Boiling Gems (The Owl House x Steven Universe)

Summary:

The small things we can do for now

Chapter Text

Willow rubbed the last of the sleep out of her eye. She knew people needed her but … fighting Belos to the death was … freaking draining. "Times like this I wish I was a tree. They just stand around and absorb the fresh sun and fresh air." 

"Tell me about it. I feel like I've just played five grudgby games in a row." Boscha yawned as they made their trek through the woods. "Any idea why we're heading to that crappy cabin?"

"Because the portal door connected there, so it has to have an answer." Amity explained. "Luz also said we're going to get some new people to add to the group."

"You'd think we'd have enough people in the group." Boscha groaned. "It'd better not be another human, they just make things worse."

"I know your proud to stick with your mean girl stick, but don't be racist."

"I'm not, I'm just stating facts." Boscha raised her eyebrows. "Belos, Lucci's sperm donor? Each one instantly makes life worse the moment they enter our lives."

"Luz doesn't." Amity defended.

"That's a matter of perspective." She continued as they finally saw the clearing from … the night in question. "Our one link back home…a shabby..run down cabin."

"Could be a cave, so that's a plus." Willow tried to be optimistic in this dreadful situation. "Anybody seen Gus or Hunter? They've been gone all day."

"We're here!" Hunter announced as the two boys in question came back…with their hands burned and their clothes slightly torn.

"Huh, I thought Lucci would've been the only one to start a fight today." Amity noted.

"A game got out of hand …" Gus said with a far off look. "So much air pressure …"

"Not even a day into a new world, and we're already causing incidents." Willow shook her head with a slight smile. "Well, at least that means we're acting like ourselves somewhat."

"I guess that's one plus for the day." They turned to see Lucci walk over with Luz, and three new people. A purple girl with long white hair, a brown girl with glasses, and someone who looked like Lucci, but shorter and chubbier.

"Huh, been a while since I've seen so many witches in one place." The purple lady laughed. "Especially in this cabin. Evelyn might've gotten a kick out of that. Old broad's house is still standing."

"So, these are your earth friends Luz?" Gus asked with a smile.

"It's…complicated." Luz sighed. "So as you've all seen earlier today; Lucci's da-Sperm donor came by and Lucci tried to kill him."

"Maim; not kill." Lucci corrected.

"Then he chased him while I tried to get Lucci to not cause any major damage to the man so we don't get a lawsuit we can't afford." She went on without missing a beat.

"Sounds about right." Amity nodded.

"And when we did…we ran into three colorful ladies…they're gems like Bismuth and Lucci, crystal devils that haven't gone feral." Luz continued.

"Sup." The lady held a peace sign.

"They'll try to kill us!" Hunter shouted, aiming flapjack at her.

"Hold on, hold on, I said they weren't feral!" Luz said. "…Admittedly they did try to kill Lucci, but that was a big misunderstanding."

"We're cool now." She gave the boy in question a noogie.

"Yeah, thin ice is more like it." Lucci grumbled. "Anyways, this is Amethyst, she apparently knew my womb donor."

"Did …" Boscha blinked. "Are you guys really just named after your gems?"

"Yeah, there's apparently like, a bunch of the same type of gem and the people who made us aren't that big on individuality, but I guarantee out of every Amethyst you'll ever meet; I'm the best." The short woman snickered.

"This is Connie." Luz introduced. "She's someone I know from school … which I'll be going back to next week …"

"Wait, you're what now?" Lucci looked shocked.

"Yeah…I missed almost half of the first month, so gotta keep up appearances so no one asks questions." Great, that was going to hinder their progress getting back home.

"Anyways, yes, I am Connie Mahaswarren." The glasses girl stuck out her hand. "I hope to give you a more pleasant perspective on earth while you're here."

Amity stared at the extended hand. "You know, Luz and Lucci have told me so much about you." She said frigidly, taking the hand.

"I …. See." Connie grimaced with a smile, sweating. "You have … quite the grip."

"Maybe you just have a weak grasp." Amity responded bitterly.

"I see this is already going spectacularly." Willow gave a nervous smile. "So … who's the last one?"

"Now, this is Vee." Lucci introduced the short kid that had a slight resemblance to him.

"Aww, he's like a mini you." Boscha cooed. "... Shoot, now I can't tell which look I like more."

"Don't I know it." Connie rolled their eyes.

"Now, I need you to take this next piece of information very carefully, and calmly, alright?" He asked

"Okay?" Willow wasn't sure what this was leading to.

Lucci took a deep breath. "She's a Basilisk." Nobody hesitated to bind and prepare to blow the head off this danger to society. The only thing that stopped them was Lucci's bubble around it. "That was neither careful nor calm!"

"We are being VERY careful right now!!" Willow shouted. "Any time we run into a Basilisk, they try to murder us!"

"Look, I can guarantee you guys that Vee isn't going to hurt anyone!" Lucci shouted. "So you know how I'm half human? How everyone assumed Mom kidnapped me from somewhere?"

