Boiling Gems (The Owl House x Steven Universe)

Summary: A bit of writing ftw

King sat awkwardly. Eda went out to look for a man selling maps to a flower that could restore her wrinkly old face, so it was just him, Lucci, and Luz … and the tense atmosphere that was so thick that a nearby customer actually ran into it. "So…slow day, isn't it?" King asked out loud.

Luz was reading a book, flipping a page. "Yep …"

Lucci was playing his lute, strumming a string. "Super slow …"

"Good thing Eda's not here then." He struggled to keep the conversation going.

"Yeah, with someone as fragile as her condition is, something bad might happen around a certain someone." Which Lucci instantly grabbed by the throat and strangled to death. The boy had been holding a grudge for the past two days, and it showed no signs of letting up. Yeah, Owlbert getting hurt was really bad, but it worked out in the end, didn't it?

"Yeah, almost a shame a certain someone didn't go with her. She could've used the help." And Luz wasn't exactly making things better. She originally was set on being quiet, but little by little began to show off just a little hint of irritation from Lucci's grudge.

"And leave his other family member unsafe and unprotected, of course, what a smart idea." Lucci rolled his eyes.

"Well maybe she feels too guilty about her past actions and just plans on sitting quietly reading a book." Luz argued.

"Well maybe they should be aware that even reading a book tends to cause chaos around them."

"Well maybe she'll realize just how annoying it is to read while listening to ear grating cat screeches all day." She pointed to the lute.

"Well maybe she'll learn that all her tastes are flowery trash."

"And maybe the boy next to her will stop causing an apocalypse with a single melody."

"Alright stop it!" King shouted. "This back and forth third person arguing is actually worse than listening to people babble on about romance!" The demon never thought the line could be crossed, but here he was.

"Well we can avoid the third person and go straight to the first." Lucci glared at her. "I don't trust you around the house anymore, Luz."

"Well why didn't you tell on me then?" She asked. "Clearly I deserve it."

"I would have kicked you out of the house. Mom would have ripped out your internal organs." Lucci explained as he plucked his instrument. "I'm a criminal, not a monster."

"Oh yes, like you keep on saying." Luz groaned. "The strong brooding emo musician, too good and too full of himself to have friends."

"Friends just stab you in the back." He began plucking faster. "Amity and Willow taught me that lesson, all you did was reinforce it."

"Yeah, funny thing about making friends, Lucci. I stink at it, I admit. Back in the human realm, people didn't get me, and I didn't get them." Luz glared with an accusatory finger. "But at least I actually TRIED to keep making friends in spite of that, no matter how many bad experiences. You just keep going back to the same old excuse of the same two people."

"Well congratulations, you raised it to three people." The ground began to lift up. "Isn't that a fun little treat to experience? Another bad story to tell everyone. How many of those have you caused so far?"

"ENOUGH!" King shouted. "I'm sick of this! We are going to have a nice, bonding experience together, or so help me I will tell Hooty to make us attend a tea party!"

Everyone except Lucci shivered. "Eh, don't feel like attending one today, so I guess King has a point." The boy finally stopped plucking his lute and made everything fall back on the ground. "But seriously, what's with the slow business today?" He sniffed the air. "And what's with the air? It smells like nerd."

"Lucci!" They turned to see the bard girl that always comes around running to them.

"... I feel like a nerd doesn't quite describe her." Luz muttered.

"No, when I say nerd, I'm saying it smells alot like a library." Lucci corrected before turning to the bard. "What's up, Skara? You know way the streets are so empty right now"

"There's a book fair happening right now-"

"Book fair!?" Luz interrupted as she crawled across the table. "Like the magic of books coming to life!?"

"Yep. Actually have one in my bag." Skara pulled one out.

"Feed me a hundred souls and I shall grant you an unholy wish." The book spoke.

"Isn't he a charmer?" The bard girl squealed as she rubbed her face against the cover. "Anyways, I was hoping to get an autograph from J'ohn daploon and I know you're really good at stealing things so.."

"Say no more, business is dead to day anyways and I need something to do." Lucci hopped over the table and began walking further into town.

"Well…" King started slowly. "At least it won't be awkward anymore."

"He's right, business is dead and the books are calling my name!" Luz followed right behind them. So much for that.

"Sorry, that was my book. He's a hungry little fellow, aren't you?" Skara patted the book she was carrying.

"The spirits of the wicked shall be consumed!" Seemed like the type of book King would write. Hmm..there was an idea.

