Boiling Gems (The Owl House x Steven Universe)

Summary:

And how they change us all

Chapter Text

Philip moved his hand forward, trying to stomp down Luz. "You just had to do it, didn't you!" He screamed, even as pain filled every inch of his body. "You had to take their side, and abandon humanity!"

"I abandoned nothing! You're the one who gave of his own, who killed his own brother! You abandoned morality!" The brat defied him, slicing away his claws. "Now if you don't want to be a moldy puddle, you'll turn off the draining spell!"

"You little …" He screamed in rage. "INSANE BRAT!" He formed his stubs into hammers. 

"... Right, Bismuth, of course." The child growled as she duck underneath his weapons. "What are you even fighting for now!? Even if you went back to the human world now, you'd be called a monster, be persecuted just like all the witches you killed! No one would trust you or give you a chance! YOU HAVE NOTHING, BELOS!"

" My name…!" He grabbed the brat by the neck, and began choking her. " Is PHILIP!"

"GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGH!" A bulking pink blur tackled him from the giant doors … as he landed right next to the portal.

Crack

"GRRAAAAA!!!" The thing began wailing on Philip, much to his annoyance.

"IT seems I'll finally be able to put down this beast personally!" He stabbed it multiple times, trying to rip it apart.

"Not on your life, Belhop!" His arms were made frozen from a thrown potion. Turning around, he saw several children…including the grimwalker.

"Guys, you came!" Luz yelled in excitement.

"Yeah, and we're going to have a LOOONG talk after this about you trying to fight the emperor on your own!" The blight girl yelled. "What were you thinking!?"

"I tried branding him, but he just went wild!" Luz shouted. "He won't turn it off."

" That's stupid. " Clawthorne, now much smaller, but still somewhat feral turned his gaze to him. " You'll die like everyone else if you don't, Belos."

"... Four … Hundred … Years." He stepped forward. "I have been preparing this … for four HUNDRED years … and you'd think I'd risk any method of stopping this?" He asked. "As long as the moon eclipses the sun … all witches will die, with no possible mortal hoping to change it." He forged blades on his arms. "Even I am powerless to save your excuse of a tainted species."

"You're lying…YOU'RE LYING!" Hunter yelled at him, teleporting and slicing at his legs. "That's all you've ever done!"

He formed his face to normal. "Why are you hurting me, Hunter?"

"I don't trust you anymore, you bastard!" The boy teleported….using a palisman….a red cardinal palisman!

"CALEB!" He sent forth blades everywhere to impale any target he could find. "EVEN IN DEATH, YOU NEVER CEASE TO HAUNT ME!"

"CAN IT! " Vines and Abomination muck wrapped around his body, as the Clawthorn began wailing on his chest.

"JUST STOP IT! GIVE IT UP YOU-!"

He ripped through the puny bindings, slamming the child into the ground. "I will take great pleasure in ripping you apart!" He shouted, squeezing their chest as blood began to pool in their hand.

"Not if your nightmares have anything to say about it!" The little illusionist took out a little monocle, and sent a spell over him….and he began to reexperience everything.

The death of their parents from a wild witch.

The promise of two brothers swearing to be the best witch hunters

Nearly dying over seas…only to be save by demons from the stars

His brother…befriends a witch…

That same witch…stealing his brother, forcing Philip to work with that vile thorn.

Finding that his brother had married that devil….with a child…

Stabbing his brother through the heart….and the years of guilt…..

" EEEVVVVVVEEEEEEEELLLLYYYYYYYYYN...…..!"

He was sent back from the mental pain, slamming into a wall. "HIT HIM NOW!" Luz shouted.

Potions, Vines, Abominations, Fire, everything was thrown at him over and over. However, one thought allowed him to ignore all of that … "RROOOOOSSEEE!" The chance to end both the Clawthorne and Rose legacy, once and for all. As long as the opportunity existed, he would never stop.

His hatred was quite literally, all that he had left.