"Yeah." Gus nodded.

"Well, I would've had a life here if I was never found by her, but Vee had been living my entire life. The human one I have no care for." Lucci turned to them. "You just want to live in peace, right?"

"Yep. Far, far away from homicidal and tortuous witches. Please." The young boy said with a shaky demeanor.

"That's darkly ironic coming from a basilisk." Boscha rolled her eyes.

"Angel, you know I don't mind that you threaten my friends, but this is the oneexception." Lucci glared."She's done nothing wrong. Between Twicepta, Ivan, Triton-"

"You met Triton!?" The shaky demeanor vanished, replaced with a bright smile. "They made it? I'm glad, they put so much effort into helping us escape."

Lucci paused, looking away. "That's a long story you shouldn't hear right now."

They looked curious, before losing their smile. "They're dead, aren't they?"

"… They didn't have the will to keep living…I'm sorry."

"It's … okay … they weren't legitimate family like the gems are to me." Vee looked down at her hands. "It just means that the only people who understood me are gone and I'm the last of my species." Vee had a smile that Luz wore on her face a lot of the time.

"Okay, that's well and good, but is that all we were going to talk about today?" Boscha asked a bit rudely. "Or are we doing something actually important?"

"Blunt as always, but not necessarily wrong." Luz sighed. "There's two other reasons why we're here. Like I said, I'm gonna start school again soon, and I don't want to put anymore pressure on mom, so I thought we'd clean this place up a bit into a little hangout." She waved to the cabin. 

"An Owl House two point o?" Amity asked.

"… Amity, do not take this the wrong way." Lucci stated. "But I think you inherited your womb doner's naming scheme."

"… Excuse me, I'm gonna go cry in a corner." The purple haired girl walked away.

"So many parental issues in this group." Connie commented.

"I mean I technically lost the trust of my gem family, Mr Universe is horrible, and I was created from a corpse." Vee stated. "If anything we're just adding to the variety."

"Yeah, I wouldn't know what it's like to be made from a dead person from hundreds of years ago." Hunter mentioned, before stammering a bit. "Not trying to trivialize it or anything, I don't mean to be mean and judge you on that.." What was making him so worried?

"No, it's no problem. I'm the new guy/gal, ribbing's fine." They answered right back just as awkwardly. "Plus I'm a Basilisk so obviously it's going to get hard to get used to."

"Speaking of …" Gus started. "Please don't take what I'm about to say the wrong way."

"I've faced harsher criticism for being short, it's not a big deal."

"But do we have to worry about you eating us and our palisman for food?" He asked the question on everyone's mind.

"Oh, don't worry about that at all." They waved. "I actually found a magical substitute in Rose's tears. Heals any injury, and tastes like life itself."

"…Lucci, if I ever find you kissing the basilisk to heal them, I'm going to take it the wrong way and kill you both, just warning you now." Boscha said, half seriously, half concernedly.

"Relax, you know my kisses are only for you, angel."

"Wait, you're not dating Luz?" Connie questioned.

"Aww, but they had such good chaotic energy." Vee complained. "I made a wedding planner and everything."

"Lucci…your friend isn't convincing me any less that I should kill her."

"How about we focus on rebuilding the house." He said with a nervous chuckle. Willow just had to hold all this together … easy enough.

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

Lapis walked through the woods with Pearl. "If you insult Vee, I toss you. If you hurt Vee, I bubble you. And if you do something no one can fix …" She warned the gem. "You get the picture."

"I have no intentions to speak to that imposter." The gem with a spear up her butt responded haughtily. "I can't believe I wasted all that time watching over that parasite."

"Hey, watch it." She lifted water up and formed it into a spear aimed at Pearl's chest. "Speak like that again and I bury you."

The gem rolled her eyes. "I'll only be speaking to the real Steven. You need not worry about them."

"You keep going on about that? The 'real Steven'. Aka, the random kid that you had no idea existed until three hours ago and had no problem making them choke on their own blood." Lapis countered.

"Clearly there is a lot we need to make right." The gem sighed. "Luckily, we have all the time in the world to fix every mistake."

"That's the excuse people have when they a, suck at fixing their problems, or b, never get around to fixing them." 

"How would you know this exactly?" Pearl questioned her.

"I watch a lot of teen dramas, they basically tell me everything about human life." Such as how to mend a broken relationship by locking people in closets, how if someone was a backstabber they either needed to be pushed off a cliff or develop romance, and adults were never trustworthy.

"..I swear it's like having two amethysts now."

"You mean the only one of you clods that actually acted smart about the whole thing. Thanks for the compliment."

"She went on the offensive too. We all attacked Steven."

"I meant dealing with Vee. You went off on her and Garnet just shut down like a moron and has been giving her the silent treatment."

"You mean the one who lied to us for years on end and preyed on the fact we thought she was the last remnant of the one good thing in the entire time we've been gems on earth?" Pearl asked. "I'm only giving them the silent treatment from your threats, you know."