"You know, even after the whole library incident, I'm still a little surprised that books are so popular here." Luz said out loud as she noticed the shelves of books lined up in a row, with booths of people getting in line to buy and achieve autographs.

"Meh, a good mystery is fun to read from time to time. And the information is nice." Lucci shrugged. "Books are fine, it's just libraries that suck."

"You're a mystery guy?" Skara asked him. "I'm more of a thriller gal myself. The suspense sets up a tone of dread, the patterns becoming deeper and dark, and then BAM! The climax where it all comes crashing down in a wonderful chorus of mayhem and chills!"

"You all are chumps." King waved his paws nonchalantly. "What makes a good book is the large amounts of violence and gore packed into it." He explained. "The angst also adds some nice drama to invest yourself in."

"I love some good tasty angst and violence, but to me, nothing beats good old fantasy and romance." Luz smiled as she danced around in a little twirl. "The promise of adventure and action with each flip of a page, the joy of seeing the tropes you love turned on their heads, and the hope of a happy ending to come after all is said and done."

They all stared at her. "Who wants a happy ending?" Skara asked.

"Everyone does, a happy ending means nobody has something terrible happened to them." Luz continued.

"That's just unrealistic." Lucci responded. "Nobody gets a truly happy ending in life. That's why we strive for bittersweet." That was just common sense. After all, death always happened no matter what you do to avoid it.

"Would it kill you just to be a little more optimistic every once in a while?" Luz rolled her eyes.

"Yes, just how it almost killed you, multiple times." He argued.

"Well maybe this is why you have trust issues."

"I trust my family just fine!"

They went back to arguing. "So …" Skara asked awkwardly. "Whats the deal with … this?"

"Luz took Eda's palisman and cracked it, and Lucci's still being bitter about it." King sighed as he answered. "I get it, but I'd rather they go back to being friends again rather than this." He gestured to the fighting. 

"Yikes. Add to the fact I'm teetering on the acquaintance-Buddy middle ground after ten years.." The girl winced. "Any ideas on how to make that happen.

"I'd say they should fight to the death normally to resolve their issues, but Luz is a bit behind power wise, and we're NOT going to do the body swap spell again." So many hormones, he was not looking forward to puberty. "Maybe we could set them on fire? Fire fixes a lot of problems, right?"

"I think we should go for something that involves a lot less arson." The bard girl looked around, and spotted a table. "Aha! There, that's perfect!" She pointed to a sign.

"A writing competition?" Lucci and Luz paused their arguing to look up at the sign.

"The winner will have their work published officially by 'Pinite the well read'." Luz read the information. "Must be over ten thousand words as a minimum requirement."

"Ten thousand words, hah, piece of cake. I once played a self-written whole rhapsody for an hour….that part of the forest never did recover fully." Lucci waved off.

"Why are you entering?" Luz asked. "Aren't you against fame, being a criminal and all that?"

"Famous, Infamous, same difference. I want my name to be known, that's all you need to know." He answered. "Better than anything you'd write at least."

"Oh, is that a fact, is it?" A challenging glare formed on Luz's face. 

"I just escalated the situation, didn't I?" Skara asked.

"Probably." King nodded.

"Fine, then let's settle this the old fashion way." Luz took out a pen. "A writer's duel! Whoever's book gets published is the better writer, and therefore, right about everything from here on out."

"Fine then, it's on." Lucci nodded, grabbing King. "Family sticks together, right buddy?"

"Uh…" King looked back and forth, both his big sibling figures giving him pleading and begging looks. "I.."

"I'll let you ride in my hoodie as we write." Luz offered. "It's still full of chaaaps."

"Bribery for the win!" King jumped over to the girl.

"Traitors…I'm surrounded by traitors." Lucci growled. "Fine, be that way. I'll just team up with Skara my aq-.." Lucci shook his head, grumbling. "The only real buddy I have."

"YES!" The girl shouted, glomping onto Lucci.

"Wow, okay, that's how you wanna play it." Luz growled. "Game on." They turned to run back to the house, before pausing. "Wait, does she even know how to write?"

"My mom writes fanfiction of food falling in love, I know a little bit about it." She shrugged.

"No way, she was at the conformitorium, right?" Luz asked.

"Really?" Skara asked in wide eyed confusion. "Huh, I always thought she was doing something illegal, I just never questioned it."

"But don't worry." Luz grinned. "Me and King busted her out with Eda and a couple of fireworks."

