It was over. They had won.
Eda, King, and Luz laid on the ground as the sun began to appear through the dark clouds, they all sighed and smiled as the warmth hit their skin (or fur in King's case). After everything that had happened over the last few months, they could finally just lay down, enjoy the fact they all were together again, and that the Boiling Isles was safe from Belos at last. Luz was fairly certain he was dead this time, what remained of his melted sludge hadn't moved at all, so she was rather confident in her belief that the reign of "Emperor" Belos had finally come to an end.
"So uh... What now?" King asked, breaking the silence.
"Oh, I was thinking we just lay here forever. I kinda like this." Eda replied back with a smirk.
Luz chuckled, she had missed Eda's snarks more than she realized. But King had brought up a good point, what was next for them? Luz had finally made the decision to stay in the Boiling Isles as much as she could... But there wasn't much of a Boiling Isles to stay in at the moment. Both Belos' desolation and the Collector's temporary reign had caused a lot of damage to the Isles, damage that would take a long time to fix fully. Then there was the fact all of the citizens of the Isles, her mother, and her friends still were puppets in the Archive Hous-
Luz nearly threw her back out from how quick she lurched up in realization. Her friends and all the people of the Isles were still in there! Did the Collector manage to keep the Archives from being destroyed?! Were they all okay?! Eda noticed Luz's look of panic, and sat up to face her.
"Kid, what's wrong?" She asked, slightly worried.
"All the people in the Archives, do you think they're okay?!" Luz asked, panic lacing her tone.
"The Archive House seems to be perched on the skull actually, not much damage either." Raine observed, as they pointed over at the (thankfully now) unmoving Titan's skull.
Indeed, the once floating Archive House was now perched on the top of the skull, completely intact, giving the look of a tiara on the now truly dead Titan. Luz couldn't help but smile as she remembered what King's dad had said.
"Now you really are the best of both things..." Luz thought to herself.
The Collector had done his job, he'd made sure the Archive House didn't get destroyed due to Belos' possession of the Titan. She just hoped everyone inside was alright.
***
Amity looked out at the distance with her friends... One of the first things she noticed was that one of the Titan's arms were now pointing up at the sky instead of slumped down. Whoever lived on that arm was definitely going to have to find a new place to live. A large part of her hoped nobody was hiding out on that arm when Belos had taken control. Luckily she was fairly certain that almost everyone on the Isles had been turned into puppets and stored in the Archives by the Collector.
Oh, right. The Collector. She had completely forgotten about him. He was looking out at Isles with the rest of them. The person that had enslaved the entirety of the Isles, gave Belos the knowledge of the Draining Spell, and turned them all into puppets... Was now standing next to her, smiling as he looked at the sun beginning to appear through the murky clouds. She gave the Collector a side glance. Amity couldn't find it in her heart to be mad at him, not after he managed to keep the Archives from crashing down into the ground with them in it. Even though they all had survived a lot through the last few months, but Amity wasn't sure if they could have survived THAT.
"All the puppets seem to be okay!" Hunter said, looking at a couple puppets from the pile they had made.
"As okay as living people turned into creepy puppets can be, at least." Gus added, still a bit creeped out by the puppets' look.
"Oh, good!" The Collector said, maintaining his smile. He looked over at Camila, "So, you're Luz's mother?" he asked.
"Si, and you are the... Space Cherub?" Camila replied, still unsure of what exactly to call the being before her.
"The Collector! I collect stuff, you know, like puppets!" The Collector said, beaming slightly.
"Yeah, you did a great job doing that..." Hunter deadpanned, looking at the familiar faces in the puppet pile.
The Collector averted his eyes, feeling another wave of shame wash over him as he frowned. He did still feel a good bit of guilt for forcing everyone to play those games with him. But he just wanted to play for the first time in centuries! He was so excited to be free... But he guessed he never really took the time to see how much his excitement affected everyone else.
Amity took notice of his frown, and couldn't help but take pity on him. She patted the Collector on the back comfortingly, which he seemed to appreciate as a smile slowly returned to his face.