"Tell me, are you mad because of the lie, or because your ego can't handle that you sucked at the one job your leader left for you?"

"Both actually, most of my stress is being buried deep down at the moment for the sake of Steven, but if I didn't swear to never harm organics, I would be shedding blood right now."

"You did, when you tried to kill 'the real Steven."

"I'm talking about enough blood to substitute the amount of water you use in a fight." None of these morons were as kind as they pretended to be for Steven…except Amethyst. "But that's beside the point. I'll just start the slate clean and hope for the best." 

"Timber!" The conversation was cut short by the falling tree. "Oh yeah, cutting up lumber for the win." The girl who was with the 'real Steven' grinned, twirling for the win. "And people say swords on trees aren't practical."

"They're not! Axes are specifically shaped to carve into the wood properly! Not to mention bluntly abusing the blade like that is going to severely dull it!" Pearl exclaimed.

"Can the sword even be dulled?" Some blond boy asked. "I've seen you cut through Belos and steel with that thing."

"If she insists on haphazardly using the sword, it will!" Sheesh, it was just a dumb sword. Let it go already. "I cannot in good conscious let it be in such untrustworthy hands."

"Hey there bird nose, let her have it." The Steven copy raised a shield at her. 

"Steven, it was your moth-"

"My name is Lucci, not Steven." The boy growled. "If you want to be proper about it, Lucifer will suffice."

"Lucifer….as in the biblical representation of the fallen angel?" Pearl questioned, looking even paler than she already was.

"Wait, are you a criminal?" Amethyst questioned as she lifted the tree.

"Number one criminal of the Boiling Isles. Specialization in lying, singing, and arson." The boy laughed. "Mama taught me well."

"Your…mother?" Pearl questioned. "Exactly who are you referring to?"

"The most infamous criminal on the boiling isles, before I was, Eda Clawthorne."

"Clawthorne, like Eva-" Amethyst tried to bring up, but Pearl continued.

"I see the confusion." The tall gem sighed. "Ste-.... Lucifer, your mother's real name was-"

"I know, my WOMB donor is Rose Quartz, but she didn't raise me, I didn't know her, so she means nothing to me. My mom is Eda, and there's no telling me otherwise." He spoke.

"But-"

"If you want someone to care, use Vee. Otherwise, I'm not interested." The boy walked back to the cabin as they began to cut up the tree into smaller blocks of wood. "And don't expect us to stay here for long. The second we're able to make another portal back home, we're out of here."

Pearl was just silently twitching, so Lapis decided to turn to Vee, who was working on drawing up some blueprints with the others. "So … gonna keep the Steven look?" She asked.

The basilisk blinked in surprise. "I … actually have no clue." The shapeshifter responded. "My default look is scales and slime, and I kinda spent the last fourteen years of my life getting used to the 'Steven' look."

"You can keep it, trust me when I say I have no intention on being 'Steven'." Lucci said.

"Actually, it might be for the best that…you do." The Luz girl said. "It's not just those gem's that know now…it's Mr. Universe. He's not the most…stable guy."

"Right, yeah." They nodded. "Probably should've thought of a backup persona before any of this."

"We could always just chuck him in the ocean." Lapis offered.

"Throwing him into space is also a viable option." Lucci brought up.

She smirked, patting the boy on the head. "Thank you for being a good influence."

"Debatable." Connie muttered. "Although I suppose we should work on an identity."

"I technically have every option under the sun so … any ideas?" They asked the group.

"You could always be taller." Amethyst deadpanned.

"But I like being the short spoon when people cuddle me."

"Maybe add some color into your hair?" Luz suggested. "Not all the way, maybe like at the ends, like how your ear fins are colored blue."

"Okay." A second later the hair shifted like a chameleon to blue. "I suppose I can actually be a girl now." A second later there was no visible change, but there was a notable shift in their posture. "Guess maybe I don't have to hold onto the baby fat now either."

"Why did you have it to begin with?" Lucci asked.

"I wanted it to be believable since my diet is junk food and tears." Vee explained as they began to thin, the clothes drooping just a tad. "Anything else?"

"Only thing different really would be a change of clothes, but we can deal with that another time." Connie waved off.

"Then let's get back to the door." A purple haired girl pulled out some papers. "We need every detail of the door if we're gonna fix Lucci's damage."

"You're…you're building a doorway back…?" Pearl shook herself out of the stupor. "Pardon me, it's been a while since witches frequently traveled through, but doesn't the process require titan's blood?"

"It's a process we're working on." The three eyed explained. "Hopefully we can find a substitute power on earth … or just make a generator to hold magic over a long period of time."

"Right now I'm hoping since the cabin is connected to the previous portal door, that there's some sort of lingering connection back to the boiling Isles." Luz continued. "So we fix the cabin door and work our way from there."

"Sounds like a plan." Lapis spoke. "Need any help?"

"Yes please, we can use all the help we can get…as long as you're not trying to kill us." The girl with glasses said.

