♪♫❝ ᴵ'ᵐ ᵃˡᵒⁿᵉ ʰᵉʳᵉ ᵒⁿ ᵐʸ ⁱˢˡᵃⁿᵈ, ᶠˡᵒᵃᵗⁱⁿᵍ ⁱⁿ ᵗʰᵉ ˢᵏʸ
ᴵ'ᵐ ʰⁱᵍʰ ᵃᵇᵒᵛᵉ ᵗʰᵉ ʷᵒʳˡᵈ ᴵ ᵘˢᵉᵈ ᵗᵒ ᵏⁿᵒʷ
ᴬⁿᵈ ᴵ'ᵐ ᶠᵃʳ ᶠʳᵒᵐ ᵃⁿʸ ᵈᵃⁿᵍᵉʳ, ˢᵃᶠᵉ ᶠʳᵒᵐ ᵃⁿʸ ᶠᵃⁱˡᵘʳᵉ
ᴳᵘᵃʳᵈᵉᵈ, ᴵ ᶠᵒᵘⁿᵈ ˢʰᵉˡᵗᵉʳ ⁱⁿ ᵗʰᵉ ˢᵗᵒʳᵐ ❞♪♫
- 𝙷𝚒𝚍𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝙸𝚗 𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝙱𝚕𝚞𝚎
ʙʏ 𝚃𝚑𝚎𝙵𝚊𝚝𝚁𝚊𝚝 & 𝚁𝙸𝙴𝙻𝙻
━━━━ •┈••✦ 🖤 ✦••┈• ━━━━
˖⁺‧₊˚⚜️🎭⚜️˚₊‧⁺˖
𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝐺𝑜𝑙𝑑𝑒𝑛 𝐺𝑢𝑎𝑟𝑑 closed the large doors when Emperor Belos entered the throne room. The Emperor grunted in pain as he fell forward, landing on his knees, and his mask fell onto the ground.
His body deformed into a sharp dark goop figure before he punched one of the pillars multiple times while the masked guard turned his head from the scene.
The Emperor collected himself and put his mask back on after his hand returned to normal-excess goop was left on the pillar.
Bits of goop seeped through his armor and mask as he turned his head and snatched the palisman the Golden Guard prepared for his uncle.
The Emperor snapped the palisman, and its life force was sucked out; he sighed as the palisman crumbled to dust in his hands.
"I need more." The Emperor reached his hand out to the Golden Guard.
"That was the last one from our reserves." The Golden Guard informed. "The Palistrom Wood has been over-harvested."
The Emperor snatched his hand away with displeasure.
"Uncle, let me help! We can make more palisman." Hunter insisted. "Actually, I heard about this technique harnessing wild magic to- Uh..." He paused when Emperor Belos turned to look at him.
"Sorry." The boy muttered.
Emperor Belos walked toward Hunter and put his hand on his shoulder. "Please, be careful." He begged. "Our family is gone because of wild magic. I can't let the same happen to you." The Emperor tightly squeezed the boy's shoulder as more dark green goop dripped onto his cape.
"Find me more palismen." Emperor Belos commanded. "I can depend on you, right?" He asked, and the Golden Guard nodded.
Unbeknownst to the men, Kikimora had walked away from the entrance doors after eavesdropping on the two's conversation, scheming how to outshine the Golden Guard.
─── ⋆˖⁺‧₊☽◯☾₊‧⁺˖⋆ ───
˖⁺‧₊˚⚜️˚₊‧⁺˖
"What if... I open a magic pet shop, but it's password protected." Luz sleepily suggested as the palismen lay fast asleep.
The human girl rolled over to a red bird palisman. "The password is: 'You're a little angel.'"
The bird chirped in response as the girl admired the palisman's cuteness.
Suddenly, the palisman shelter shifted, catching Luz and the palismans off guard.
The human girl irritably opened the door. "Hey! We're a little busy... In here!" Her eyes widened when she realized the palisman shelter was many feet off the ground.
She gasped and looked up to find the shelter hooked to a flying airship.
"I think we're being kidnapped," Luz said to the palismans, and they all whimpered in fear except for Little Rascal.
"Don't worry." She comforted them. "I'll figure it out."
She drew a plant glyph to climb the airship, snapping a leaf from her plant glyph on her way to the top.
When she reached the top and peeked at the airship, her face soured at the sight of a familiar Golden Guard whistling a tune. "Ugh, him again."
Soon, Luz quietly giggled with mischief as she took the leaf and drew a fire glyph on it.
"Hi-yah!" The human girl yelled as she stuck the leaf onto the Golden Guard's back.