"Uh... Amity, right?" Collector asked, Amity smiled a bit.
"Yes, that's me." Amity confirmed, "King mentioned you a couple times... Luz talked about you a lot too." he said.
Amity chuckled, "Yeah, I'm not surprised..." she remarked.
As she finished chuckling, she looked at all the puppetized people in the pile and the few stragglers they didn't manage to gather. Amity sighed, it would take a while to turn them all back to their normal selves. Her eyes wandered until they landed on a certain one... Lilith Clawthorne.
"Collector..." Amity began, and the star child turned to her.
"Yeah?" He asked in reply, "Could you turn that one over there back to normal please?" Amity pointed at the puppet of Lilith.
"Oh yeah, sure!" Collector said. He walked over, and quickly used his powers to peel off the puppet sticker.
After a moment, Lilith's form turned back to that of her normal one. She blinked for a moment, holding her head.
"Agh, that was..." Lilith began to say, before she realized who was standing before her. "YOU! How did you-" Lilith exclaimed, before Amity rushed over to join the two.
"Miss Clawthorne! Don't worry, he's not against us anymore! He helped save us... Please, calm down." Amity quickly assured her old mentor, which seemed to slightly calm Lilith down.
"Okay, okay... Wait." She looked around seeing the rest of the group, noticing a new face in the form of Camila. "How did you all get here? And who is that?" Lilith asked, sitting up from her slumped position.
"I can explain everything later. But all you need to know right now is that we're all safe, but we need your help turning all these people back to normal." Amity explained, gesturing around at all the puppets.
Lilith looked around once more, before nodding, "Alright... I can do that. I'm assuming the Collector has the power to do so?" Lilith inquired.
The Collector nodded, "Yeah! It's easy! We'll have everyone back to normal in no time!" he replied. Lilith gave what seemed to be a bit of a forced smile, before turning to Amity.
"I believe I can handle this... Perhaps you should go see if my sister and nephew are okay." Lilith suggested, as she picked up a puppet from the pile.
Amity smiled and nodded, before turning to the Hexsquad and Camila. "Come on, let's go find them. We should make sure they're all okay."
"But where do you think they even are? They could be anywhere on the Isles by now!" Gus exclaimed.
But Amity wasn't worried, she knew exactly where Luz and the others were.
***
Luz and Eda landed outside the Owl House, putting King and Raine down respectively. The house was still a complete mess from being left to it's own devices for so long during the chaos of the last few months.
"Oh me, this is gonna be worse than bathing Hooty." King groaned.
"Yeah... At least there's no furniture left to clean." Luz remarked, making Eda's eyes widen.
"Wait, what?! I didn't even look inside when we were here a while ago!" She quickly rushed into the house. Eda's groans were loud enough to be heard from outside.
"They took the fucking couch too?! Are you kidding me?!" Her voice hollered from inside.
Luz made a mental note that one of the first things they had to do was make the Owl House... Well, the Owl House again.
"They couldn't have gotten far with the furniture. I'm sure we'd be able to find it." Raine reasoned as they and Luz walked in through the doorway.
"Hope you're right, because I'm not sleeping in a nest." King said, kicking away a few sticks on the floor.
"The nest is the like the one thing they DIDN'T take!" Eda exclaimed, coming out from her room, now back in her normal form.
"Huh, guess nests just aren't a popular piece of decor." Luz joked, managing to find a little humor in the situation.
God, she needed to laugh at least a little bit. Being in the empty Owl House was at least a little less depressing now that King and Eda were here with her, but it still hurt to see.
"So, who wants to sweep and who wants to dust?" Eda asked, holding a broom that she had found in her nest. Why it was in her nest, she wasn't going to bother questioning.
"We JUST saved the Boiling Isles... Can't we, you know, relax a little first?" King whined.
"Oh yeah sure King, let's just lay on the couch for a few minutes- Oh wait! We don't HAVE a couch anymore!" Eda snapped back.
Raine put a comforting hand on her shoulder as Eda moaned under her breath. "It's okay Eda, we'll get the furniture back. I promise..." Raine assured her.