"Do you plan on hurting Vee?" Lapis questioned.

"Lucci kind of made it clear he'd kill us if we tried." The short black kid answered.

"Then all the liquid in your bodies will stay there." She smirked.

"...Lucci, you come from a truly terrifying species."

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

Lucci whistled as he hammered away at the wood. One of the very miniscule yet positive things to note about the human world, his music doesn't endanger anyone anymore. Not like he really cared that it did, but it was nice to see not everyone duck for cover every time he felt like singing. Then again, that also meant one of the biggest weapons in his arsenal was now gone, but if those crazy gem people were the biggest threats, then he wasn't too worried about being unprepared. Like seriously, the person with gauntlets as a weapon didn't have the same level of muscle as Mason ... How do you TAKE that as information?

"You know, maybe the door was made with the golden ratio." Connie spoke.

"Isn't that the nine sixteen length thing?" Luz asked.

"Yeah, with how often it appears in the universe, it would make sense that it matches the portal door." The human girl answered.

"Does anyone know what they're talking about?" Lucci asked.

"It's a mathematical phenomenon." Amity explained. "It's a rectangle that appears in nature. From trees, to butterfly wings, to the hand. If you divide it up into squares you'd get an infinitely repeating sequence."

"So just a complicated way of saying life is made up of rectangles?" He summed up. 

"I always assumed it was circles." Hunter expressed.

"No, you're thinking of time." Vee explained.

"How does talking about shapes get us any closer to getting back home?" Boscha asked, rightfully being a little impatient about the whole thing.

"The closer we get to the original shape, the better." Willow justified as she regrew the tree they just cut down. "We need the door exactly how it was before."

"The last time I made a door, it was pretty disheveled, and me and Lucci only made it halfway."

"We got stuck in the realm between realms." Lucci said … "And now I realize that's where the Collector was trapped …" That explained the voice he kept hearing.

"Speaking of, do we even have a plan for the Collector?" Gus asked. "The kid moved the moon with his freaking finger. There's no overpowering that no matter what."

"King was able to pacify him…somewhat…by telling him about playing 'owl house', so he might not be able to be outpowered, but he can be outsmarted." Luz said. "The difference between Omnipotent and Omnipresent. It's not entirely hopeless. I mean, he was able to be locked away somehow."

"Yeah…if he doesn't turn us into cotton candy or pillow stuffing before we can talk to him." Hunter shivered. "That face…that smiling…happily clueless face….it still haunts me to this day."

"Meh, after Hooty that just kinda fades." Luz said as she moved to gather more wood. "Luckily, nothing on Earth is that dangerous." She reached her hand into the bush … pulling out a pink Lion head. "… Except escaped Zoo animals." She nodded slowly.

"Oh, it's Lion!" Vee shouted. "He's my pet lion." She said smugly.

"Grrrr." The pink beast walked past her without even giving a second glance.

"...I don't think he agrees with that." Amity noted.

"..Okay, pet might be a strong word. He comes around every now and again, but he never stays still, so I just try to take my chances whenever he comes around." Vee corrected. "I tried everything, from cuddles to cookie cats, but he never stays." She walked to the beast and hugged it. "Why won't you love me lion?"

"Grrr."

"… I don't know if I should blame the zoo system for letting a lion run free, adults for letting kids hang around a lion, or you for the terrible name." Luz deadpanned.

"Lion is the perfect name for a Lion." Vee justified.

"Hey, this is the lion I got Luz's sword from." Lucci walked up to the pink beast. "And for the record, I fully reserve the right to say this….HAH, I told you jerks the pink Lion was real! Suck on that, non-believers!" So much justification.

"Why would a pink lion have Rose's sword?" Amethyst asked.

"Doesn't everything pink belong to your dead leader?" Lapis countered. "Pink room, pink gem, pink sword. Pink lion seems like the next logical step.

"… Aww, you belonged to my womb donor." Lucci pouted. That kinda took the sails out of how cool this was. "Would've been cooler if you just randomly gave me that sword.."

"Rrrrrrgg." The beast walked up to him and pressed his snout against his chest, giving Lucci full access to the fluffiness of it's mane.

"… Dang it, you're impossible to stay mad at!"

"Right!?" Vee asked as she rested on the beast. "The fluffiest Lion known to mankind."

 "So we just have a giant pink lion now?" Luz asked.

"As long as he stays, I guess. Though I'm giving him a better name than Lion.

"Hhsss." 

"Don't be like that Sugar, I have room in my heart to love all magical creatures."

"Grrr." The lion growled.

"Hey, play nice you two." Lucci told the creatures. "If we're going to live together, we live in harmony."

"..Lucci, no offense, but you're the last person who should be advocating for that." Amity said from behind

The Lion turned to the snake … before devouring it in one snap of the jaws…and proceeding to yelp as it reopened, its tongue now hanging out as Sugar bit on it.

"Right…I almost forgot, Lion has a habit of eating lizards…I guess that extends to all reptiles." Vee explained.