========================================================================

This was it … the day had finally arrived. Hope was gone, good times were gone, everything. Celine already made sure to spend her time with her family, letting them keep oblivious happiness for their own good. Now she stayed with the students of Hexide, who tried their best to care for the dying teachers. "My one regret…." Principal bump groaned as he weakly gasped in the air. "Was…..never…..telling Faust….to suck it.."

"Who knew he was so spiteful?" Skara weakly laughed as she sat in the corner of a room with her boyfriend. "You know..it's funny. I spent all this time trying to help and getting to know your family, yet I never had you meet my mom officially."

"It's cool. I'm sure we'll meet back up in the afterlife when we all die." The boy casually nodded, accepting their fate.

"… You know, I think this is the first time I've ever seen anyone that's 'too' mellow." Matt observed. "There's being cool under pressure….and there's being delusional in a crisis.

"No, being delusional in a crisis is believing you can stop the apocalypse with a plucky attitude and stubbornness." Celine corroded. "Belfry is just naively ignorant. When you spend a lot of time reading people, you tend to see in between the lines."

"Oh come on, I'm sure Lucci and his friends can save the day like always, right?" Skara asked.

"... Sometimes being oblivious to the future is for the best." Celine spoke.

"I just wanted to make it to graduation." The Urchin kid cried as Cat comforted him.

"There there, big guy. I wanted a simple life too. Work in a high paying clinic, retire early, maybe own a boat." Cat groaned. "Guess life doesn't care what anyone wants.

"It doesn't." Amelia spoke up with tears in her eyes. "The most notable thing in my life was not being taken as a Basilisk. And that was because I was too dull!" The girl sobbed all over the floor. "And now I'm just going to die as another corpse among the ashes of the isles! Why couldn't I get a quirky trait!? I should've just stuck with Grudgby!"

"There there." The pink hair girl patted Amelia's back. "I think you're cool."

"I just wish Steve could've been here." Matt sighed. "He was part of the force heading to the skull. Who knows what's happening to him now?" Her boyfriend groaned. "Do…do you think I could've done more?"

"Matt, there was no stopping the spell.."

"I wasn't talking about the spell…just…more during my time alive before this moment." Matt said. "I spent so much time being a lap dog at Glandus and failing to be popular here. I could've studied more, could've helped around the house more, heck, maybe I could've learned more decent spells than just moving rocks."

"I think you did pretty well." Celine shrugged. "Not everyone needs to be good at being a witch. Maybe you could have done something but … focusing on the past doesn't help anyone, you know?"

"And neither does the future." Casper piped up. "So whatever happens next….just focus on the now and enjoy your time."

"Maybe if we're all reincarnated, we'll get that chance." Celine rolled her eyes, knowing it wasn't worth giving it a second thought….not this close to the end.

And to think…for a brief second…she allowed herself to hope it might be all alright.

========================================================================

"Ugh, my head." King wandered around the base of the skull, trying to figure where he was. Lucci had sped ahead to Belos, and the rest of his friends followed him, leaving him lagging behind with a massive headache

King looked up to the fight … watching the one sided fight take place. "WHY! WON'T! HE! GO! DOWN!?" Willow's voice shouted.

"He's the Emperor, he didn't get this far by being weak!" Amity shouted. "Boscha, you need to bring out stronger potions!"

"I've already thrown everything that would kill a witch five times over at him! He's just ignoring it at this point!"

"His rotting flesh is too much like a well built abomination. The mass is too great for any blow to take full effect!"

"I've tried cutting him up, but he just fixes himself right back up!" Luz shouted.

"ROOOOOSSEEEEE!" Well … that could be going better. King somehow doubted he could do much, which sucked. He was a titan, damn it, he should be the one doing the most!

"They…they can't stop him now…" King turned around…seeing Kikimora in that busted abomination mech. "All the power in the Boiling Isles can't stop the draining spell."

"Well I got to do something." King argued. "You're the Emperor's biggest butt kisser, don't you know anything?"

"I do …" She stood up, and began walking. "I've heard everything he's ever said. I know more about the Emperor than any witch alive."

