Boiling Gems (The Owl House x Steven Universe)

Summary: A return trip to school

Gus walked into the Owl House, feeling himself tense further with every step. He needed a big favor from Luz, and hopefully she'd be able to help … even if it was illegal. Well, she did live with Eda, so maybe. Hopefully. It would all be for the greater good in the end.

"Hoot, Hoot, what's the password?" That weird worm thing that lived in the house asked with the ear biting voice that was somehow more irritating than a wristwatch biting into his hand.

"I completely forget that you're a thing." Gus admitted honestly.

"Don't worry, I forget I'm here too." They said, twisting their head with a look that the illusionist couldn't tell was him trying to be charming or disturbing.

"So … can I come in?" Gus asked.

"Oh yeah, sure thing." The door opened up, revealing Lucci working on something.

"Alright, time for test number seventy five, turning my shield into a drill!" The boy smirked as he began creating a pink ball of light.

"Go go go!" Luz and King cheered him on as he began charging into a big pile of human world 'garbage' (there was no such thing, every scrap was a treasure to be beholden).

"Think spikey and think pointy! Lots of spinning, just like the razor disks!" Lucci began concentrating as that strange shield spell began rotating clockwise as he ran, a little bit of sweating forming as he crashed into the giant pile, causing it to collapse on top of him. "I'm okay…did it look pointy?" He asked from the bottom of the pile.

"No, just really fast and round." Luz answered, patting the pile. "You'll get there eventually, big guy, don't worry."

"Are you working on new powers?" Gus asked with confusion.

"When there's nothing else to do, Lucci likes to enter what we call, the 'test fest'. Where we all shout out ideas and see what sticks." King explained. "Now grow eyeballs on your arms!"

"It's the closest I get to working on magic with Eda constantly delaying the next lesson." Luz sighed, slumping on the couch. "I get being patient, I don't need the lesson drilled into me a third time, but it's been forever and I still only know one spell, and I learned that by accident when my life was on the line."

"Well you could always work on your body strength." Lucci pointed out. "So you know, you can carry around the magic sword mom wants to constantly sell?" He gestured to the giant pink sword against the wall, the blade facing up.

"Someday, my pink darling, we'll be slaying our enemies without constantly falling over!" Luz attempted to pick it up, only to fall over. "This would be so much easier if I could get into Hexide. Then at least I'd get to see magic whenever Eda's too busy."

Gus began to sweat. "Yeah, they um … lifted the ban." He responded weakly. He felt bad, but he needed to get them in first.

"Really? After all the abomination incident?" Lucci looked at him skeptically. "After sneaking in, helping a student cheat, and destroying the front door?"

"Yeah, we um, at the human appreciation society, manage to get you in. For a day." Just a day. "So you could show off how stuff from the human realm worked." And get that faker and wannabe president Matholomew to fall!

"Really?!" Luz lit up in a bright and dazzling gleam, with a childlike wonder Gus now held the fate of, the wonder that he was now lying to. "You got me into Hexide!?"

"Just for the day! I even got you this!" He went further, digging out an old top half of a hexide uniform. "I want to make it a surprise to dazzle the class for the presentation, so you get to wear that over your head and cover your ears the entire day."

"AWESOME!" She shouted with sparkly eyes, snatching it. "I'm gonna go try it on!" Luz ran upstairs, leaving them in silence.

"Wow, lying to my only friend like that. You got some guts Gus." Lucci looked right at him.

"I don't know what your talking about-"

"Gus, I know a liar when I see one." They deadpanned.

"Yeah …" The boy sighed. "We should tell her the truth."

"What, no. I'm just saying we need better disguises."

"Wait, you're not going to try and talk me out of this?" Gus asked.

"Gus, I'm the son of the biggest criminal on the Boiling Isles. Lying is practically in my blood." The boy reminded him. "I'm just surprised you're so bad at it. You'd think being in the illusion track you'd come up with better material."

"I skipped a couple years, I accidently went past that course." Gus admitted sheepishly. "Maybe I should ask Emira and Edric from my class."

"Hahahaha, yeah, no, not going to let you ask those jerks, not when I'm around." The boy responded. "We at the Owl House can teach you the proper way to lie." Oh … maybe this would work in the end. "Wait, you go to the same class as Edric and Emira?"

"Yeah?"

"Doesn't that make you a grade above Willow?"

"Two grades actually." The boy blushed. "It's a little awkward being the only twelve year old in the normal classes." Skipping four years made it hard to find people to be friends, but he was really lucky to have Willow in his life. She was the best friend someone could ask for.

"No matter. You promised my roommate a happy time at school, and as much as I loathe magic school, I don't want to see her soul crushed." Lucci nodded. "Now saying the ban was lifted for one day was a good call, you couldn't pull off saying it was lifted entirely. But have you thought through anything else that get in the way."