He'll iron that out later. "From now on, your name is … Spice!" Lucci shouted.

"...Is THAT really the best you could come up with?" Amity asked him.

"You know, Sugar and Spice?" He said. "Come on, I think hard about this stuff."

"I still like Lion better." Vee pouted.

"Okay, let's let him decide." Lucci turned to the lion. "Blink once if you want to be called Lion, and Twice if you want to be called Spice." 

The beast, almost automatically, blinked twice. "Betrayal!"

"Um … anyone want to talk about the snake?" Connie asked. "I didn't think the Demon Realm shared the same animals as the Human one."

"The boiling Isles has a lot of cold blood animals due to the humidity, but that snake is actually his palisman." Gus came up to the girl and explained, showing off his own. "They're magical creatures carved from magic wood that become both witch's staff and close friends."

"They're all ironically earth animals too." Luz brought up. "… Barring the Manticore Viney has."

"So, can anyone have one?" The glasses girl that wasn't Willow spoke up with a familiar light in her eyes that Luz carried every now and again.

"No, you have to bond with them..and that's not guaranteed." 

"Especially considering every palisman we've met hates humans. " Boscha stated.

"Snip." Screw them all.

"Hhss." Between Luz and Belos, good riddance to the species.

"Chirp." They weren't all bad…just Belos and Luz.

"Guys, stop harping on the girl." Lucci chastised.

"Grrr?"

"Hhss." Wait, threat?

Spice moved around to sit between Lucci and Luz, letting out a low growl and laying down. "… The one thing you two agree on is hating my friend." Lucci groaned.

"Hate bonds even the toughest of enemies." Boscha shrugged.

"I think that describes half this group in general." Hunter agreed.

"...Let's just get this damn door fixed." Why did today feel like it was never going to end?

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

"Are you sure this metal monster isn't alive in any way?" Camila heard Gus ask as they finally parked the car. "Those eyes are just as lifeless as the one's on the carts."

"I'm sure. It's just headlights to see at night." Luz explained as she opened the door. "Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the graves field mall. Home to everything you could ask for, good and bad."

"I want a portal to the Boiling Isles." Lucci stated. "… This genie is busted."

"Lucci, you know it's not going to be that easy." Amity nudged the boy in the chest.

"I could hope." The boy shrugged as they walked to the door. "So what are we looking for?"

"Searching for a cheap thrift store so we actually have clothes for everyone to wear." Luz explained. "Wait, can Vee pay for herself, or …"

"It's quite alright mija, I'm more than capable of splurging a little for your friends." Now that she wasn't drinking so much, she had a little extra money saved up. "You're all free to choose whatever you want, just nothing too scandalous or revealing.

"We actually need these to be as unrevealing as possible." Hunter brought up. "We need clothes that both cover and draw attention away from our ears."

"So you can't just … magic them away?" Connie asked.

"Magic is a paint brush, not a paint roller." Lucci explained.

"I could use illusions, but it'd take a strain on me keeping them up twenty four seven…though Lucci can shapeshift a little."

"I try not to use it too much, and I prefer having pointy ears over round ones. The boy smirked. "Besides, if the rest of you have to hide your witch traits, then so will I."

"So many stores." Hunter looked around with awe. "How do they all stay together without competition ripping them apart?"

"That's the power of community and friendship." A new girl named Vee smiled at them.. Something about her seemed very familiar to Camila, something about her kind demeanor that itched her brain a little.

"I always assumed it was more along the lines of hating each other in silence." Luz gave her own answer. "That's how it is between the Fryman and Pizza family at least."

"Never really got that vibe." Vee answered. "I tend to hang out by the beach. Connie's the one that knows this place best."

"Actually Luz is pretty spot on for once." Camila sent the Mahaswarren girl a glare for that jab, making her flinch. "..I mean, there's stiff competition for stores with sales and marketing, and that's not even getting into the people that shop here. Malls are essentially honey traps for those of social entitlement."

"Would you like to donate to help puppies?" A man walked up with a jar and a smile.

"...So is this one of those traps?" Lucci asked, confused. "Because it's giving me mixed signals."

"Probably not." Luz put in a few bills. "Traps are when they usually ask you to write something down or give information." She answered. "But since that's easy to recognize, the real threat you need to look out for is teenagers."

"As one should." The three eyed girl wearing a large beanie nodded, nearly running into a wall. "...Not one word."

"Here's three. That was funny." Willow laughed.

"If my depth perception wasn't so bad, I'd stab you." She growled.

"Please, please, tone down the hostility, this is a public place." Camila tried to pacify. She was struggling hard to find a therapist that would be trustworthy enough to keep everything confidential.

"Not to mention we have company." Connie groaned. "The cheerleaders are walking by."

"Wait, what…oh no, oh no, oh no…don't tell me she's here too." Luz tried to hide her face behind Amity."

"She? She who?" Amity asked.