King remembered the discussion on the blimp. "... Even the Draining Spell that would kill us all?"

"I thought if I did everything I was told, I'd be praised and rewarded before I died." …huh, so the parental stuff wasn't that far off. "Just one word to reassure me that my life mattered…that I'm worth something…"

"I can understand that…to a point." He nodded. "So what are we looking for?"

"The Collector." She spoke.

"... The god trying to kill Titans?" King questioned with a bit of nervousness.

"A child of the stars, sealed away in a realm between realms. Belos just wanted to use him like he did to everyone else….if you can gain his favor, you might be able to convince him to shut it off."

"So one talk with a god to save the world…no pressure or anything." He grumbled. 

"If it's any consolation, I think walking through the disposed will be more pressure than the conversation."

"The dispooo…." King looked at the skeletons with masks scattered through an endless valley, to the point they almost filled it.

"All the previous Golden guards…all the ones that were wise enough to see through Belos's snorseshit before." The woman cackled darkly. "I hated them so much….yet now I slightly envy where they are now." And now he's in one massive graveyard next to a psycho, lovely. "You'll see him once you touch that obelisk." He looked to the center of the room..seeing a round mirror like object with a moon symbol on it.

King walked forward, gently grasping the sheet … and taking it off. A black shadow emerged. "Oh, you here to lie to me again, Boolos? What, did someone mess up your game?" The shadow asked.

"Ah, no?" King said.

" Wait, who said that?" The shadow said. "I know someone's in front of me, but I can't see them?"

Wait, were Titan's invisible to the collector? No, that can't be right, they hunter titans…then did King have something on him? The only thing he had was his collar…the collar that he carved his temple symbol's. "Oh boy. I hope I don't regret this." He gently took off his collar. "Uh…Hello."

"Wait, you're …" The shadow giggled finally seeing him, circling around him like a shark. "Oh, are you that Titan's little baby!?" He shouted. "I've been looking all over, we were going to have so many games!" The Collector pouted, a massive frown represented by a rampaging beast next to him. "Then he locked me in a mirror like a boring fuddy duddy."

"Wait, you knew my dad?"

"Yeah, he was the biggest stick in the mud I ever met, second only to White Diamond." The shadow laughed. "Seriously, Pink Diamond was so much better to play with. She came up with the idea to use planets like bowling balls!" The shadow showed off that image, before gasping. "OOOH! Do you want to do that together!?"

"I don't have the muscle mass." He laughed. "I was kind of hopping you would undo the draining spell, mr collector sir?"

The shadow scoffed. "Mr? You're as lame as Boolos."

"Boolus? I thought only Lucci used that name."

They gasped. "You met him too!? Oh that kid's so fun to talk to. We only do it on occasions, but he's a riot and so much more interesting. Pinky was right to have a kid if it led to that." The Collector giggled.

Looks like he needed to interrogate Lucci later on what the hell he was talking about…but if he was invested in his brother, then maybe he could use that. "Well, he's fighting Boolus to the death right now, but it's not really going to matter, since, you know, he's going to die and all, and just when we were going to play our favorite game."

That got the wandering shadow to grow multiple eyes, all staring at him. "Favorite game?"

"Yes..It's a game we call…Owl House." He kept going. "We play all the time and it's always a blast."

"That sounds fun!" The Collector got in close. "How do you play?"

"Well, it's a shame, because the game needs a lot of players. Like a whole island full. And you helped Belos, so …"

"I can help you if we get to play fun games." They smiled, before frowning. "Wait, are you using me?"

"No, of course not, I'd pinky swear on my life." He held up his finger.

" I had to force Boolus to Pinky swear….you ARE SERIOUS!" The kid laughed. "Alright! I can stop the spell if you let me out now."

"Sounds like a deal." He looked at the mirror, remembering the Titan trappers. "...So, do I need to give you my blood..?"

" There's no need to overdo it. You're a titan, just press your pinky on the mirror and we'll start the fun!" They smiled, moving to the crystal image as it began to softly glow.