"I um, planned on making sure to keep by her side to avoid … majority of problems."

"So you didn't get rid of all the wanted posters, you didn't take account of all the students and teachers that would recognize her, and you forgot that she's the type of girl who wants to be everyone's friend and talk to people, aka, getting herself exposed." Lucci gestured with his fingers counting off each obstacle..

"That's…thorough."

"Seriously, the job of any illusionist is to lie for a living." Lucci gripped his hair. "We're gonna have to break out the big guns to get you caught up. You better hope Mom's in a good mood today."

"She's not." King butted in. "Someone left her apple blood out last night and it got a fungus growing in it."

"KING, WHERE ARE YOU, YOU LITTLE PIPSQUEAK!?" Said Owl Lady yelled from up the stairs

"On an unrelated note, I was never here and no one ever saw me, got it?" King quickly rushed to the door.

"I'm going to die a horrible death." Gus nodded.

"Is there any other kind?" Lucci laughed.

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Eda drank some ghoul juice, feeling the complete lack of effects kick in. "Ugg, remind me why I let that guy live in this house?" She asked.

"Because something that adorable living on the streets would get eaten in about ten seconds." Her son answered for her. "And you haven't kicked him yet in the last nine or so years, so why start now?"

"You're right, I still need someone tiny to crawl through the vents." Eda rubbed her head. "So what's the deal with the Hexide dweebus? I thought you didn't want the nerd stank rubbing off on you, no offense kid."

"It's cool, I'm come from a long line of Dweebus's." The illusion kid, Bus or something, nodded. The doormat nature only added to the Dweebus observation.

"Gus here accidentally skipped the lying part of his training for the illusion track, and now he needs pointers." Lucci explained. "He's sneaking Luz into school for … why are we doing this again?"

"There's a guy named Mattholomew who's trying to take over my spot as president of the human appreciation society with a lot of fake facts and I want to show him up and laugh in his face for it." The Dweebus explained.

"Ah, revenge, now that's a topic I can get behind." Petty was basically her default mode. "Alright, I'll see what I can do. So first things first, does Luz completely buy it? She's optimistically naive, but she's also a book nerd. It's hard to gauge her level of intelligence."

"I am going to see magic classes in action, legally!" A shout came from upstairs. "I can finally learn a new spell for once!!"

"I think her desperation is helping the naivety." Lucci observed.

"Right, still haven't taught her a new spell." Or any spell really. Luz basically learned that light glyph all on her own. "That covers her, now for the tricky part." She dug through her hair and felt around. "I know I have it here somewhere-AHA!" She pulled out a slightly large binder. "A list and map of every hideaway I ever found in school. Don't tell anyone I showed you this, most of these passages are so hidden not even ol' bumpy knows about them."

"Oh, secret passages." Lucci smiled. "We could totally snag a few school supplies while we're there." Oh yeah, they were all going in.

"This feels weird." Eda admitted. "Usually I lie to get out of school, so this is kinda new territory for me."

"It's cool." Her son shrugged. "Not like I plan on staying for long. Who needs school in the end?"

"Yeah." They turned to the owl demon. "I never went to school once, and look how I turned out!"

That suddenly brought on a guilty feeling straight into her gut. "Ah…Lucci." She asked trepidatiously. "You're perfectly okay with not going to school, right?"

"Of course, after all, I learned the most valuable life lessons from you." He grinned. "I learned to lie, to steal, to never trust anyone or let anyone except family get close emotionally, and to always shove your problems away until you forget they exist."

Gus looked at the two of them with mild terror. "That sounds … kinda messed up."

"Why?" Lucci asked. "Most of what she said turned out to be true when I was a kid. It's why I never made the mistake of making any more friends after Amity and Willow."

"Didn't you just say Luz was your friend?" Dweebus asked.

"The one exception I've made. And she's from another world, so the rules bend." Alright, so Eda may have made a mistake or two in raising her boy, she saw that now. A bit too far on the anti friend spectrum … not that she didn't agree somewhat, when people like those two gals would stab him in the back, but not full on never trust … although she herself couldn't trust anyone to not turn her in …

"Is your mom alright?" Luz's voice brought her back some attention.

"I dunno, she's just been staring off into space for the last three minutes." Lucci spoke as she shook her head, the boy snatching the binder before Luz could notice it. "She does that from time to time, though it's been a while."

"It's fine, just thinking about something unimportant." Eda waved off, deciding to focus on the other issue on her mind. "So Luz, Lucci and Dweebus here told me about your little trip to Hexide. Are you excited?"

"Hex yeah! Full on magical mastery, here I come!" She shouted. "Come on Gus, let's head out!"

"Hold on, I need to grab a couple of things." Lucci said as he went off to the side.

