Luz's eyes slowly flickered open. The first thought she had as she woke was that she needed new clothes because the ones she was wearing were in awful condition and smelled as such. She decided to go out and look for something new.
She left the room and wandered through the castle, eventually finding the scout's rooms. It felt a bit wrong to be going through people's stuff, but whoever owned them was dead, captured, or in the hideout so it's not like they'd need them. Going room to room, Luz eventually collected enough clothing in her size. They were probably what the scouts wore on their day off, given their casual look, but that was better than having to go out to scavenge clothes. She was able to gather dark gray jeans, black calf-high boots with gold laces, a dull white button up she cuffed up to her elbows, and tight black gloves.
Luz found her way back to the room and saw Philip tending to the fire as something cooked in the pot he had hung over it. Philip looked over at her and smiled, making Luz smile back.
"I see you found some new clothing." Philip commented.
"Yep! Besides, that old outfit looked way too much like what Villainous Lucy wore in The Good Witch Azura The Movie 2: The Betrayening."
"And instead you look like a coven scout in casual clothes, which is better?"
"They aren't scout clothes. They're just clothes." Luz insisted as she sat by the fire across from Philip.
She looked curiously into the pot. There was water boiling with something weird cooking. It wasn't tea, like Luz expected, but instead food.
"I'm making gruel, well, I think it's called oatmeal now," Philip said, answering the unasked question, "As you know, humans can't eat lots of food in this world. So, once I had the ability to, I began to selectively breed various plants to be more like their human realm varieties. I was able to do the same with some animals too, but most of the meat and dairy was spoiled or stolen. The plants, however, were just fine."
After doing a quick check, Philip nodded and split the oatmeal between two bowls. He added a dark brown powder to one bowl and handed it to Luz. The other one he kept for himself. He handed Luz a spoon and started eating.
"Don't worry, it's not poison. It's this realm's equivalent of cinnamon. I like my gruel with just salt, water, and oats, but I know you prefer cinnamon. Alas, I don't have any butter or brown sugar."
Luz looked up from her bowl and looked at Philip confused, eyes narrowed. He was focusing on his food but when he met her eyes, he recognized why she was confused.
"Remember, I spent over a month inside your brain. I was able to access all of your memories, as well as any thoughts or feelings you had while I was in your head."
"You just had free reign of my memories?" Luz asked, slightly concerned and scared.
"Don't worry, while I did go through them, now that my curse is gone I no longer have that connection to the part of myself I had in your head. And the longer I am severed, the more the memories fade. I can't recall your first words or what you wore on your third day of first grade or anything of the sorts. Your short term memories are long gone from my head. I can only really remember major details from the past 7 or so years. I admit I did use my knowledge for manipulative reasons. It's how I knew about the Little Light thing and that only your mother and late father called you it."
"It's whatever Philip." Luz shrugged, though she wasn't completely honest with that statement, "I'm okay with you calling me that now. Now, is that the only memory you used against me?"
After an almost hesitant pause, Philip nodded.
"Then we're all good!" Luz said chipperly "Now, first order of business. I have a plan to defeat the Collector."
Philip began coughing violently, choking on his oatmeal from the surprise of what Luz said. He quickly recovered, wiped his mouth, then gave Luz a shocked and concerned look.
"What? We both have staves and I have the advantage of having full capabilities of magic use with my fully formed bile sack! Not to mention the curse."
"Luz, the Collector is extremely dangerous. I didn't decide to go back on my deal with him because I'm some petty, selfish, manipulative, betraying, egoist." Philip paused as Luz raised an eyebrow at him, then continued, "I'm not anymore at least. I did it because I knew what they could do was more than a thousand fold anything I would inflict on the people of the isles. The draining spell would be merciful compared to what the Collector could have done if I released them."
"Philip I've seen inside the Collector's hideout. They're just putting people in bubbles!" Luz scoffed.
"For now. They want to play a game called "Owl House", right? Well, when you think of a game with that name, what comes to mind?"
"I suppose just "House". I didn't play much of it but I know other girls my age did."
"And what do you need to play that?"
"Well you can do it with people, or with dolls and a dollhouse."
"And just what is the Collector building?"
Luz gasped and nearly dropped her bowl as the realization set in.
"The Collector is insanely powerful. There is a reason they could only be contained and released by a Titan, only bound and unbound by a being with veins that flow with the most potent magic in existence. Once they get enough people, they can and will use them like dolls, even going so far as turning them into his own little marionettes that they can control. You can't just fight them!" Philip exclaimed, slamming down his bowl, "Nothing you or I could do would even be able to break a bubble trapping those they kidnapped. The curse, the staves, your magic. It's nothing compared to the power of a being that can only be bested by a Titan."