King really…REALLY hoped he wasn't unleashing a bigger monster here.

======================================================================== " JUST….STAY…..BAAAACCCK !" Lucci shouted as he threw another stack of hexagons at Belos, smashing that gooey body against the wall, only for him to reassemble. "Guys…I'm really…really pushing it here." He was out of manticore form and getting really tired.

"Same here, I only have enough abomination muck to form gauntlets."Amity stated. "Boscha?"

"Down to my last potion." His girlfriend heaved a weak breath. "Gus?"

"Prism's still depowered, and Illusions only distract him for a second." The youngest guy there turned to Hunter. "And Hunter's not looking so hot either."

"Yeah … although it's more trauma for me. Flapjack is the one drained."

"Chirrrp."

"I even threw some of the experimental pink glyphs at him." Luz groaned as she nursed her body. "Guys … I think I know why every adult wanted us away from the action."

"Because facing Belos head on was a pipe dream at best and absolute disaster of a nightmare at worst?" Willow summed it up. "Yeah, I thought so the entire time…still…not the worst death I could've had."

"I know I'm going to die." The man spoke up as he stomped to them. "But at least I'll have the pleasure of whipping you all out personally."

"You'll be going through me first." Lucci growled, holding up his shield even as it flickered.

"That was precisely what I've been hoping for."  He began speeding towards them with a scythe and a hammer forming into each hand.

"Luz, brace for impact." He growled, raising his shield as he and everyone prepared to get diced into pieces. This was it. Dying amongst his best friends…and Hunter. No mom, and no King…well…guess he'll see them on the other side.

"Boop." The blow never came….as everyone began to open their eyes….and saw what looked like a ten year old in purple space theme pajamas stopping Belos's attack…with his finger. "Whatcha playin?"

"Collector!? " Belos gasped. …. THAT GUY WAS THE COLLECTOR!?

"Hey there Boolos." The thing smiled. "How's it goin?"

Boolos … "Why do you sound so familiar…" Lucci quietly muttered as the kid that stopped Belos with a freaking finger looked at them like they were the weird ones.

"Ooooh, hey Lucci!" And then the child was behind him. Lucci quickly turned around, seeing the grinning kid still holding Belos's finger. "Remember me, Mr Conscious?"

"Wait…that wasn't a dream!?" He exclaimed.

"Nope, all real! Your visits were the best part in the last four hundred years. And now that I'm free, we don't have to leave each other anymore. Doesn't that sound fun?"

" ....uuuuuuhhhh.." Everyone didn't know how to respond to that.

"Co-Collector..you're freed…just like I promised…" Belos…actually sounded scared .

The child tilted their head. "Promise? Didn't you throw me off a bridge?"

"… You know how I am at the long term?" Belos pissed off a god child….why was this terrifying instead of funny.

"Riiiiiiiiggggght." The kid didn't believe him. "Don't worry, I'm not mad. In fact, let's play a new game of tag. And guess what" The collector twirled his fingers, and brought the monster closer by the freakin finger. " … you're it!"

Splat

With a single poke, Belos exploded … across their bodies. Hunter let out a muffled scream as everyone simply watched in horrified silence.

The only two sounds Lucci could hear were the pieces of Belos dripping off them all, and the laughter of this thing before them. "Too slow … hey, you guys look slow too." And then, before he could even think about it, a finger that all his instincts screamed at him to avoid was seconds away from touching Luz. "Need a headstart?"

"Whoa, buddy, calm down!" Out of nowhere, King stood in front of them.

"King!" The child shouted.

"… Does he know Luz too?" Willow asked quietly.

"I hope not." Luz shook her head.

"Collector, dude, I know you're excited, but you need to slow down, or else we won't be able to play Owl House." King turned to them, giving them a look that said 'play along.'

"Owl House…my favorite game." Luz nodded slowly.

"The Memories last a lifetime." Amity agreed.

"I play it every day." Willow agreed.

"I play it every hour." Gus added on.

"I've been playing it my entire life." Lucci went along.

"MMMM!!!" Hunter was still screaming internally.