"Wait, you're coming too?" Luz asked. "But I thought it was just me because I was human … and you hate school … also your last disguise is also a wanted poster."

"No, I'm sneaking in. There's this new tune with Skara I want to try out…andmaybeseeboschaintheprocess."

"Hehe, knew you were doing it for love." Luz smirked.

"Honestly Kiddo, you could do a lot better." Eda chided.

"Better than a grudgeby star at the top of her class?" Great, it was hard to compete with that, since Eda used to be one too...wait, she didn't give Lucci a mom-complex too, did she? Agggh, where did she go wrong!?

"Dude, I don't mean to offend you or your taste…but Bosha is a witch with B." Dweebus rolled his eyes.

"A beautiful laugh as she mutilates her rivals? I'm well aware." The boy nodded with a dopey grin.

"Gus, follow Luz's example, and never fall in love." She turned to King with a look. "Oh no, I forgot I was being chased!" After she captured the rascal … she better try and fix this mess.

"See yah later mom, hopefully not behind a jail cell." Her kid waved off as they left through the door.

"See yah kids.." She waved off slowly, and groaned. "Am I really about to do this?"

She hated going to school, that wasn't going to change at all. But was it really right for her to drill that in before the kids had the chance to make that decision themselves? Was she wrong to just make another her by constantly repeating her gripes to Lucci all these years?"

Eda slapped her head, knowing what she had to do. "I need to get those kids into school."

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Mattholomew didn't like Hexside … he LOVED IT! Students walked and talked to each other without being punched or forced to do chores. The teachers focused on everyone and gave advice to those who were struggling. 

Even the bullies were nice, that three eyed girl he tried to hit on only set him on fire and left him alone! Bria crushed his balls and threw him into a baby slither beast pack when he did it back and Glandus. No wonder his old school hated this place, they must be jealous!

And now Mattholomew had one of the best ways to fit in with his own taste of superiority for a change in his life. The Human Appreciation Society! Sure, he didn't know anything about humans, but they don't know he doesn't know. Steve could have his Emperor Coven skills, this was his moment to be superior!

The only obstacle in his way currently was the current President, Gus Porter. In a strange way, Mattholmule almost pitied the little guy. Younger than everyone but a complete nerd, which made him an easy mark. Probably only got into this human biz to stand out more, just like Matt was trying to do.

On the bright side, the nerd wasn't going to get too hurt too badly when he lost his presidency, just lose social status and respect among his peers. Relatively painless process. So what he needed now was to call that latest bluff, and victory was his. After all, humans were just a myth, right? 

"Wow, so he just goes to your classes?" A female voice around the corner questioned.

"Yep … but he doesn't always listen." Gus's voice called out, with a hint of annoyance.

"Did you manage to give your illusion sapience?" A male voice asked.

"Probably, don't know, now let's keep moving and make sure to not let anyone else see you before the big reveal." Gus voiced out one more time before breaking opening the door, pushing through two what looked like to be one boy and one girl students.

"Still don't know why you had us go through the underground cavern if we were just going to use the door." The girl asked with a hint of confusion.

"Aren't you the one always voicing up her love of secret entrances and exciting paths to fame and fortune?" The boy asked.

"Yeah, but I was wanting to catch up with a few people. Amity for one, the abomination teacher to apologize for the incident, the principle for being so cool and lifting the ban-"

"And maybe next time… if there is one.... You'll get to do so!

"Oh, I see you brought two looser friends." Mattholomew muttered with an eye roll.

"And I thought this with the Human appreciation society, not the angry gremlin convention, but I guess we took a wrong turn if you're here." The boy rolled his eyes.

"Oh my, I haven't heard that one before, pathwork hair." He snarked.

"Dang it, I thought I fixed that." The boy messed with an illusion spell, his hair slowly changing into a black shade.

"You weren't lying, he is a little jerk." The girl whispered to their soon to be ex-president.

"So what, these two are here to give you a pat on the back for when your bluffs finally called out, or did you just want company as you sulk into the content in defeat?" Matt smirked, his victory so close he could practically taste it.

"Nope, check it out." Gus gestured to the two, who removed their hoods to reveal… ROUND EARS!? "Two humans."

"WHAT!?" Everyone shouted.

"Haha, nah, just kidding." The boy waved off as they became pointy. "Test fest gave me some crazy inspiration, the girl's completely genuine though."

"Oh, yep." The girl took off the hood and showed her round ears . "I'm a human, here to show everyone how it goes."

"... Seriously?" Mattholomew murmured in disbelief. This boy knew an ACTUAL HUMAN !

"Yep, a soon to be famous witch, right before your eyes." She smirked, doing a little show-offy dance.

"And thus, proving that I am an expert on human, and deserve to keep my spot as president.." Gus smirked. "See you at the meeting later today, Mattolomew."

"In the meantime … let's go check out the potions track." The girl grinned as she walked to the door.