"Oh no, you're not swaying my buddy to your side." Lucci picked the girl up over his head. "To the Owl House!"

"I'm just happy he finally said it!" Skara cheered. "Nothing bad can happen today after that!"

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

Luz furiously typed onto the machine. "And so Luzura heroically rushed forth to face the monster." She paused. "Violence is your territory King, just make sure she doesn't die."

"Sure sure … question." King asked. "Remind me why we're writing outside?"

"Because Hooty took Lucci's side." She glared at the house.

"YOU'RE TEARING ME APART LUCCI!" Said demon shouted.

"Just keep her out, and I'll bring you some very tasty bugs!" The boy shouted from inside.

"Conflict over!" Hooty said instantly afterwards, hissing at her.

"You may have Hooty, but I have Centi! Good luck trying to sabotage me and King's work!" She shouted.

"Like I need to! My masterpiece can outdo your human world literacy any day of the week!" He popped out of the window.

"Jokes on you, I remember someone being addicted to the 'horrible fandom' on my phone!" She called out to the boy.

"Human technology is hypnotic, but It won't sway me this time! Besides, you'll probably spend half the time getting chased by a multibear instead of writing with how your luck goes!" Lucci called back out before pulling himself into the house again.

"Oh I'll show him." She growled, looking down. "What do you have so far King?"

"The fight is super brutal. We can totally have someone die here and it seems believable." He answered.

"Well …" She thought about it for a second. "No, we can't let anyone on our team die."

"People are gonna complain, you know."

"Yeah yeah, but it's either that, or accept that the leader is a mess up that'll ruin the lives of everyone around them." She responded. "This is our story, we can afford to make things a little lighter here and there."

"Yeah, but there's the ideas we want and the ideas that work better once you start writing." King pointed out. "Like the character Beelzebub we made. There was a plan to make him a little nicer, but as the story went, it just flowed better for him to be a bit of a brooding emo with trust issues, remember? Or the ideas we had involving Ruler turning out to be the anti-witch?"

"I know that but …" She grimaced. "It just hurts to see a character mess up so badly … like they'll never be able to make amends." She still hadn't told mom the truth. Not to mention Owlbert avoided her like the plague … and she gave Lucci even moretrust issues. And how often Hexside students got in danger because of her, and how she drank Eda's elixir, and-

"Luz!" King shook her out of his internal rant. "We can get attached to these characters easily, and it can be hard to write them in a certain situation, but the point is for them to grow naturally as we write them, just like how people in real life grow and come to understand each other."

"Well …" She looked at the page. "If you really think so, we could try … killing off Luzura." Her self insert….the one that constantly messed up and got in the way.

"Wait, really?"

"Yeah … since she has the inner core, if she leaves, the Ruler's plans would be ruined and he wouldn't get the power … it'd help everyone in the end, right?" It hurt her to even suggest it, a little piece of her heart getting chipped at as she spoke it.

"Oh yeah, so we could try a revenge strike where he tries reviving her corpse, and her friends have to brutally maim her in the end!" King got super excited.

"...Isn't that a little cruel?" She asked.

"You're right, I should make it even MORE devastating!" King was in the writers zone, constantly tapping on the machine and spitting out pages. "Man, I never knew writing could be so much fun! Getting my ideas on paper, it's like magic!"

"Yeah … I'm gonna go take five, alright?" Luz asked, getting up and grabbing a bag of Chaaps as she made her way over to Centi, taking a rest in her mane.

"krkrkrkrkr."

"Yeah, it's cruel … but it's making King happy, so it's fine, right?" She asked them, tossing a chip.

"Krrkrkr."

"Of course I want to make up with Lucci, but he has so many barriers around him emotionally that it'll take forever to break through them." Luz groaned. "I just wish I knew what he was thinking right now…" She paused. "Hey, so you wouldn't happen to want to lift me up to the attic window with your big bug form, right?"

"Kkkkrrrr." They gestured to the window, where a scream was heard.

"GET OUT OF HERE, MINI DEVILS!" Skara shouted, tossing out babies as the window slammed shut, a pink bubble forming outside. How did she keep forgetting everyone was afraid of them?

"So spying on them is out of the question, got it." Luz sighed. "Thanks anyways Centi." She leaned against the house wall. "You're always there for me, right girl?"

"Rrrrk." They rested their mane on Luz's lap. Nice to see she could keep at least one friendship on the Isles.

