"What do I do?!"
"There's nothing you can do."
———————————
I'd heard whispers of an attempt to invade the Emperor's mind with wild magic.
I decided to take the villains out, myself.
But just as I was about to stop them,
"Halt! For crimes against the Emperor, you are all under arrest!" Hunter shouted as he and (Y/n) jumped out of the shadows and ambushed the villains.
Hunter aimed his staff at the three cloaked felons while (Y/n) readied herself with a transparent orange staff.
When suddenly,
"Hunter!" A familiar voice shouted as Hunter was tackled to the ground. It was Luz, the human. "Cousin (Y/n)!" She cheered. "Hey can I bug you guys with a few questions?" She asked as she pulled out a pen.
Hunter groaned before sitting up. "Human?!" He yelled,
"Human!" (Y/n) cheered.
One of the cloaked deviants played a tune on their flute and then, all three of them were gone in a puff of smoke.
"No!! I forbid you to flee!" Hunter yelled out, gutturally. "Human!! Do you know what you've just done?!"
There was a cracking sound. The sound of cracking glass.
And suddenly, everything began to glow. Hunter lifted up his foot to find that whatever he'd stepped on was now glowing like a light.
"What's that-"
Boom. Everything flashed yellow. Everything went silent. The only thing (Y/n) heard was screaming coming from the three of them.
And then, they'd vanished. All that was left in their wake were their masks and palismen.
'(Y/n)? Hunter?' The palismen chirped sadly as they looked around for their owners.
(Y/n) opened her eyes to a long, lengthy hallway. The hallway had paintings. So many paintings.
She heard talking in the distance,
"Ahahahahahah," Hunter cackled deliriously, "You want to prove that my uncle is evil, and you thought I would help?! Ahahahaha."
(Y/n) stood up and walked over to Luz and Hunter.
"Well, now that I'm in his mind, I can learn the truth for myself. Isn't that right, Cousin (Y/n)?" Luz asked, putting her arm around (Y/n) and pulling her close.
"I just woke up from a nap, you're gunna have to fill me in here. Where are we, exactly?"
"This dumbass got us trapped in Belos' mind." Hunter scoffed.
"Um. Actually, you're the one who stepped on that glowy thingy so. Technically not my fault."
The Emperor's mind? Waow. Oh wow. Hey, isn't this highly illegal-
"Weird though... I've been in Willow's mind once, and it had more.. trees." Luz thought aloud,
"Makes sense, mindscapes reflect the individual. We've read a lot about this subject." Hunter boasted. "Isn't that right, (Y/n)" He asked as he wrapped his arm around her shoulders and pulled her away from Luz.
"Yup-"
"Woahh, look at this memory!" Hunter exclaimed as he walked over to a painting. "You know, unfettered wild magic wiped out our family. Everyone knew too much and got themselves hurt. That's why Belos took in the survivors! And dedicated his life to making the Coven System! It's why he's so well liked!"
He ran over to another painting,
"Our sigils protect us from ourselves," He said, "and make the Titan happy."
Hunter began running around, gawking at the memories while Luz and (Y/n) turned their heads towards a weeping sound.
Around the corner was a child–a small child who wept behind a pillar.
The child noticed Luz and (Y/n), he stood, frightened.
"Belos..?" Hunter, Luz and (Y/n) all muttered at the same time.
"Huh?" Luz grunted as she turned around to see a silhouette of the Emperor approaching Hunter.
"Emperor, you're here!" Hunter exclaimed and bowed, "We beg for your assistance to return to the physical world so that I may capture your enemies! ..and so that she can ruin someone else's day." He sneered, gesturing to Luz.
"It's okay, you made my day." (Y/n) smiled at her cousin.
The weeping child ran out from behind the silhouette and whimpered.
He warned them.
The silhouette began to transform. It opened its eyes—its many many eyes.
Luz and (Y/n) bolted to Hunter,
"Hunter! Watch out!" Luz yelled as she blew the monster away.
She did some kind of fire magic that created a blast that threw them into a wall. Expecting pain, (Y/n) braced herself, only to find her and her companions falling through the wall.
They fell through a voided limbo, but before they crashed, Luz used a piece of paper magic to break their fall.
Paper magic.. neat.