"You know what, I just suddenly realized that you've never had a full fledged tour of the entire school! Let's get started right now and see everything Hexide has to offer without hopefully running into anybody!" The little twerp sweated as he pushed the girl. "You coming Lucci?"

"Nah, I'm going to keep following Mom's map. I think she left a few hexes in the catacombs." The boy walked over to a trashcan and lifted it out of the way, revealing a hidden hole underneath, and hopped in. "BONZAAAAAAAIIIII!"

"For a criminal's son he sure is loud." Gus muttered as he walked away.

"I … wha?" He asked in confusion, still trying to process how screwed he was considering everything was crashing down on him. It was gonna be Glandus all over again, and he'd go back to the bottom of the totem pole where everyone would laugh and he'd end up a loser with no one caring about him …

"Nooooo! I didn't do it! I'm just guilty of being too real!" He was brought out of his inner turmoil by another student being pulled away by the school security system.

"What's that all about?" The girl asked.

"Oh, they've been roaming the place ever since the last time you came here, they smell trouble." Gus explained. "Not that we're trouble, so lets get out of here before they even have the chance to notice we're here!"

As the two left, Mattolumule couldn't help but notice something fall right out of the little twerps pockets. Wanting as much dirt as possible against the brat, he picked it up. It was a banning poster. One that specifically detailed a human…the very same human Agustus had just showed off.

"Oh Gus." The boy smirked. "So clever, yet so foolish…" That sounded so cool! He's gotta write that one down for later.

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

Principal Bump stared at the woman across from his desk. "You know." He started. "I believe this is the first time you've dragged me to the principal's office, and not the other way around." It was funny how life worked. He could've gone the rest of his life without seeing Eda again and he wouldn't have complained, but he couldn't deny that there was some minor joy seeing what used to be Hexide's most promising, if not most troubling, student.

"Yeah well life's all about throwing curveballs at you when you least expect it." Edalyn leaned back in her chair and placed her feet up on his desk, still showing the same lack of respect for authority as she did as a teenager.

He did a small spell, causing her feet to fall to the ground. "If you want to keep throwing those balls, you better give me the reason you showed up. You have a habit of bringing trouble wherever you go, Edalyn." They were still cleaning up her pranks, and creations all together.

She sighed, looking at him seriously. "I … want to … enroll my kids in Hexside." The woman struggled to admit, sounding like she was choking with every word.

He raised an eye at the admission. "You know, when the rumor about you having a kid started to spread, I was worried that you'd fallen so low for money that you began witch trafficking children."

The woman stared at him almost blankly. "Honestly, it's the first different story than people assuming I kidnapped him, I'm not even offended." What a sad life. Also he never said he didn't believe she kidnapped children, there wasn't a low Eda didn't like going.

"Well then, you could start with explaining why you actually wish to enroll them. We all know your stance on the school." He asked, actually invested in the idea. He heard about the human hanging around her as of late, the exchange of knowledge would greatly benefit his students. "Last I remember, the exact words you left in the yearbook was 'If I ever come back here, It'll be to burn this institution of blind obedience to the ground'."

"Heh, fun times." The criminal smiled before clearing her throat. "I…I realize that…I'm not the best role modelandmighthavescrewed mysonup."

"You what?" He didn't hear her clearly.

"I'mnotthebestrolemodelandIscrewedupmyson." She repeated again, crossing her arms and looking away. Well, it seems the maternal instincts she had from back when creating those abominations clearly stayed. "He needs more advice than I can give and … gah, some more 'trusting morals'."

"I never thought I'd see the day where you admit you were wrong." Bump admitted with a bemused smile. "Seems like an old bird can learn something new."

"Yeah, yeah, hah hah, I'm old and a dropout, just get the jokes out of the way fast." Edalyn groaned.

"Oh we'll have plenty of time for it later." Bump grinned. "We still have a couple of problems to attend to after all."

"Look, just because one of them is a human doesn't mean-"

"Oh no, that's no problem at all. I'd love the diversity of students to grow even more." He moved to his filing cabinet, opening the door labeled C. "I'm talking about how any parent of a student that went to Hexide needs to have a cleared record if they wish to send forth their child, as a way to make amends."

"...You made this up specifically for this situation alone, didn't you?"

"I was replacing some of Faust's overdone work, and decided to keep this loophole, yes." The man smirked as he pulled out a thick book, slamming it onto the desk. "Every 'incident' and accident you've caused is within here."

"..." Eda stared in bafflement. "I would have thought it'd been bigger."

"That's what everyone says." Despite everything, she WAS a star student, just a little too impatient to get results. "In spite of my best efforts, there's still a lot of damage that needs to be fixed from your time attending here. The cursed graffiti that's constantly spelling out obscenities and innuendos on the lockers…"

"Guess I shouldn't have used washproof paint."