Luz set down her bowl, moved next to Philip, and laid an arm over his shoulders.
"I'm not going to try to fight him." Luz assured.
"Thank you Little Light," Philip sighed with relief holding Luz's hand, "I'm so glad I got through to-"
"I just need to distract them long enough for you to take care of them for me."
"WHAT?!?" Philip yelled.
"It's simple!" Luz said, standing up, "We have Titan's blood! There's still some left in the vial! If we can get it on, though inside might be better, the Collector, they'll be sealed away again! So we go there, I'll distract them while making you invisible with some illusion magic, you sneak up, and...I don't know, stab them with a blade coated in the blood? They'll be sealed, everyone will get released, I'll have proved I'm not a monster, and people won't hate you!"
"But they'll know I'm there."
"Only if they think you are and start trying to sense you. The Collector thinks you're dead, just like most of the isles."
"Do you remember what happened last time you fought the Collector? I do! Hunter broke half the bones in his body and nearly died, while you managed to get out alive by playing along with the Collector's game. And he said they wouldn't play with you again."
"They said they wouldn't play for people's freedom. I just play with them, completely stakes free, and you capture them!"
"Luz you can't risk this!" Philip insisted, standing up, "They could kill you!"
"I've already died once. And with the curse on my side, I can just be like you and come back from a goo pile." Luz shrugged.
"But that only works if you are in your cursed form. And, well, I didn't mention this before but the calculations I did for how much plasma you need to drink was assuming you do not use the curse. The further you transform the more magic the curse needs to sustain itself. And if you don't keep it satisfied, it will come out on its own. That's what happened when you gave me a sigil on the Day of Unity. Not to mention it took months of patience before I regained this form after being splattered."
"I can't use the curse? But it's so helpful!"
"It will only hurt you and the people you love."
"Philip, please, I'm not going to die. Don't worry about me. And I don't have anyone else that I need to care about or cares about me."
"I CARE ABOUT YOU! When will you get it through your head that I care about you, Little Light. You are a stubborn, depressed, self-sacrificing, careless, hard-headed, traumatized teenager! I feel like people are always having this conversation with you, but you seriously have a problem with your God damn inferiority complex! I'd be worried about how obviously suicidal you were to the point where I wouldn't let you out of my sight if I didn't already know you enough that I know you wouldn't do that unless it was for the sake of protecting or saving people.
"Your curse is unstable. Your magic is new. Neither of us have a clue what other effects having Titan's blood in your body would have besides cosmetic upgrades! I'm worried about you Luz."
Philip rested a hand on Luz's shoulder, tears in his eyes. A few began to run down his face as what he was saying set in. Not only did he not blame her for anything, but he was one of the few who called her out for her nigh-suicidal behavior she did for the ones she loved, or just needed saving.
"Philip," Luz sighed, taking his hand off her shoulders and holding it in both of hers, "I won't be alone. You'll be there. And if you need to, you can protect me. I trust you Philip. I need you to trust me too. I'm not going to die. Neither of us are!"
"Luz, you know that's not true." Philip sadly chuckled, "You've read my journal. You know I have a target on my back. If the Collector doesn't kill me, then someone else will. The hourglass of my life has been flipped too many times. I need to let it run out."
"If I can't die on this mission, you can't either!" Luz cried.
"Okay, okay." Philip sighed with a smile before placing the hand Luz was holding on his heart and holding the other up, "I Philip Wittebane swear I won't die on this mission."
"And I Luz Noceda swear the Collector won't kill me." Luz said with a smile, copying what Philip did with his hands.
"Thank you." Philip said, he and Luz dropping their hands, "Now there is still one problem with your plan. We have no idea where the Collector is hiding. They turned their base invisible."
"Don't worry. I can handle that. Now, get ready to go. We need to go somewhere. Then, we're off to fight the Collector."
Philip filled a small satchel with his journal, a pen, food, a thin and sleek dagger, his staff in its compact form, and the vial of Titan's blood. Despite his much more modern new outfit, he still put on his old, blue coattail jacket which still looked good when combined with the loose button up, slacks, and brown, slightly-heeled, short boots he had been wearing. Luz grabbed her bag and put in some food, two pouches of Titan's plasma, her palisman, and her phone, which had somehow survived the past few months. She put on her witch's wool cloak and pulled up the hood. She also had her staff extended and in hand. The two left the castle, Luz using her magic to block the entrance so hopefully nobody would steal their stuff.
They stood on the large platform, overlooking the massive gap between the two ends of the bridge, which had not been extended in a long time. Philip stood staring out for a moment, then walked over to the lever that would extend the bridge.