"Where are we now?" Hunter asked as he looked around,
The hallway was gone, and in place, dead trees surrounded them. It was a sad sight. Withering trees and muted colors.
"We must be in the Emperor's real mind."
Hunter scoffed, "What do you mean the Emperor's real mind? That gallery-"
"Was made of all the lies he tells! He's not who you think he is!"
"He's a good guy." (Y/n) protested, "If he wasn't, then why would he be so nice?"
"He's not nice, he's manipulative!"
"We're probably being punished because you provoked his inner self." Hunter jeered and pointed at Luz.
"Well, his inner self has a thousand glowing eyeballs!!" She argued back.
"Oh, no! Eyeballs! Ugh. You're so easy to scare-"
"Boo!" A familiar voice said, spooking Hunter.
Aunty Eda!
Eda spoke through a walkie-talkie that Luz held. "Luz, where are you?" She asked, "Oh wait. Hey, blondie, your friend wants to talk to you."
"Ehh.." Hunter mumbled for he didn't have many friends.
The sound of chirping came from the walkie. Hunter immediately perked up and snatched the walkie-talkie from Luz.
"Flapjack!! Are you okay? Have they hurt you? Is Pip with you??" He frantically asked.
Luz snatched the talkie back, "Gimme that!" She said.
"So.. Eda..? We may.. kinda be sorta trapped in, uh... the Emperor's mind..?" Luz hesitantly told Eda.
Eda gasped, "How in the world did you- no. We don't have time for that. Has the Inner Belos spotted you yet?"
"Yes, but we were able to get away.. with help." She said into the talkie, "Can there be two inner selves?"
"No, but I have heard of strong emotions materializing. Alright, just- stay safe. If you're devoured in his mindscape-"
"We'll be trapped, dragged down into his subconscious." (Y/n) said, anxiously.
"Forever." Hunter added, the two of them receiving a shocked stare from the human. "I.. told you we've read about this stuff."
"Well, we're gonna get you out!" King promised, "We'll make a return spell as fast as we can."
"Just don't lose the walkie-talkie. It's our only connection to you." Eda instructed, sternly.
Luz nodded, "You got it, Owl Lady."
"Bye, Aunty Eda!" (Y/n) shouted to be heard.
"Over and out-"
"Wait!" Hunter shouted as he grabbed the talkie from Luz's hands, "We'll be home soon, Flapjack. You and Pip, stay safe..."
'You got it, Hunter. Over and out.' Flapjack chirped into the walkie.
"..I love you, over and out." He whispered into the walkie-talkie.
"Awww." Everyone cooed as Hunter shot death glares at them.
Shuffling nearby alerted the three of them. They all looked over to the source of the sound and saw the child.
"It's you!" Luz exclaimed, "Kid Belos!"
Hunter immediately snapped around, "What?!"
"Thank you for helping us before," Luz said to the child. "You don't seem nearly as scary as your inner self."
"I like your mask, it's very cute." (Y/n) smiled at the child.
Suddenly, the forest of dead trees shook as the Inner Belos shrieked and roared. The child was frightened and latched onto Luz's arm.
"If strong emotions can take form, maybe he's the Emperor's... I dunno, sense of guilt?"
"What?" Hunter chuckled and scoffed, "Belos has never done anything worthy of feeling guilt. He's obviously his, uh, sense of innocence! His pure intentions!"
"Maybe it's his sense of fear." (Y/n) added, earning a ridiculing chuckle from her partner.
"Belos isn't afraid of anything! He's Belos." He said.
"I dunno, it could be his childish fear of wild magic." She shrugged in return.
"Well, whichever it is, I think he can help us stay safe. And maybe you can show us who Belos really is." Luz smirked quietly.
Hunter stared at her with an unamused face, "What was that."
The Inner Belos shrieked, spooking the lot of them.
"No time, let's go go go!!" Luz yelled as the little Belos took her and (Y/n)'s hands. Hunter ran behind them with a worried face.
The little Belos approached a painting of the Emperor. He was leading people away from a burning village, presumably to safety.
"Wait!" Hunter called after Luz and (Y/n), "You're just going to invade his memories?! That's sacrilege!"
"It's a way to survive!" Luz yelled and took his hand as she jumped into the memory.