"...Mrs. Jankenmyers teeth are still roaming the ventilation system…."

"You haven't tried putting some bait out and then trapping it?"

"It's as intelligent as the professor herself, the school bell pop war you started still has a few competitors …" Honestly that was the one he needed fixed as fast as possible. "That's still not dealing the ghoul incident, the poison gas clouds you created, and everything that happened during the locker room incident." He shivered. "Darius almost sued the school the moment he became a coven head for that one alone."

"Everyone's a critic." She rolled her eyes. "Fine, fine, if I fix all this, there won't be a problem? No using them as bait for the Emperor's coven?"

"I'm a teacher, not a stooge. All kids are free to learn here in peace." He pulled out their wanted posters, setting them ablaze. "They can attend Hexide without any problems."

"Good…good….I should then probably tell you that they snuck into the school today if we're going to start everything on a clean slate."

… Principal Bump took a deep breath. This was the most honest the woman's probably ever been in her life, so some leeway was to be given. Some. "If they destroy a room, someone is being held accountable."

"Ah, don't get your robe in a twist. They know better than to cause a big scene like that." 

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

Lucci waved to the janitor as he moved to the water fountain. "Thanks again for the tools."

"No, thank you for the help. Hope my chemicals help your potion class." Sucker. The Hexide stooge just gave him what he needed to create acid, which he would be selling on the next potion run. Just an assist here and a compliment there, and Lucci was swimming in chemical gold.

He had to admit, roaming Hexide wasn't as bad as he thought, although that mostly had to do with the secret passageways he got to use. Lucci was able to sneak into multiple classes and pull some minor pranks. Boomerang spitballs at the oracle class, ghoul juice in the sprinklers with the healing track, and a bit of snaggletooth nip with the beast keeping track. Mom was right, this place was full of easy marks.

Now all he had to do was have a conversation with Boscha, snag some lunch for himself, grab Luz, and get out of here. No complications whatsoever. "Didn't you learn your lesson last time?" Correction, a complication known as Willow.

"I have no idea what you're referring to, random fellow student." He deflected.

"It's the same disguise as last time. The only difference is you gave yourself a different nose." She pointed to his tiger nose, complete with whiskers.

"Hey, it's been working so far, I don't see the need to change my approach." He answered, though with admittedly a lot less bitterness than he would've had before. The Moonlight Conjuring still had him confused on how to approach Willow. Associate? Acquaintance? "I only came here today because Gus needed help lying."

"You're HELPING him lie?" Willow asked him.

"Yeah, he came into the house earlier saying he got Luz's ban lifted, which should've been obvious that he was lying alone, but the girl got too happy, so I decided to help him flesh out the finer details-"

"Luz is here ?" She questioned with panic.

"Yeah, you know how School hungry she is. Figured it was either to crush her souls by saying it was all a ruse, or give her one happy day." Like a good friend would do.

She groaned. "Alright, we need to get her out of here, asap." Willow complained. "You too if it's possible."

"Hey, relax." He assured her. "With my help, Gus is becoming a master liar, and we can both keep it up till the end of the day." The boy needed a good influence in his life if he was going to make illusions his entire career.

"Do you ever think that it's not such a good thing that you're able to lie so easily?" Willow asked him in concern.

"Of course not, lying is important for every aspect in life that involves talking to another person." He smirked. "Business, questionnaires, romantic posturing. Besides, everyone lies. Adults lie, friend's lie, parents lie. It's how civilization functions."

"By that definition, you're saying Eda lies to you." Willow pointed out.

"Duh, of course she does. She lied about Hooty not being funny, she might be lying about King's origins, might be lying about who my dad is … and …" He looked down at his covered arm. "She lied about some other things …" The wound may have healed, but the scar from that night still lingered.

Willow's expression softened. "Lucci, are you…?"

"It's fine, it's totally fine." He shook his head. "She lies because she wants to keep me happy and oblivious to how much life sucks. If that stops her from worrying about me, then I'm okay with it." He needed to change the subject. "So, I haven't seen you in a hot minute. Still on the plant track?"

"Yep, right now we're working on carnivorous species." She glanced over at a plant that was trying to eat a student. "NO! Bad Terrance. Insect demons only, or so help me, I will get the spray bottle of pesticide!"

"Heh, weirdly reminds me of when I had to stop Hooty from eating King…I still have to worry about that sometimes." The house demon could be…spontaneous with his appetites and cravings. Lucci wasn't even sure if Hooty needed to eat at all.

"Maybe you should just coat his fur with something toxic to Hooty."

"King's a demon, it'd be toxic to him too."

Willow looked curious. "Speaking of, what even is King? I don't remember learning about anything like him before."