"Huh?" He said in pure confusion but soon yelled out when the fire glyph activated, soaring him off the airship and into the night sky.
Luz stared with a hint of surprise and concern.
"He'll be fine." She convinced herself and turned her attention to the airship's dashboard. "Okay, how do I land this thing?" The human girl wondered aloud and looked around for some helpful button.
"Oh, you just pull that cord above your head." A voice guided her.
Luz looked up at the said cord and was about to pull it. "Oh, thank y-" She looked up to find the Golden Guard lying on the dashboard.
"Hi." He greeted her, cast a spell that pushed her to the edge of the airship, and produced ropes to tie her up.
The human girl groaned when she landed. "Hey!" She yelled out.
"Good to see you too, Human." The Golden Guard replied as he brushed off the dust on his left shoulder.
"Why are you stealing palismen, Golden Guard?" She asked.
"Frankly," he began and quickly teleported himself an inch away from the human girl. "You should be more concerned about yourself. For the crime of..." He hesitated quickly. "rocketing me off my own ship; you'll be locked in the dingiest cell in the Conformatorium for the rest of your sad little life."
Luz scoffed. "Whatever. I broke out of there, like, twice."
"Then we'll just zap you into dust and throw you into the sea. That better?" The Golden Guard retorted, and she grumbled in reply.
"Good." He sassily said and returned to steer the airship.
The human girl grunted as she tried to free herself from the ropes.
She hummed and looked down at the ground, realizing that the airship floor had collected dust, which gave Luz a brilliant idea.
"Say, how did you get back on the ship so fast?" She asked as she drew a circle with the help of her feet.
"Staff." He pointed with an obvious tone.
"Cool." She replied with a smirk and activated an ice glyph which sent the Golden Guard's staff flying into the air.
"No!" He shouted.
Luz chuckled, and she gave the masked guard a smug look.
The Golden Guard laughed in response. "Human, it'll take more than that to thwart my mission."
Perhaps he had jinxed it, but soon enough, a roar was heard from the quiet night sky. Whatever had produced those loud sounds landed on top of the airship's balloon and moved the airship around, causing the human girl and the masked guard to tumble and fall off their feet.
"What is that?" Luz asked when she saw a green hand appearing in her line of sight.
Roars soon occupied their ears again, and the airship's balloon was ripped afterward.
The two screamed for life and soonly fell from the dark sky.
─── ⋆˖⁺‧₊☽◯☾₊‧⁺˖⋆ ───
Luz groaned as she came back to consciousness. She looked down to find Little Rascal pecking at the ropes still wrapped around her. When the ropes broke, she thanked the bird.
"Oh, my head." She groaned again at her pounding head and quickly spotted the Golden Guard's staff which she took.
Luz heard the Golden Guard's groans not far from her; she glanced at his unconscious body lying nearby but turned her attention when a familiar red demon was mentioned.
"Kikimora, ma'am." The Guard Captain addressed the demon. "We've found the palismen. They seem rattled but unharmed."
"Very good, Captain." The small demon replied. "Return to the city and prepare them for travel."
"Is it true, ma'am?" The Captain hesitantly asked. "Is the Golden Guard really..."
"This is all that remains." Kikimora lifted the Golden Guard's mask, fake sadness lacing her voice.
The Guard Captain gasped.
"Such a horrible accident." The tiny demon said as she shook her head. "Probably caused by the incompetent pilot."
"Is that so?" The crown princess appeared out of the blue, and all the surrounding guards cleared a path for her as Luz gasped at her sudden appearance.
Kikimora widened her eyes, but her face quickly faltered to a sad one. "Yes, I'm afraid so."
The crown princess gave her an unconvinced smile. "Shouldn't we have a search party to find him? Or is there something you're not telling us, Kikimora?"
"No, I'd never lie to you, Your Highness!" The red demon defended.
"Would you... like me to alert the castle, Your Highness?" The Guard Captain asked.
The crown princess sighed. "Not yet, but do tell the scouts to keep their eyes peeled for the next forty-eight hours." She commanded.
The Captain nodded and turned to the coven scouts. "Scouts! To Latissa!" And the scouts walked away with the Captain.
"You will make sure to contribute as well, right, Kikmora?" The crown princess challenged the tiny creature with a certain look in her eyes, and the little red demon nervously nodded in response before the crown princess slowly walked away from the scene.
Once Kikmora was left alone, she blew a green finger whistle to summon a growling hand dragon. "Excellent work, my pet." She petted the creature's snout-like fingernails.
A hidden Luz gasped at the sight.