"You know how I said I never had friends in school?" Her daughter explained. "Well…I had enemies instead…the head of the cheerleading squad is one of them." Camila knew too well how bad the situation would be..given her OWN experiences in the same situation.

She watched as three girls walked by, one of them looking at the group. "Oh look, Noceda and Manshawarren, here tooooo…." The cheerleader trailed off, staring at the unnaturally similar face of Amity.

"You see, this is what I was talking about." Lucci said. "We can still go for random look a like if something like this can happen."

"I think there was actually a look a like of Luz that used to attend Hexide now that I think about it." Gus mentioned. "We lost her to a pop rock experiment."

"A pop rock what now?" Camila asked.

"She wanted to see how loud her burps could get by drinking soda after eating poprocks…..the mess was…big." Willow shivered.

"Sounds like something I would do…" Luz winced, before turning to the lookalike of Amity. "Hey…Amber."

"Nocdea, I see you finally decided to crawl out of whatever hole you disappeared into." The cheerleader shook her head, turning to her daughter. "Shame, I thought I was sleeping just a little too well. Guess I'm returning to the nightmare school usually with you around." … Who did this little perra think she was? "And this time you brought an entourage of weirdos with you."

"Weirdo?!" Boscha was already being held back by Connie and Luz, looking like she was planning on strangling the girl.

"Calm down, we can not afford a lawsuit and your guy's clothes."

"What's that? Noceda is actually acting sane for once? There must actually be a god." The insensitive girl laughed, walking away with her chuckling entourage.

"… Hey Connie." Lucci started. "Do you happen to know where they live?"

"Yes, but I won't tell you because I know what you'd do if you knew."

"Hey, some humans can be jerks, but if you look deep enough inside, any of them can be nice and caring in their own way." Vee smiled.

"And how exactly can that girl be nice in any way imaginable?" Amity asked.

"Not sure, but people once said the same thing about Lars, Pearl, and Lapis."

"...We don't have context or even know for the first, barely know the last, and the second literally disowned you and tried to kill me." Lucci deadpaned.

"In her defense … she thought you were a gem she could poof." They winced. 

"So did the Rainbow Devil, again, there's no positives I can see here." Lucci countered.

"Let's just push aside your questionable and slightly terrifying social skills later…" Camila needed to find that therapist quickly…although if people like that perrawere what her daughter had to deal with everyday, then Luz's social interactions actions were slightly more justified…just slightly though. "Just pick out what suits you."

"Ooooh." The Vee girl ran up to a … pink shirt with a yellow star. "Perfection!"

"Vee, you know I think you look perfect no matter what…but that's what you always wear." Connie said. 

"No I didn't. I wore a red shirt with a yellow star." The girl tilted her head. "This is a pink shirt."

"...I think you're a bit color blind, Vee." Connie said again. "And you have literally a dozen shirt's like it."

"Well I wanna keep the giant star. I like space stuff, considering the gems and everything."

"Just let her do her thing." Luz said. "If it ain't broke, don't fix it, am I right?"

"Maybe I should go for an owl jacket …" Lucci muttered.

"Lucci, come here, I want us to match!" Boscha grabbed the boy and disappeared into the clothing rack. "I want to make sure everyone knows you're my boyfriend. I have a feeling I won't be allowed to kill anyone for hitting on you."

"You guys aren't allowed to kill anyone while we're here." Luz sighed in exhaustion. "No human or gem, understood?"

"I got it." Hunter spoke as he looked around. "I wonder what …" He paused. "What are these majestic creatures?" He asked.

"Wolves." Luz answered. "Pack animals that hunt together."

"A pack of hunters…I've found my people." The boy hugged the shirt. 

"I'm glad to see your friends are getting comfortable." Camila gave a small smile. The fact everything wasn't too expensive was a big help as well. 

"Oh yeah, I am keeping this!" A blur of green flashed by as she saw Willow in what looked like a roller derby uniform with a rainbow shooting star symbol on it. "I feel like this shows off my muscles enough to be intimidating, but not too much."

"See, she can pull off the star look." Vee complained to her friend.

"Vee, again, it's your usual look. As far as I know, this is something new for her."

Gus walked forward with a green beanie, scrapped jeans, red sneakers, and turquoise dinosaur fossil on the front of his shirt. "I think I can pull this off."

"Not too simple, but not too complicated, perfect for blending into the crowd." Luz gave him a thumbs up. "Amity, you found any…" The girl paused upon seeing the look of the purple haired girl.

"Sorry, it might be a little obvious, but I looked up what people generally think Witches look like and decided to modernize it a little." The girl wore clothes that were several shades of lilac, torn skinny genes and a shirt with a flaming skull on it, along with fishnets around the shoulders, topped off with a large striped witch's hat. "How do I look?"

"Ah..Ah…Ah…Amazing.." Her daughter blushed, before shaking her head. "Very amazing, suit's you…and your purplenes…" Luz was doing a terrible job at hiding her attraction to the girl. Camila would've said something, but she read that it was best for the child to come out on their own time.