Lucci was about to answer, until he heard a shout. "Wait, there's been a mistake! The ban's been lifted, tell them Gus!" He turned to see two bone masked men carrying Luz with a stick. Well, that plan failed quickly.

"Don't worry, I can fix this mess." Lucci began approaching the guards.

"Wait, Lucci, they're new!" Willow yelled from behind him. "They can smell-!"

"Hello there good sirs." The two skull men turned. "If you don't mind, I need to take my little sister out of here, she must've followed me-"

" You reek of lies and deceit …" One growled.

"Smell … troublemaking …" Willow sighed.

" Send him to the detention hole." The other one grabbed his arm. Well, now they were asking for it.

"Listen, buddy.." He readied to shove a bubble down the man's throat. "Don't think you can just latch onto me and expect to get away with…"

The one holding Luz made a magic circle and pointed a finger at him. " Sleeeeeeeep."

"Wow, pretty lights." Why were they all so swirly?

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

Luz continued slapping Lucci! "WAKE UP!" She's been at this for the last few minutes ever since they were dumped in the room. The boy had red marks on his face at this point, even if her hand felt like she was hitting a brick wall. The room didn't look too bad for the moment, but given how the doors were a giant mouth, she didn't like the idea of being here for very long.

Lucci FINALLY began to stir awake as her own hand was starting to get a little purple. "Ugh, did Hooty get into the potions cabinet again? Why does my face tickle so much?"

"You got knocked out by a sleep spell when we got caught." Luz answered as she shook the boy. "We're in detention!"

"Okay, next test fest, bubbles to keep my head contained and immune to knockout stuff." The boy answered as he began to stand. "Too bad drill shields didn't work, cause they'd sure be easy for getting through this wall." Lucci grumbled.

"Well, try it again! We need to get out of here and explain to someone that this is all just some big misunderstanding!" She ran to the door. "I'm allowed to be here! The ban got lifted for the day, remember!?"

"Oh, you still believe what…oooh, this is going to be awkward." The boy scratched the back of his head.

"What's going to be awkward?" She narrowed her eyes. "I'm all in for awkward stories, but why now of all times?"

"It's one you're either going to find really funny or really anger inducing." Lucci explained as he created his shield, trying to bend it into a pointed drill. "You see, Gus's social standing was being threatened and needed you to go even if you were still banned … so he lied."

"He…lied to me about getting into school?" That was completely unlike Gus. The kid seemed so cheerful and upbeat. Luz assumed there couldn't have been a lying bone in his body.

"Did you not see the nervous hesitation and constant sweat on his body?" Lucci asked. "It was kinda obvious, especially when he didn't want anyone to see you."

"YOU KNEW HE WAS LYING!?"

The boy looked at her. "Yeah … I kinda gave him pointers on lying."

"YOU HELPED HIM LIE!? TO ME!?" Luz charged at the boy and throttled him back and forth. "WHY THE HECK WOULD YOU LIE TO ME ABOUT THIS!?"

"Because-you-wanted-to believe-it-and-I-wanted-to see-Boscha." He spoke wobbly as he tried to get his bearings. "You-want-to-be-here-and-I-thought-I-was-helping!"

She took a minute to acknowledge the messed up reason behind it. Lucci was a liar, that she already knew. His view on right and wrong was majorly skewered being Eda's kid. "I can understand why you'd think like that, but it still hurts dude." She let go. "I thought you said we were finally friends."

Lucci's eyes widened as the rare showing of guilt appeared on the boy's face. "We are friends … I … I tried to help and … Luz, they never would have let you back in. You didn't like learning from Mom, and you wanted to learn things, I tried to …" The shield fizzled, fading away. "I'm sorry…I suck at having friends as you can clearly see."

Luz quickly rushed over and held the boy's hand. "Yeah, you kind of do, but you're still learning, like I'm trying to. There was this one girl I got into detention with all the time. I thought for the longest time we were thick as thieves, but it was one sided." She sighed. Luz would be a hypocrite if she stayed mad at something she's done a hundred times over.

"Hey, detention isn't that bad." The boy assured her. "It's mostly just a boring room with us two in it." The door opened, Gus and the gremlin kid being tossed inside as it shut once more. "Correction, us four."

"No, let me out! I didn't pull the fire alarm, that was Agustus!" The jerk pounded on the door. "WHERE'S THE JUSTICE HERE!?

"Luz, I'm sorry about everything." Gus said. "I-"

"Yeah, I know the whole story, Lucci told me, and while I'm a little peeved, I won't dwell on it and just say everyone screws up." She assured him.

"Oh …" He looked down. "I guess my sacrifice was kinda pointless then."

"What sacrifice?" Lucci asked. "Mom never talked about detention before, so it's nothing that serious. And the room seems pretty barren."

"Uh, as someone who's been in detention before, several times if you could believe it…" The jerk said with a smug little look.