The small demon held the Golden Guard's mask for the hand dragon. "Now, find the rest of him and have yourself a nice little snack."
Kikmora's dragon growled with delight before devouring the mask.
"I'll call for you soon." She informed the dragon before leaving the scene.
Luz was horrified at Kikimora's intentions and looked back at the Golden Guard's unconscious body.
"Don't worry; I won't leave him behind." She told the chirping red bird and offered her hand for the palisman to sit on, and Little Rascal accepted the offer.
Luz walked with the palisman toward the Golden Guard's lying body.
She raised her brows at the sight. "This is the Golden Guard?"
There were so many unexpected factors regarding his appearance-his heavy eyebags that seemed to be his friend more than slumber, a tooth gap, a notch on his left ear, and a scar on his right cheek as if he was hurt too often.
"It looks like he could be a student from Hexside." She commented with a frown and slowly leaned closer with a spark of fascination in her eyes.
"Wake up!" Luz slapped the boy.
The Golden Guard jumped back to consciousness with a start. "What?"
"You!" He accused when his eyes lay on the human girl.
But before he could do or say anything else, Luz shushed him as she put a hand over his mouth and began with a harsh whisper. "Listen. You are a bad person, and I do not like you. But Kikimora is trying to kill you, and unfortunately, I'm too nice to let that happen."
Shortly after, she groaned when she removed her hand from his mouth to reveal a slobbered palm. "Are you licking my hand?! I'm trying to help you." She informed the boy, rubbing her saliva-covered hand across the blonde's face.
"Why should I believe you?" The boy inquired and put his hand on the girl's face.
"Because..." She started and grunted, mirrored his action, and he grunted back.
However, the two stopped their quarrel when they heard a familiar growling in the distance; the blonde left his cloak behind before the two ran to hide.
Kikimora's dragon spotted the cloak and immediately devoured it with pleasure as they fled into the city of Latissa.
"Whew, man, Kikimora must hate you," Luz said, glancing around the unfamiliar streets with wonder. "Whoa! I haven't been outside Bonesborough that much. Latissa is so cool." She commented with awe but realized the Golden Guard was walking away from her. "Wait! Where are you going?" She chased after him.
Luz raised a brow at his rudeness. "Hey, man, I just saved your life. The least you could do is tell me your name." She reasoned, but the Golden Guard turned his head only to huff at her.
The human girl gasped as she looked up to land at Latissa's Police Precinct.
The grumpy blonde walked toward the nearest coven scouts. "Scouts! Direct me to your communications room. I need to contact the castle immediately." He commanded and showed them his coven sigil.
"Cute. I didn't know kids your age were still into temporary tattoos." One of the coven scouts replied.
"Yeah, show us your badge number." Another scout joined.
"I am your superior, and I can prove it!" The boy offensively responded, turned his head to Luz, and reached his hand out. "Staff."
The human girl hummed-faking her innocence, and hid the staff behind her back.
"Isn't it a little late for you kids to be outside?" The other scout asked.
"Yeah, go home before we call your parents." The first one said, and the two coven scouts walked away, leaving the Golden Guard to turn and angrily glare at Luz.
And that was all the boy needed to begin his chase after the human girl.
"Uh, excuse me. Sorry." Luz apologized when she nearly bumped into a cat carrying a basket of rotten fish who hissed at her while the Golden Guard bumped into it. The human girl tried to lay out an obstacle for him, but he casually jumped atop the garbage can, and she looked back in a panic before she lept over a ledge and fell down a set of stairs, knocking over a bucket of eyeballs.
"Sorry." She shouted when a demon merchant growled at her as the blonde landed the stairs with more grace.
Luz soon found herself cornered but quickly drew a glyph on the ground as the Golden Guard arrived and ran toward her. The girl soon activated her: "Ice glyph!" To help launch herself on one of Latissa's buildings.
Luz looked down to find the blonde standing with a scowl.
"Come on, Golden Guard. Don't you know any, like, levitation spells?" She taunted.
The boy turned away from the girl's gaze, and she asked with wide eyes while pointing at his staff. "Are you powerless without this?"
The Golden Guard squinted his eyes at her before walking away; Luz was about to let out a sigh of relief, but that never happened when she saw the boy parkouring his way up to land on the rooftop building with a hassle.
The blonde soon dodged red energy beams that the human girl aimed in his direction.
˖⁺‧₊˚⚜️♛⚜️˚₊‧⁺˖
Annika squinted her eyes when she noticed red beams coming from a distance, supposing they came from the top of Latissa's buildings.
"Is something wrong, Your Highness?" The Guard Captain questioned.