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

Lilith rushed through the forest. "Don't you dare think you can win against me, Edalyn!" She shouted as she tried to get ahead of her sister. Of course, she should have suspected they'd want to nab the bloom of eternal youth too. They were probably doing anything they could to hold back the curse's side effects.

"I win against you all the time, what makes this one different?" The criminal cackled. "See you later Lily, when you're busy making a five course meal out of my dust!" She would not deal with insufferable teenage Eda again.

"Winning, dear sister? Your curse is aging your brain faster than your body. You only get by on the skin of your teeth!" She shouted, tripping her sister by growing a vine. "You'd be branded with an Emperor's sigil by now if that chaotic miscreant you call a son didn't blow up the station!"

"Hah, you couldn't even tell it was me body swapped, could you?" The woman laughed. "And it was with the human girl no less."

"What is it with your obsession of kidnapping strange children?" Lilith asked. "Between Lucifer's rock, Luz's humanity, and King's … what is he exactly?" They haven't really read anything on his species of demons before.

"For the love of Titan, would you please stop telling people I kidnap children!" Eda growled. "It was hard enough getting Luz and Lucci into Hexide without those rumors hanging around."

Lilith almost paused. "Oh my titan, you sent your children to school." They spoke with mild terror. "Either the world is ending or you're seeing the error of your ways."

"The only error I made was not giving them a choice." Eda growled. "And I'd figured that as a teacher, I could be worse. I could've been like you and have my student resent me for the rest of time like you and bossy boots."

That was a low blow…but not completely inaccurate. Amity hasn't shown up to any lessons, and Lilith hasn't exactly forced her to show up. They haven't even spoken to the girl, out of some innate terror of what would happen if they met again. "Whatever. All I need is the flower, and I can leave you for another day."

"Nice try, the flower is mine." Edalyn spoke, before smirking. "I can see the ruins now too. The fire and brimstone all around…ah, the Owl Lady's prime is just beginning!"

"No you don't!" Lilith rushed forward faster, jumping into the clearing, looking at the flaming torches, multiple vines, along with a pedestal … with nothing but a single word carved into the structure. "Is that the next clue?" What in the Boiling Isles was a 'Bismuth'?

"Oh shit, I can't believe I fell for this again." Eda grumbled.

"Fell for what again sister?" Lilith demanded, before feeling herself getting lifted into the ground by a metal net of chains, being forced to tangle alongside Edalyn.

"An old pal of mine …" The Owl Lady turned to the trees. "A bit persistent this time, aren't you?" She asked.

"I figured that word of this little scam would reach you eventually." A new voice came in. They were tall and gray, with a thick lock of rainbow…colored…dreadlocks. "I just followed the guy pulling the strings and knocked him out when you were getting close.

"Did we just get captured by the RAINBOW DEVIL!?" Lilith shouted, terror in her soul. Sure, she was head of the Emperor's Coven, but she would have felt better if she had some scouts to back her up!

"Believe it or not, it was just some guy in crop tops that wanted to feast on powerful witches." The Rainbow Devil chuckled. "So, who's the broad?"

"Bizy, meet Lilith Clawthorne, my annoying prissy and perfect Emperor Coven Head of a sister." Edalyn rolled her eyes as if this was normal! "Lilly, meet notorious outlaw and big ole lovable lug, Bismuth. You may or may not have heard of her as the Rainbow Devil."

"... First it's kidnapping children, now it's associating with the Rainbow Devil." Lilith muttered. "How far will you fall, sister?" Her day was ruined, and her disappointment was immeasurable.

"Hey, when you're constantly on the run, you gotta make friends in the strangest of places. Why not be friendly with the only person that chases me around as much as you?" Eda smirked.

"Plus, it looks like I annoy you, so I think she'll find that a win." The Rainbow freaking Devil joked. 

"I say, the trap's basic, but the craft on the net is strong." Eda chatted. "Double reinforced the construction magic on this thing, didn't yah?"

"Yeah, I really needed you to sit in listen." The Rainbow Devil- how was she so calm about this -pulled out a stone and sat down on it. "We need to have a serious talk Eda, about an evil that lurks around you."

Nononono. She already had to hold off Belos and Kikimora, not her too! "Okay look, I understand the Owl Beast can be serious at times." Lilith tried to pacify the capital enemy. "But there may be a way to cure Edalyn yet."

"What, no, I don't care about the beast." The bounty hunter glared. "I'm talking about that sack of shit parading as her son."

The spike of rage Lilith was feeling was nothing compared to the malice Eda began emanating. "Bizy … we're probably something along the lines of friends… so I am going to give you one chance to explain yourself."