Eda smiled warmly at Raine, thankful for their comfort. Just then, there was the sound of a couple faint whooshes, and something landing outside.
"What was that?" King asked, having heard the sounds.
The front door opened, and a familiar voice was heard.
"Luz? Miss Eda? King? You here?" Gus called out, walking in with the Hexsquad and Camila following after him.
Luz gasped happily, and rushed over to the front door. "Guys! Mom! You're all okay!" Luz exclaimed, running up and hugging them all.
They all happily hugged Luz back, before eventually parting from the embrace.
"We thought you might have been dead!" Hunter exclaimed.
"Meh, sorta was." Luz shrugged, "Wait what?" Willow blinked.
"Nevermind, we can talk about that later." Luz replied, "Anyways, are all the people that were in the Archives safe?".
Gus nodded, "Yeah, Miss Clawthorne is supervising the Collector as he turns them all back to normal." he answered.
Luz exhaled in relief. Everyone was soon going to be brought back to normal, and then they'd be able to focus on making progress on rebuilding everything that was ruined or destroyed.
"So, I guess we did it then..." Amity said with a smile, Luz returned the smile.
"Yep, we've defeated Belos and saved the Isles... What's left of it at least." Luz remarked.
Amity nodded a bit in agreement to her girlfriend's statement. There was a LOT to be done before the Isles would be completely fixed.
"Well, I'm just happy you're okay." Amity said, hugging Luz once again. Luz hugged back, they then slowly began to lean in so their lips could meet-
"Hey wait! All our parents are probably back to normal now! We should go back to the Archives and see them!" Gus exclaimed excitedly, jumping between Luz and Amity.
"Oh that's a good point! I want to go see my dads!" Willow added.
Amity parted from her embrace with Luz, "I... Do want to see my dad." she said, hesitantly as she looked at Luz.
"Go on Sweet Potato. I won't stop you. We can catch up later." Luz said, noticing her girlfriend's hesitance.
Amity smiled, "Thanks Luz!".
"You kids can go on ahead, I think I'm going to stay here... I've had enough flying for at least a day or two." Camila said, "Plus, I think I'm going to be needed here." she added as she glanced around at the still messy house.
"Alright, see you all soon!" Gus said as he, Hunter, Willow, and Amity all rushed out of the door.
They took off into the sky on their Palismen, but not before Eda called out to them.
"Also Blight, make sure you smack Odalia for me!" She hollered, before remembering something else. "Oh! And get your dad to come over here sometime soon! I'd like to have a right arm again!" Eda added, moving her stub around for emphasis.
The witch kids faded into the distance, as Eda walked back inside.
"Oh Mija, I can't tell you how proud I am of you!" Camila said as she hugged her daughter. Luz happily hugged back, before she remembered something.
"Oh! Mom, this is Eda and King!" Luz introduced the Witch and Titan.
"Hey Luz's mom!" King said, waving from Eda's shoulder, having climbed onto her shoulder to be level with Camila.
"Nice to meet you, Camal right?" Eda asked, holding her only hand out for a handshake.
"It's Camila actually. Good to meet you too, heard a lot about you!" Camila accepted the handshake. She then noticed Eda's right hand... Or rather the lack of one.
"Ay dios mio! What happened to your hand?!" Camila exclaimed, taken aback.
"Oh yeah, long story. It involves a lot of trauma, tears, and violence... Wanna hear it?" Eda suggested, "I think my old Apple Blood stash is still untouched".
"You mean Apple Juice?" Camila asked her.
"No. She does not." Luz bluntly answered for Eda.
"Follow me, it's under the nest. I hid it there for my late night drinking sessions. You can help me drag the thing out here so we at least have somewhere to sit." Eda explained, motioning for the two humans to follow her and King.
Luz sighed as she walked, a smile appearing on her face. She felt like things were gonna start looking up from here.
***
Lilith had been through a lot in the last few months. The Day of Unity, her sister lost her arm, she had been turned into a puppet (twice), lost Hootsifer, and been constantly plotting 24/7 for a way to contain the Collector forever. But this hug from Steve really helped make those last few months seem worth it.