"See, it leaves people breathless." Boscha covered.

"Wow, it sounds so exciting! I can't wait to play." The Collector grinned.

"Remember, it can only be played when the whole Isles is playing, so you have to stop the draining spell." King brought up.

"Oh yeah, no problem." The kid walked to the ledge.

"Okay, when he weaknes himself by doing … Whatever it is to stop this, we run." Luz muttered.

"Can he even be weakened, he killed Belos with a tap of a finger!" Boscha whisper yelled.

The Collector looked up to the sky, raised his finger … and moved the FUCKING MOON! "Hmm … too boring." He swirled his fingers around, creating cloudy eyebrows and a smile of sparkling stars in the day . "Much better."

"....He has no weakness, does he?" Lucci asked.

"Hmm …" The child hummed to themselves. "Hey Lucci. Your womb donner and her people liked to sing a lot, do you like it?"

"Uh, yeah, all the time…." He wasn't sure if he liked where this was going.

"Then let's celebrate our friendship with a song!" The child exclaimed, stepping on the ground as it changed into a keyboard. "Let's turn the Titan into a musical instrument!"

========================================================================

Dystopia into a cosmic horror story …Not how Luz pictured the apocalypse, but seeing was believing. "..Is Lucci…about to sing a musical number…..WITH A FREAKING GOD!?" Willow exclaimed.

"Yes…..Yes he is." Amity nodded. "The Isles have no chance….we're all fucked."

"Watching schemes, Silly rhymes, how I had to spend my time." The Collector sang as the shadows danced with him. "Trapped under remains, For crimes that only feign."

"Crimes you say?" King asked nervously.

"But now you're here, We've got all day!" Multiple suns began circling the planet, preventing it from ever being night. "To sing and dance, And go and play!" He hugged Lucci and King, spinning them around. "Some new friends I have found, We'll make the world our playground!"

The ground of the entire Isles began to light up and sync up with the Collector's song, witches and houses alike being thrown into the air as the chaos began to stiff up faster. "Everyone get back, we need to ditch the planet!" Gus shouted as they tried to avoid the oncoming rubble.

"That's a little impossible even by our standards!" Boscha shouted.

"(God of play)Oh my it's such a relief". Shadow began to sing in the background of every corner as the collector continued his song. "( Here to stay) That prison gave me so much grief!"

"How about we talk about the why.." Lucci's face was stuffed with cotton candy before he could get a word in.

"( There's no way) No time to mope or to grieve! (They'll come back to dismay)Let's play a game of make believe!" The skull … exploded into confetti. "Broken chains, Magic dreams. Come on guys, You wanna see! This new world we have found, We made the world our playground!"

Stars began raining down from the sky, creating fireworks over the land. "Fairy tales, And horrid scares. Nothing that the world can't spare! This game is what I need, Back and ready to believe!"

A thought hit Luz. "The portal door. It's cracked but functional." She glanced back to the flickering portal. "Amity, Willow, grab Lucci and King. Gus, make some fakes."

"Wait, you want us to go to the human realm?" Boscha looked like she was going to complain.

"It's either that or death by playtime from a cosmic ten year old, you're choice!" She shouted

"(Na na na na na!)" The child spun the two Clawthornes around.

"My vote's on human world." Hunter whimpered out.

Lucci looked dizzy after becoming a pink tornado for a second, before shaking his head. " Having fun, That is great! Though maybe we can take a break? Fighting with Belos has got me beat, I bet our friends could use some sleep."

"This is our window people, take it or get stuck here forever!" Luz ordered as they began running towards the cracking door

The collector laughed as painbows began raining. "Don't worry Lucci, They can take it! If they can't, then I'll make em!" That ruled out this kid being a benevolent god. "But sure, take a breather! Hope you're a good story reader!"

Bed's formed into the sky, with all three in sleepover wear, and a massive pile of slabs stack on top of each other in the shape of a book…a really…. really large book

King and Lucci stared at each other for a moment, before hesitantly opening the top page.