"Wait!" Luz yelled, just before he pulled it, noticing what he was doing, "If you pull that, you'd be announcing to any Trappers in the area that we're here."
"Then how do you propose we get across the gap? Not even the farthest jumping demons can get over it."
"We fly, obviously." Luz shrugged, gesturing to her staff, "These can fly, right?"
"Of course! They're modeled off of my and Hunter's old artificial staves, as well as real staves. I'd be stupid to make these without the ability to fly."
"Then we'll just fly."
Luz got on her staff and hovered a few feet off the ground, the tips of her toes inches away from the solid ground beneath her. This staff was different than flying on Owlbert. She had known it would be different, casting magic with it the other day had proved that, but it was different in ways that differed from using it for spells. Instead of being naturally balanced by palisman adjustments, there was a weighting system that had to be kept aware of to not fall off. It was also much lighter and sleeker, probably able to go much faster. All the components on the inside of the staff could be felt shifting and adjusting. Luz knew she'd have to keep much better track of where her weight was so she wouldn't fall.
As a test, she hovered around the platform slowly, getting used to flying on the artificial staff. She began to go a little higher, a little faster bit by bit until she was several yards above the ground and flying around fast enough the hood of her cloak flipped off her head, letting her hair flow in the wind. The sensation of the cold air hitting her face as she raced around the castle. She laughed as the feeling of her pointed ears was still new and she could feel her ears moving, a feeling she hadn't noticed the past few days or just didn't experience, and was overjoyed as she thought about all the times she saw her friends ears moving.
Getting a little more bold, she tried doing some tricks. She did flips, dives, and made sharp turns. She tried to do the warp dash she saw Hunter do and, after a few tries, was able to do it easily. She turned so she was perpendicular to the walls of the castle, got off her staff, and ran a few feet along the side of the building before jumping back on her staff. Her whoops and cheers filled the air as, for what felt like the first time in so long, she felt truly free.
Eventually, after one final lap to slow down, Luz landed on the platform in front of the castle, laughing and smiling the widest she had in weeks. However, when she looked over to Philip, he was just standing awkwardly, clutching his staff.
"What's wrong, Philip? Can your staff not fly?" Luz asked, retracting her staff.
"No, no it can. It's...well..." Philip stammered, face flushing with embarrassment.
"Do you not know how to fly?"
"No, I do. The family that me and Caleb stayed with here in the beginning were palismen carvers, and we both got one. Caleb got his cardinal, and I got a spider. I actually wrote about it in my diary. You should have seen it the night you and Amity began dating and looked at what the echo mouse was showing you together."
"That's sweet, but off topic. Why aren't you flying?"
Philip murmured something Luz couldn't quite make out.
"What was that?"
"It's just that I'm..." Philip began before trailing off into murmurs again.
"Look I can't understand your mumbling. Just tell me why you can't just fl-"
"I'm scared of heights!" Philip quickly exclaimed, face now red with embarrassment.
Luz stared for a few moments, then just broke down laughing. Philip was slightly hurt by her reaction, but did understand why she laughed.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry. It's just. You. Philip Wittebane. Emperor Titan damned Belos. The 1600s, puritanical, 400 year old genius who nearly succeeded in wiping out an entire race after a 50 year reign in a political system you created, being assisted by clones of your brother and a child-like god...are afraid of heights?"
"It's a common fear! And hey, you're terrified of cats with human souls trapped in them. But you don't see me making fun of that!
"I know, I know." Luz chuckled, calming down, "It's just something I wouldn't expect from you. You're this fearless, brutal, mastermind."
"...who just so happens to be absolutely terrified of heights. I mastered the art of translocation for a reason."
"Heh, I bet if people knew this they wouldn't be nearly as scared of you."
"Good! I plan to take this to the grave. Only you and the Collector know about it and I'm keeping it that way."
"If we want to get to where we need to go, you need to be able to fly. So, I'll teach you!"
Luz extended her staff again and stood by the barricaded door. She got the staff between her legs and gestured for Philip to join. Hesitantly, he moved next to her and sat on his staff sideways, both legs on one side of the staff, though he was just holding it up and not actually making it fly.
"You know it'll be harder to balance if you sit like that." Luz pointed out, "The only people I can think of off the top of my head that do that are Eda and Amity."
"When I was a child and rode horseback, sitting sideways was no problem. Nor was it the short period of time where I had a palisman."
"But these staves are mechanical. You did do a great job at replicating how they work, but automatic balancing is not one of the things that was replicated. The balancing correction system is decent, but not perfect or automatic like a living thing would have. You need to make sure to account for any weight changes, especially sitting like that."