"That's not hard to believe at all, you're a jerk." Luz stated plainly.

"A jerk whose experience you'll need when the mouth opens and the obedience worms crawl out." Mattholumle continued.

"Obedience what now?"

Crack

The ground crumbled and gave way to a massive maw, multiple tendrils with screaming faces pouring out. "Well … this is more lively than human world detention." Luz muttered.

"Okay, the first thing we need to do is-" The jerk's leg was grabbed. "Already?" And was dragged down into the hellish abyss of eyeballs, teeth, and worms.

"Well there's my nightmares for the next several weeks." Gus clung to the side of the wall and tried to scoot away to a safer spot. "Anyone have any ideas on how to break out? Lucci, that seems to be your whole deal."

"Trying to make a magic drill all day, give me a couple of minutes." The boy complained as he once more messed with his shield.

"How does your mom have so many larceny stories, but no method on escaping detention!?" Luz shouted out to the boy.

"Either she was never thrown into detention or assumed I'd never land in detention because I didn't want to go to school before." Lucci responded as he ducked under a worm trying to reel him in. "Starting to think it was to spare me the trauma!"

"Okay, running out of options, Gus, you wouldn't happen to know any powerful spells that can get us out of here!?" Luz was starting to lose hope they were going to make it out alive.

"Heheh, not really, illusions are the only spells I know!" Gus freaked out. "I'm sorry I'm not more useful!"

"No!" She scooted over to him and slapped Gus in the face. "No more debbie downers in my life! I've had enough pessimism in my life!" Okay, Lucci couldn't make a drill and Gus only could use illusions. She left her sword at home, and the Light Glyphs didn't do much … "Wait a second." She paused. "Lucci, how do you normally shape your pink stuff?"

"….Pink stuff?"

"Between the bubbles, shield, and razor disks, it just saves time." She didn't need to waste precious seconds being pedantic.

"First off, we're renaming that later. Second, those usually come naturally based on how I feel.." Dang it, natural talent! "...but when I formed my bubbles for the first time, I was told to think of them like two shield's pressed together."

"Yes, yes, yes, there's something we can work with!" Luz pounded her fist, turning to Gus. "A drill is just like…an ice cream cone on top of a shield! Gus, you think you can make that image on Lucci's disk?"

"What's ice cream?" DANG IT!

"Think of Ice-scream but with sugar instead of pepper!" Lucci shouted.

"Oh, that. Why didn't you say so?" Gus waved his fingers. "You do realize that it's not actually there. It's an illusion."

"I know." Luz nodded before turning to Lucci. "If you're struggling with concentrating on an image, that should help." More worms tried to bite as the ground became more shaky. "Focus on putting the cone on the shield!"

"Oh, now I get it …" The boy moved to the image, lining it up. "Fill up the cone … fill up the cone …"

"They're starting to notice us!" Gus shouted, one of the worms managing to snag his leg. "Ah! Remember me!"

"I will, and you won't have to die for it too!" Luz grabbed his hand. "Lucci! Now or never! GET TO DRILLING!"

"And done!" The boy lifted his arm up, showing that the rose like design of his shield was now longer and on the side of the drill. "Look out world, barriers no longer listen to me!" He shouted, as the object began to spin at a high velocity, rushing forward as it made a hole right through the door. "Nice!" Lucci paused, noticing the small size of the hole. "Hmm … progress for later. Everybody, at the same time, push…TO FREEEDOM!"

"FREEEEDDDOOOOM!" She and Gus rushed over as hard as they could, rushing into Lucci-

Creek.

-as the doors began to open. "Whoa, too fast, too fast, way too faaassssst!" Lucci yelled as the door broke down and they rushed out into the hallway. "Ow…."

"Did you break the lock or something?" Luz asked as they tried to get their bearings.

"No, that was me." They turned to see Willow lifting up the huge barrier with one arm.

"Hey Willow …" Gus laughed nervously.

"Agustus, I expect this sort of thing from Lucci, that's just how he rolls, but you, I expect better from you." Yeowch.

"That's fair." Lucci nodded as the worms crawled out, hissing and glaring at the group. "Alright, that tears it." Lucci stood up. "I'm gonna tear this room apart!"

"And cause more school damage?" Everyone, even the worms, froze at the new voice, full of authority and sternness. "I think not."

"Principal Bump!?" Everyone freaked out at the same time.

"Hey kids." Right behind them, Eda waved. "So I was talking to Bumpy-kins about enrolling you two here…though it seems like that's not going to happen now."

"What!?" Luz and Lucci shouted.

"Wait, you tried to get me to GO to school!?" Lucci called out in bafflement.