"Okay … oh, I've got something." Vee reached forward. "What about a smiling sun and moon? That still fits the space theme."

"...." Gus, Willow, and Hunter looked at the girl with strange looks. "..... No…. "They said in unison, rather creepily.

"Aww." She pouted.

"Alright people, make way for the best couple in the boiling isles!"

"Sorry Boscha, but you're no Eda and Raine." Luz laughed as the three-eyed girl and Lucci made themselves known.

The two of them were earring matching pink letterman jackets, with Boscha also wearing a sports jersey with the #1 plastered at the front of it along with a large cap that covered her extra eye and some jean shorts, while Lucci wore a black, slightly torn shirt with a pink star, along with jean pants and pink sandals. "Eh, something simple, not to big.

"See, he can pull off the pink star." Vee pointed out. "And he has my old face."

"And your new face will look even better after we pick something else out." It concerned her that Camila now had to consider the context might be more literal than she assumed it was.

"The one things that sucks about this new look is that I always have to cover my third eye." Boscha grumbled. "My depth perception's going to be completely off."

"Aww, is the crazy chick sad her aim is off?" Willow smirked.

"I'll show you off!" Boscha threw a punch into a clothes rack.

"Calm down, you'll have time to break in your new clothing once we get back home." Camila said, looking around. "..Where's Hunter?"

"Ooh, I found something else!" The boy came in…wearing a whole costume of a cardinal. "Pretty great, right?"

"...Yeah…it looks good…" Lucci held in a laugh. "Tell you what, put it on my tab, I'll pay for the whole thing."

"Really? That's oddly nice of you."

"What can I say…this is something the whole WORLD needs to see." 

"I know this is a joke, but I kind of agree." Willow chuckled. "It looks cute…" Luz gave the girl a knowing look. "A platonic cute, don't get ideas."

"Okay, how about this?" Vee held up a shirt that had a Pink Diamond on it. "I can still show my gem support, and wear something feminine at the same time."

"...So no one told you diamond's are dictators that destroy planets?" Lucci asked.

"... I knew Homeworld was bad, but I didn't learn anything about diamonds." She winced, putting it back. "Okay, does anyone else want to pick out an outfit for me then?"

"Try this." Connie handed over an orange sweater, with a pumpkin on the front. "It's fall now, so you'll be in season."

"Oh yeah, it's gonna be Halloween next month." Vee nodded.

"Hollow-what now" The witches asked.

"You dress up as scary things, walk to houses, get free candy." Luz explained.

The kids all looked at each other, before running back into the clothes. " We need costumes!"

"Kids.." So sweet and so clueless to how empty her wallet was about to be. It would be okay though…she would do anything to support her daughter, and that meant supporting her friends the entire way. 

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

Amity hooked up another bottle. "I think we're good on abomination muck." She only had the amount she brought to the human world, but if it helped them get back faster, she didn't mind dedicating half of it to getting back.

"I don't see the big deal." Willow said. "You can always make more."

"Not exactly. I don't produce it, and the process of making it requires the corpses and a few plants that don't exist in the human realm. It would take extensive research and months of study to make something halfway stable with ingredients from here." 

"But doesn't this stuff decay?" Luz asked. "Wouldn't that mean eventually we'll … run out?"

"Eventually, yes, but Abomination muck has a long freshness date, since it's organic matter that's partially decayed already. It'll be about a year before we have to worry about it rotting away." Amity answered. "I just have to remember to reused and bottle up every ounce I use from here on out if we're here for the long haul."

"We won't be." Lucci stated. "We'll be going back soon, no matter what." He looked it over. "Alright, we have the materials from Philips notes, and we have the exact position the original door was set in. All we need now is to power it up."

"Sadly, we don't have every ingredient we did back in the Boiling Isles, but we do still have Palisman." Luz explained. "They still have their magic, so if we can have them channel it through this kinetic generator, graciously provided by Amethyst, thank you.."

"No prob. I got junk for days in my room." The purple gem waved with a smile.

"Then we can fuel the door for a long enough time for all of us to jump through." She finished. "Now, everyone step back. The last time we opened a portal it was from a safe distance."

"We'll know if it works if I'm suddenly hypnotized and compelled to go through it." Lucci notted. "My brain has this weird connection to the in-between realm. I've inadvertently used oracle magic in my sleep to astral project myself in there."

"That sounds very concerning." Connie said. "Especially considering that the in-between realm is supposed to be a void where physics don't exist and theoretically breathing itself is a miracle."

"As we say in the boiling isles, don't look a giftsnorse in the mouth." Willow said. "Are we ready to do this?"

"Ready on my end." Hunter stated. "Go on Flapjack, show them what for!"

"Chirp."

"Come on, Maya! Used those extra large legs to crush this!"

"Snap!"

"There's extra salmon for you tonight if you get going Ghost." Amity calmly motivated her Palisman.

"Mew."

"Go get em Emmiline Bailey Marcostimo!" Gus shouted.

