rubbing Gus's back while very pointedly not looking at Boscha while Cat met her gaze dead on, eyes hard.

Flinching back, Boscha glanced desperately towards Amity "Amity you aren’t seriously–”

Amity’s only response was to take the pillow and blanket Luz had offered and toss them in Boscha’s direction.

“Know when you're not wanted Boscha,” Amity's voice was icy, her narrowed gaze diamond hard.

Boscha staggered back, a wounded look on her face. The stand off stretched on painfully long, Boscha hovering just inside the hall while everyone on the room either ignored her or straight up glared at her. Eventually Boscha slowly reached down to pick up the bedding, those watching her not even flinching, and slunk away down the hall.

The second she was gone Viney collapsed to the ground with a sob, Amity dropping to her knees, wrapping her arms around her shoulders, and squeezing her tight.

Viney's sobs were deep and loud, something she must have been holding in for a long time, but Luz still managed to hear what Amity whispered to her.

"I know, I miss her to..."

#the owl house #luz noceda #amity blight #jerbo #viney #barcus #king clawthorne #cat toh #amelia toh #skara #boscha #algea #rmvwrites

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