"Not in this lifetime if I have anything to say about it." Bump growled. "Like student like teacher, like mother, like son." The principal growled. "I should've known no children under your tutelage were capable of doing anything other than causing mass amounts of chaos." No..no. not when she finally had a chance! "Take you pupils and get out of he-

"Wait, no principal Bump! This is my fault!" Gus stood up. "I told Luz that she could come to school because I wanted to keep my position as the president of the Human Appreciation Society, and Lucci just tried to help Luz. Punish me instead."

"So you're willing to take on their combined punishments as your own?" Principal Bump stood over their little friend, who just sadly nodded. "Fine. You're hereby banned from the Human Appreciation Society, and shall spend the next two weeks in the backup detention track room."

"Thank you Gus." Luz walked over and hugged the boy. "I know it meant a lot …"

"Hey, you're my friend. I do what's needed." 

Those words seemed to resonate something with Lucci, who had a soft and sad expression on his face, before shaking it off. "Wait, I'm still trying to get caught up here." He turned to Eda. "Mom, you WANT me to go here? But you're the one who told me-?"

"Yes, I know what I told you, but…I shouldn't have shoved everything I was feeling onto you." Her teacher knelt down. "It's a big world out there Lucci, you need more than what I can tell you to get by."

"I have lots of people to tell me stuff." He tried to reason. "Like Hooty, Grandma and Grandpa." SHE NEEDED THIS BACKSTORY ASAP!

"Two of those are terrible influences, trust me." The woman sighed. "Just make sure to be smart about it, and I promise you it'll be alright … heck, I can even show you my old pranks for some inspiration."

"I'm not listening." The Principal walked away.

"Wow, Eda, I don't know what to say." Luz's heart was being touched so much in such a short amount of time."

"Eh, figured it was about time I actually did something with this being a teacher thing." She laughed as she ruffled her head. "Now I know you're too smart to fall for the one track mind set these Dweebus's follow, so don't be such a goody Luz shoes and we'll call it even."

She nodded. "I understand …" Luz told the woman, before squealing. "Guys, we're all going to school!"

"Yaaaaaaaaaay." Lucci said with a long drone of his voice.

"Don't be too disappointed Lucci. There's plenty of fun to have here." Willow laughed. "For instance, I know where they keep all the plants they don't want us to touch. Who wants to go touch them!?"

"YES!" She and her roomate shouted out together. Finally, Luz was going to magic school! Not only that, she was going to a school that all her friends would attend!

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

King watched as the two kids walked in. "Hey King." Lucci greeted. "I'm apparently going to school now."

"What, no!" He shouted. "I can't spend that much time alone with Hooty as my only companion!" He begged the boy. "I'll go mad Lucci, mad I say! His voice alone will send me spiraling in a matter of minutes!"

"Hoot Hoot!"

"I can already hear him clawing into my brain!"

"Nope, he's right here." Luz pointed to the demon being attacked by their Crystal Devil. "And we're gonna have such a fun time! Isn't that right Centi?" She petted the giant mangey creature of nightmares.

"Scrraaaa."

"Now make sure to keep King plenty of company while we're out in school. You and your babies cheer everyone up after all."

"Lucci, please, you can't leave me behind! I'll go mad if I stay another moment here!"

"Come on, it won't be too terrible. Mom will be here with you."

"…I'll go mad if I stay another moment here!" He reiterated.

"You've survived us for years, a few hours a day won't hurt." Eda rolled her eyes as she brought a big book. "Here we go guys, every bad thing I've ever done in Hexside."

"Wow …." Luz looked it over. "Bump wasn't kidding. You were a terrible student."

"Thanks. I tried my best." The woman smiled without shame. "Yeah it was a snooze fest most of the time, but It wasn't all bad. I actually had a blast a few times with Lilly before she went and got all prissy and coven happy."

"Yeah, that reminds me." Luz poked Eda's shoulder. "Lilith said you wanted to be in the emperor's coven when you were younger, said something about a promise."

Eda looked despondent for a moment. "Dreams change Luz … you learn more about yourself and everyone around you … and sometimes you can't keep a promise no matter how hard you try."

"Like being friends forever?" Lucci asked with his own sad expression.

"Oh Lucci." Eda placed a hand on his shoulder. "I have trouble trusting people because of my status as a criminal and my curse. You don't have to be like that. It's a huge chance to take, but sometimes…sometimes it's worth it to take that risk."

"This is the most motherly you've sounded and it's weird." King couldn't help but point out.

"I had some introspection when I realized I was raising my kid to be just like Hooty." Yeah, that would horrify anyone.

"Guess we'll wait and see." Said kid looked through more of the papers. "From all the stuff you told me I thought it'd be bigger." Lucci flipped through the pages. "Wait, you never said anything about a locker room inci-" Eda grabbed the book before anyone could blink.

"I'll tell you that one when you're older kiddo." She answered quickly before shoving it inside of her mane. "Now who wants dinner?" Weird deflect. She usually loved chaos.