The Palisman began running backwards.

"Slither Sugar, slither like there's no tomorrow!"

"Hsssssh."

The door began to spark with golden energy, slowly opening as everything began molding. "Yes … yes …" Lucci grinned, a smile on everyone's faces.

The portal sparked some more … before pausing, a still in the air … and then it rushed backwards.

BOOM

Flames sprouted onto the house. "FIRE!" Connie screamed.

"Don't worry, I studied human fire safety!" Gus ran forward with a red cylinder, and started hitting the fire with it. "Back flames, back!"

"Let me handle it!" Vee took it from Gus's hands and held out a black hose that was attached to the top of it, spraying a white foam from the nozzle and making the flames die down.

"DANG IT!" Lucci banged his head against a table. "Okay … okay …" He took some breaths. "What went wrong?"

"The power." She looked over to Hunter, seeing as he pulled out an exhausted looking Flapjack. "The Palisman don't have enough. It's like the draining spell, we'd all die before it'd be finished."

"So without Titan's blood, it really is hopeless." Luz gripped her hands.

"No, we can get more power … Spice, you're magic. Can you power a portal?" Lucci asked the pink creature.

The lion, as it was called, stretched its back, leaned down and took a huge breath…

"ROOOAAAAAARRR!" The animal let out a mighty roar that echoed in the air, creating…a pink portal.

"...I did not know he could do that." Vee stated, just as shocked as she was.

"To the Boiling Isles!" Lucci shouted, running into the swirling pink void … before a screaming was heard. They all turned up to see the boy falling from the sky, landing on the ground with a giant thump. "...Ow."

"Range limit probably." Hunter said. "Teleportation magic wouldn't be able to go anywhere across the planet in one go, let alone other worlds."

Everyone began to look down again. "Hey, it's not that bad. We learned a lot today." Amity brought up. "We learned that our main issue right now is getting enough power, and that we have a magical pink cat that can open his own portals. That's more progress than we had three days ago." It was little, but in tough times like these, the little moments had to mean a lot.

"Yeah…It's not like we expected to get back home this soon." Gus nodded. "We knew that this would be a long term project when we set up the cabin."

"I mean … there's plenty of human world stuff we could do while looking for a way to power the portal." Willow nodded. "A whole new world, it's not like we have an excuse to not be busy."

"What could we do in the human world?" Lucci asked with a groan.

Luz looked down, before gaining a thoughtful expression. "You know … we could find Owlbert's girlfriend."

"Hssh?" Sugar's head peaked in curiosity, looking like she wanted to learn more.

"The little guy probably would want to know his mate's alright….eh why not." Lucci shrugged. "Let's start with the Owls in the area and see where that gets us."

With her main concern being occupied, Amity turned to Boscha, who had been quiet and just stared at the ground dejectedly. Her time choosing her over her real friends was still a huge pain she'd rather forget..but Boscha was here now with them, and like it or not, they were stuck together. "We're going to get home, Boscha." She reassured her.

"You say that…but I'll only believe it when I see." The three eyed girl scoffed. "You can sprinkle whatever coat of paint you want over it, but the fact of the matter is that we're all suffering just by being here."

"Maybe, but we can just let it take over us, or at least try to be somewhat happy."

Boscha stared at her, before looking away. "No promises."

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

Belos groaned as he regained sentience. Being split into so much matter was disorienting, but he survived … inside of a strange, smelly hole filled with metal and running water. He could barely remember what happened. He was about to kill Luz and her friends, the collector somehow appeared in the flash, he poked him…and then….nothing. 

Barely any of his body managed to survive. He remembered movement, he remembered screaming, and then…nothing. Being limited to such a small form was a hindrance on his mental capacities.

Smack

And the ringing from that blasted gem was NOT helping matters. You're welcome Belhop. This is what he gets for using all that effort to restrain her in the battle. Belos began moving along with the water, trying to find an out, and make his way to the surface for some reference on his location.

He squeezed his way through a small grate, finding a black road. Pavement wasn't unusual in the Boiling isles, but this seemed different than what they had. And the air was notably colder, much colder than the Boiling Isles got on a normal day.

Honk

He turned and saw some strange and metallic creature coming his way. Alright, surly the metal beast would notice him, pause, then he could inhibit them, and then-

Splat

OH FOR THE LOVE OF TITAN WHY!? AHAHAHAHA! I don't care if I felt that, it was totally worth it to see you suffer! Not so high and mighty now, are ya, Belhop?Can it you! Belos reformed, making his way off of the pavement and onto the grass … the green grass … under the blue sky ….

"Ho….ho…..home.." He managed to gasp out. "I'm….home…" The human realm….after all these years…he was FINALLY HOME! "Oh it's … been so … so long." So many people, so many things … he needed to get himself back in order, he was clinging to life as it is. He needed flesh, just enough to keep his body stable.

Belos moved through the grass, doing his best to make his way forward, finding a rabbit. Perfect.