The crown princess turned her direction back to the Captain. "Stay here." She commanded. "I think I saw something."
"Do you want me to come with you, Your Highness?" She asked.
"No." Annika shook her head. "Proceed with your jobs."
"Are you sure?"
"Are you doubting me?" The crown princess held her head high to signify her position.
The Captain shook her head. "Not at all, Your Highness!
"Good," Annika replied before walking away from the scouts.
˖⁺‧₊˚⚜️˚₊‧⁺˖
"Back up, or... Or else!" Luz tried to threaten the Golden Guard.
"Or else what?" The teenage boy challenged. "You gonna blast me to bits?" He chuckled. "Nah, you're too nice for that. Fly away? Uh-uh. You know you can't do that either," he crossed his arms with a broad, taunting smile, "'cause then you'll leave your precious palismen."
"You don't tend to think things through, do you, human?" The blonde asked with a knowing smile.
Luz bit her bottom lip as she let out a whimper, not knowing how to respond, but before she could say anything, the two teens noticed Kikimora's hand dragon landing at the last police precinct where the chase began.
The two saw Kikimora standing there with the palismen shelter.
"So, Kikimora was after my catch?" The blonde said with a pondering look.
Luz took this opportunity to compromise. "Seems like neither of us wants her to win right now. So, let's work together to take back those palismen."
"Then what?" He asked suspiciously and crossed his arms. "You think I'll just let you walk away with them?"
"Maybe you won't have a choice!" She replied smugly and spun around the Golden Guard's staff in her hand. "I'm more formidable than you think."
However, that didn't seem to be the case when Luz almost dropped the staff. The boy gasped and leaned to snatch it, but the girl managed to grab it and nervously giggled at a panicked Golden Guard.
"I doubt that, but... fine. A truce till then." He agreed.
"Truce!" She extended her hand with a wide grin.
The blonde blinked at her, and the girl frowned. "You're supposed to shake my hand."
He sighed when she awkwardly stood, waiting for him to shake her hand. "Just because we agreed on a truce doesn't mean we're now friends, Human."
"But we can at least be friendly acquaintances?" Luz asked with a beam.
"No." The blonde replied with an unfazed look, and the human girl pouted.
The two teens turned around with wide eyes, suddenly facing a familiar face eating popcorn on the building's edge.
"What happened? Keep on going! This just started to get interesting." Annika commented, unfazed.
"What are you doing here?" Luz squinted her eyes while the Golden Guard yelled out. "You were here this entire time?!"
The crown princess smirked at the two's reactions and answered their queries. "Yes, and can't I seek some entertainment on this dull journey?"
The blonde walked over to the crown princess with an unfazed look. "Well, you had your fun. Now, can you tell them that I am the Golden Guard?" He asked.
Annika widened her eyes. "I thought coven scouts would recognize your face."
The boy's face turned red. "Well,... They don't."
The older brunette walked toward the human girl, who stepped in the opposite direction as she clutched onto the staff.
"What do you want?" Luz asked in a panic.
"Correct me if I'm wrong, but you were planning to sabotage Kikimora's plan, were you not?" Annika asked as she removed her double-breasted turquoise jacket and golden tie.
Luz pursed her lips into a thin line. "Maybe."
The crown princess snickered at the human girl's reply as she neatly folded her jacket and golden tie before turning to the blonde. "Might I suggest to you, Golden Suck-up-"
Luz snorted at the blonde's nickname, earning a scowl from him, and the crown princess continued. "-That you have a little fun in your life?"
"What's that supposed to mean?" He asked as Annika cast a spell that teleported her turquoise jacket and golden tie to who knew where.
"What it means, Golden Guard," She began. "Is that this is an opportunity to prank Kiki." Annika gave him a cocky smile while tying her long hair pit of her face.
"Is that what you're here for? To prank Kiki?" Luz asked, a bit offended. "You don't care about those poor palismen?"
Annika's smile dropped as she stared at Luz's eyes. "Whether I care for the palismen is not your concern, Noceda." She leaned in closer to Luz's face with a smirk. "But I could always change my mind and tell of your unlawful intentions to the scouts nearby."
"Can't you tell the scouts now?" The Golden Guard asked.
Annika's smirk dropped to a distasteful expression. "Do you not have a bit of mischief in your soul?"
He crossed his arms.
"It's Kikimora, not Emperor Belos." Annika pointed out.
"Fine." The Golden Guard groaned, and Annika quietly cheered as Luz squinted her eyes at the crown princess before they walked away to think of a plan.
━━━━ •┈••✦ 🖤 ✦••┈• ━━━━
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Meme made by HPTiffany