"Oh thank Titan, I thought I was going to be a creepy puppet forever! I'm so happy to be free, and to see you!" Steve exclaimed, smiling as he continued to hug her.
Lilith couldn't help but smile as well as Steve held her. He eventually let go of Lilith, and her gaze turned to the Collector, who was still chuckling at the sight of Steve hugging her. She still didn't know how to feel about him being kept free after all the chaos and damage he helped cause to the Isles. Granted, most of the damage could be pinned on Belos' actions, and the Collector was at least making up for some of the damage by turning everyone back to normal... But Lilith still did not trust him completely.
The Collector had his own thoughts about Lilith too. He still didn't like how she called King a 'Nephew'. He knew what nephews were, Belos constantly threw his away and handled them horribly. He didn't want King to get treated like that! The Collector looked over at all the people he had turned back to normal so far. He could see Hunter talking with Darius, Gus with his dad, Willow with her dads, and Amity with her father... Mamadalia was leaning on a pillar nearby looking at the two. The Collector's eyebrow raised slightly, he didn't see much of Mamadalia during all the chaos of Belos possessing Rayray and then King's Dad. He guessed that she had just chosen to hide it out or something. Weird how she didn't seem that happy to see-
"Collector." The star child was interrupted in the middle of his thoughts by Lilith, who was looking at him rather impatiently.
"We still have more people to turn back to normal, can we continue please?" Lilith gestured at the line of puppets that still needed to be turned back to normal.
"Oh! Right! Course, duh... I know that! I was just, thinking about stuff." The Collector quickly said, snapping his fingers to make the puppet line move forward once more.
"Uh-huh, just focus please." Lilith replied flatly.
Okay... The Collector definitely could tell Lilith didn't like him too much. But that was okay! He was sure she'd warm up to him! Everyone would once they see the good side of him!
Right?
***
"How do you manage to sleep in this thing?" Camila asked as she tried to find a comfortable way to lay in Eda's nest.
"Meh, it's actually not that bad. You get used to it quick." Eda shrugged, taking another swig of her Apple Blood bottle. "I know I am..." Raine said, as they laid next to Eda in the nest.
Eda smiled, meanwhile Luz was sitting on the rim of the nest.
Stringbean was in her palm, giving what sounded like purrs as Luz stroked the side of her snake body. She hadn't gotten the time to truly appreciate her new Palismen, after all, Stringbean had been a very helpful companion so far. Plus, she was the cutest little snake thing Luz had ever seen... Vee finally had some competition.
That reminded her. Vee was still back in the Human Realm, and she probably had no idea if they were okay or not.
"We got to find a way back to the Human Realm. Make a new portal or something..." Luz decided out loud.
"Oh, well that's easy since we got this guy right here." Eda said, patting the little Titan on the head.
"Weh? You mean you want my blood?!" King exclaimed, eyes widening slightly.
"The portal only requires a little blood, don't worry King." Luz assured him.
"So, we just have to take a little blood from him every time we want to go back and forth?" Camila asked.
"Well yes, that could be the case... Or we could create a new portal and key." Raine suggested, "It shouldn't be hard to do so".
Luz smiled, "Hey, yeah! Let's do that! That way we don't have to hurt King every time we have to travel between realms".
From what Luz could remember, the key only required only a small bit of Titan blood for the portal door to work. So Luz reasoned they just needed to create a new portal door and key, which would be pretty simple based on how much research they already had done on the portal while she and her friends were stuck in the Human Realm.
"Heck, we could make the portal in the front door of the house if we wanted." Eda said, as she tried to get the last few drops of Apple Blood left out of her bottle out.
"You know, that actually isn't that bad of an idea." Raine said in response to Eda's idea, "If we connect it to the front door, it would give us an easy and convenient way back and forth between the realms".
Luz nodded in agreement, "Then it's settled. We'll create the new portal out of the front door!" she declared.
They suddenly all heard the creaking of wood, followed by a crash. King peered out the bedroom door toward the living room.
"First, we should probably fix the front door." He deadpanned as he looked at the now fallen over front door.