"A child of the stars, All he wanted was some fun, To feel the joy that life had brought." King began to read.

Lucci went next. "To see how time could bend and caught, But when the others gave him jeers, playthings no longer quelled his peers." … That one hit a little close to home.

"He had a choice with many factors, Believe the mortals or end the….."

"Wait! Skip that part… please …" The Collector spoke, looking worried and afraid. "That part…it sucks…so there's no point dwelling on it."

"I feel like that's something we should worry about!" Amity shouted as they got into position to real the two back in.

"Maybe when we're not seconds from death!?" Boscha called back.

The two looked at each other, before going back to the book. "He changed the rules To a more fair game. Now everyone could get along and play" Lucci read.

"It's better now with his new friends, He'll never be alone again" King finished.

"Haha! Great! Cool story!" The collector snapped away the pajamas. " Let's get back to playing!

"Woah woah!" T he two Clawthornes were dragged into the air.

"Broken chains! Magic dreams! Come on guys You wanna see!" There was no limit to this child's imagination or creativity. " This new world we have found! We made the world our playground!" All that existed was his world…. his will . No one else's…..there was no reality except the Collector's.

"Snatch them on three." Willow whispered. "One … two …"

"Fairy tales and horrid scares! Nothing that the world can't spare!" The Collector started to turn the rubble into a castle of some sort … kinda looked like a tiara. "This game is what I need, Back and ready to believe!"

"Now!" Luz shouted; as Willow, Amity, and her combined their magic to pull king and Lucci down to the ground. "Come on, we need to get moving!" She pushed them towards the door.

"Move whe-" Lucci saw the door. "I can't…I can't go Luz!" He cried. "My whole family…..my whole world is here! On the boiling isles! I can't leave Hooty, Lily, my grandparents, Mom! I can't leave them to something like this!"

"King already cracked his skull, and it's going to get worse with him around!" Luz shouted back. "Save at least one of your family members, alright!"

"HEY!" The Collector yelled down. "Why are you leaving!? You pinkie promised!" The Collector held up their pinky as King was forced to float up.

"KING!" Lucci stretched his arms out to grab the little guy out. 

"Oh don't worry Luccy, I'm not forgetting you!" The clouds themselves formed into arms, reaching forward to them. "We can play forever and ever!"

"Don't worry Lucci, I got you!" Using plant glyphs, she planted herself on the ground and began pulling back. 

"Luz, the portal's closing!" Amity yelled out! "You need to move now!"

"A little harder than it looks!" She yelled, trying her best to pull them back.

"Hey, don't leave!" The cloud hands began to move closer to the portal door. "We can all play together!" The Collector pulled harder on his Pinkie, as King once more became pulled to the mad god.

"Luz…..Lucci…..you two are the best big siblings I could ever have."

"King, don't you dare!" Lucci shouted. "I'm not leaving you behind! Don't you dare give us a final speech!"

"I'm sorry I wasn't more helpful…"

"King, we can stick together, don't give up now!" Luz shouted!

"I can at least keep you both safe…for Eda's sake.." The little guy took in a deep breath.

" Noooooo!" They both shouted.

"WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" A force blasted them back … into something Luz hadn't felt in what felt like years … cold rain.

"NO!" Lucci began glowing pink, rushing right back to the door…which closed right before he could reach it.

Smash.

The door … was just that….another door that led into the cabin. An ordinary…broken door.

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!" Lucci screamed out his frustrations as the cold rain of the night earth sky fell on them.

"They're still there…everyone's…still there…with that psycho." Luz fell on her knees

"He … he …" She glanced at Hunter, who watched almost blankly as the pieces of Belos slid off with the rain. "He's really gone …"

"Our parents … all stuck there." Boscha stared at the door.

"Dads…" Willow whimpered.

"All our family….they're all stuck…and they all probably think we're dead.." Amity looked like she was about to choke on her words.

"We…we lost…everything." Luz managed to save her friends…but she made them lose everything in the process….she's done nothing but make life worse for them…and they all paid the price. All because of her .