"You already figured out all that? After a few times riding a staff and spending a few minutes flying around on this one? Man you're good at this. Think you'd like to help with the 5.0 of the artificial staff?"
"I guess it pays to work with all the types of magic you described." Luz shrugged with a smile, "So, since you're sitting sideways, it'd help to have your lower torso not sitting on the staff but hanging off the other side to balance with the hanging legs, and then the upper torso and head perpendicular with the staff. You should be balanced like that."
Luz lifted her feet off the ground and hovered in place. Philip adjusted himself, looked between Luz and the ground, then with an exhale, lifted his feet up and began hovering. He still looked nervous, so Luz gave him an assuring smile and began to go across the platform, going towards the space over the chasm the bridge normally would be. Philip followed cautiously, refusing to look down and only looking ahead, feeling mildly comforted at Luz's presence. He knew she was strong and would have no problem saving him.
He was going to die eventually, but as long as Luz was around, he'd be safe.
Luz hovered off the edge and began slowly going over the chasm. With a deep breath, Philip followed her. He kept looking forward, focusing on Luz. And before long, they had reached the other side. Luz turned around and smiled widely at him as he stopped a few feet from the edge. She laughed to herself when he visibly detensed.
"Hey, not yet." Luz said when she saw Philip about to get off, "Do you really want to walk the whole way?"
"With our pace walking would be faster. Besides, we'd likely have to go through woods that aren't very conducive to flying."
"That's because you've been flying with training wheels. It's time to go higher and faster. Okay? Come on! Time to go out of the frying pan and into the furnace."
Philip gave her a slightly confused look.
"Just try to keep up, 'kay?"
And with that statement, Luz turned around and shot up, speeding into the sky. Philip looked up, absolutely terrified, but he knew he'd lose her if he didn't hurry up.
"I can't believe she's getting me to do this." Philip grumbled, tightening his grip.
He flew up into the sky, going faster than he ever dreamed he would. He tried to go the direction he saw Luz going and, after a few seconds of soaring, was able to see her again and started to gain on her. Luz could feel him gaining and began to slow down as they got closer and closer to where she was leading him. Eventually she stopped and Philip came to a stop next to her.
They stayed in place hundreds upon hundreds of feet above the ground. They had a view of the entirety of the Titan, laid out in front of them. The air was colder, but not super thin, another anomaly between the two realms Luz just noticed. The view was absolutely stunning as the sun was beating on their backs.
Luz had led Philip to the view Eda had shown her on her second day in the Isles.
"Wow. This is beautiful." Philip gasped.
"I know. Up close the world is scary and smelly, but up here...it's incredible."
"I can't believe I nearly left this place to be ruined by genocide. It's crazy how big it is. You can't even see the castle!"
"I know. It is crazy."
The two sat in silence for a bit, staring out across the landscape. Taking in the small part of the world they had both considered home for so long.
"What made you decide to bring me here?" Philip asked, breaking the silence.
"My second day in this place, Eda brought me here. She told me about how nobody has a destiny and that the world is super complex. I've never forgotten that."
"And you showed it to me because..."
"Because you worry about how things you do will impact me, and blame yourself for all my problems. Like how I blamed myself for the draining spell. Even just this one Titan is so big, and there are so many factors and butterfly effects. Most of which we can't control. I just wanted you to know that it isn't entirely your fault. Yeah you had a part in it, but it wasn't just you."
"Thank you, Little Light. I know showing me this must be a big deal for you."
"I just wish everyone would have listened." Luz sighed, twinges of annoyance and sadness in her voice, "If Hunter and Eda and Amity just listened to me, we wouldn't be in this situation. If they had given you a second chance, Hunter would still have Flapjack, Amity would still have her perfect face, and Eda would still have her basically daughter. They'd all still have me."
"Well you know what they say, Luz. That us-"
"What? Us weirdos gotta stick together?" Luz interrupted, frustrated and sad.
"No. I wouldn't say that. For one we're not weirdos. I was just saying-"
"Us humans got to stick together, then?" Luz scoffed.
"No! I know how meaningful Eda is to you. I wouldn't say the first big thing Eda told you or a twisted version of that to comfort you. Let me rephrase what I was going to say. This is an us against them world. You had reasoning for what you did. Don't blame yourself for their responses or get hung up on your past actions."
"You're right, I'm sorry." Luz sighed.
"It's okay. As you probably know by now, the curse can cause emotional instability. For me I got angry easily, for you it seems like a mix of anger and sadness."
"Awesome magic for the price of having a curse. Seems like a reasonable trade." Luz chuckled with a shrug, "Now let's get going to where we actually need to head."
"But you don't know where the Collector is."
"Yes, but I know how to find someone that does."