 'Bizy' looked over to Edalyn, gazing at her eyes. "You know about Crystal Devils, right?" There was no verbal response, just a barely contained murmur of rage. "You could say that me and them … have a relation." They tapped the strange rock on their chest that left an inward hole in them.

"I figured as much, the whole 'devil' name and all that. Combined with the long lifespan." Edalyn growled. "Is this going anywhere?"

The Rainbow Devil continued to stare at her. "That child has the same kind of rock as all of us inside of him." The bounty hunter continued.

"Wait..you're saying that Edalyn's son is part Crystal Devil!?" That was both horrifying and made way too much sense.

"Okay, what kind of bogus tall tale are you trying to come up with here?" Edalyn rolled her eyes. "Lucci doesn't look anything like one or act like them."

"I don't know what their deal is, why every 'Crystal Devil' looks like they do, but once upon a time ago, they were all like me." 'Bizy' continued. "Strong, verbal, intelligent. Hard to kill as hell." She looked like she smiled fondly. "We all have the ability to form our own weapons unique to us and us alone, and we're capable of shapeshifting our forms."

"By the way your telling it, your kind is even more dangerous than the basilisks." Lilith observed. Good thing those were extinct.

The Rainbow Devil rolled her eyes. "I was alive when those guys were, only a few of them were genuinely evil." If Lilith had the time, she'd question the bounty hunter for historical accuracy. "But with that said, our kind is perfect at disguise and deceit, and the one living under your roof is the worst of them all." Okay that had to be an exaggeration. Lucifer was decent at lying at best.

"Disguise and deceit …." Edalyn looked at her. "With the bulky frame, rainbow dreadlocks, and gray skin."

"It's not my specialty, sue me." She shrugged. "The point is that whoever you think is your son is most certainly not that. She's a manipulative lying bitch that'll make your and everyone else's life hell if I don't do something about it."

Lilith didn't quite know how to process that…garble of insanity the notorious outlaw just spouted. With the rock in Lucifer, the part of him and The rainbow devil being the same species may have held some water, but everything else just seemed a bit too far fetched.

Edalyn stayed silent for a moment. "You done?"

"Yeah. I am."

"Good, now here's how it's gonna go." Her sister spoke evenly. "I'm going to break out of here, I'm going to see if you poof, then I'm going to grab your rock, fly over as far as I can across the boiling seas, and tie it to an anchor so you sink down to the floor and boil."

"Eda, this isn't the time to play games! I'm one hundred percent serious!" 

"And so am I!" Eda shouted, her hands sparking. "Lucci is my son, and if you think for a second I'm going to let anyone hurt him just because of something he obviously isn't aware of, then you don't know me as well as you thought you did."

"I'm telling you, it's all a lie!" The bounty hunter turned to her. "You're an emperor, stooge, aren't you? You understand that there are threats that need to be wiped out no matter what, don't you!?"

"Wipe out?" Lilith snorted as her own hand lit up. "The only thing on my mind these last thirty years was to help my sister. I may be a stooge, but I never, ever betray my family." Never again.

"I guess we're doing a Clawthorne special." Edalyn growled. "Hope you haven't gotten rusty sis." She muttered, as the ground exploded, lifting up the net for a few seconds.

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

Skara kept flipping through their book. "We already printed it." Lucci deadpanned. "It's kinda too late to typocheck it."

"I know, I know, I can't help but go over it. It's full of passion and dedication." She rubbed it against her face. "It's like watching my baby grow up and go to magic university."

"Please don't remind me about school, I'm still coming to terms with being forced into one myself." Lucci grumbled as they moved through the line.

"So, you're obviously gonna join the Bard Track, right?" She asked. "Where we can play a kickin awesome song."

"It is most likely…but..the healing track seems like it might be good too." Huh?

"I thought you didn't like the healing track, you know, because of the parade incident?" She one time walked by while Cutburn growled about the 'suffering of Clawthorne's', scary stuff.

"I don't, but … family needs it, you know?" Lucci groaned. "Have you ever had your mind set on one thing for most of your life, but one thing happens that makes it all sort of seem…pointless?"

"I'm not sure I get what you mean, buddy."

"Mom's…sick, and I just found out a way I can help, but she doesn't want me to." He groaned. "Now I think about all the good times I had, she was struggling to keep a brace face the whole time."

Skara hummed as she walked with him. "I guess I can see it … there's a lot of things my mom's done for me, and I'd try to repay it however I could." Also, she was apparently once in the conformitorium! Why keep that a secret!? "Well, I can't complain about that motive I suppose, but after school we are so playing whenever I'm not on the Grudgby team with Boscha."

"... She's on the grudgby team ?!" Lucci asked with surprise. "Why didn't Luz tell me?!" Skara shrugged.

"I don't know, maybe you can ask her, but that requires you to stop holding whatever grudge you have on her." Skara pointed out.

"I…" Lucci looked like he was going to argue, but closed his mouth before he could. "It's more complicated than that."

"Is it? Cause King filled me in, and I gotta say, if you were really mad at her, you would have ratted her out to your mom".

Lucci growled. "You don't hurt family. She should have never grabbed Owlbert to begin with."

"I get that, I really do, but can you ever say that you never did anything that got your family hurt? Or your mom did something that put you in danger?"

Lucci seemed to instinctively rub his right arm, which was covered by faded scars. "..Let's just go back to turning our work in."

"Sure …" She nodded, looking over the book again as they approached the booth. "I have to say, I was surprised you of all people wanted to let Lucia live out of everyone." Skara noted as they recounted their work. "Everyone's dead on the ground, and the bad guy is about to win, but suddenly the plucky optimistic one rises from the corpses and stabs the Dictator in the back for the final win."

"She was the only one to have hope in the dark times, figured she might as well get something for all her trouble." He shrugged. "It made sense that she would deliver the final blow….no matter how painful it would be for her." Lucci appeared to sigh sadly.

"Yeah, some could see it as a happy ending, but others could see it as a tragedy, since she's all alone now with no one." Skara continued.

"Yeah…well it's open ended, so if anyone wants a happy ending, they're free to have it."

Skara raised an eyebrow. "Weren't you against happy endings?"

"I said it was open ended. And I'm all about letting people be free to do what they want." Luz was totally rubbing off on this guy, even if he refused to admit it.

She was about to press on, until a voice spoke up. "I have to say, it's a lovely book." A three eyed lizard from the booth spoke up. "The third act twist was quite a fascinating surprise."

"Thanks, I love setting up the thrill of the moment." She smiled back.

"Were you just reading it while looming over our shoulders this entire time?" Lucci asked skeptically.

"No, I was reading it while you were standing in front of the booth to deliver me a book this entire time." The two of them looked down, realizing this was the place to hand in the book. How engrossed in their own conversation were they? "I'm Pinite, the Well Read."

"Ooh, your the publisher behind so many popular author's, like J'hon Daploon!" Skara recalled. "Every book you publish becomes an instant hit!"

"Only because I have an eye for scooping out the best talent." The man chuckled. "Your book certainly ranks up there. Who knows, you may one day give an even better tale than J'hon himself."

The girl squealed. First day as a buddy and things were looking up."Not so fast!" They turned as King ran up to them. "Wait until you read our book, Ruler's Reach!"

"Oh right, I almost forgot this was a competition." Lucci sighed as Luz came up, who also strangely looked downtrodden. "What's with the long face?"

"Hmm?" She looked up. "Ah, nothin. Just nervous about criticism, you know?" The bane of all creatives everywhere.

"Do I really scare that many people?" Pinite chuckled as he flipped through the book, before finishing. "My, quite an interesting choice in direction. Do you mind discussing it over a cup of tea with me this afternoon?"

"Afternoon? I got nothing planned, let's get to chatting right now!" King answered. "Yo Luz! Want to get in on this too? It's your book too."

"Yeah, sure. If he wants to discuss it's gotta be worth it, right?" The girl chuckled as she followed the little demon and the three eyed man.

"Ah shoot." Skara said aloud. "Looks like they're getting a head start in nepotism." The most dangerous of magics.

"Once again, I'm surrounded by traitors."

"Don't be like that, you'll forgive him just like you'll forgive Luz." She patted him on the back.

"And why the titan would I do that last part?"

"Because I've been listening to your bickering all day and I can sense the connection you two have." She answered. "Families fight each other, but in the end they care for each other."

"Fighting is one thing, but you don't hurt …" He grimaced. "Whatever, I'm gonna go follow them."

"You know i'm right, or else you wouldn't be worried about her."

"No, it's because I know that guy is planning on conning King, and Luz just happens to be baggage." Lucci argued back. 

"What about your mom and Lilith?" She brought up her second point. "That relationship is messed up but can you say they hate each other?"

"…..No." He rolled his eyes. "Can we just be quiet as we tail them to whatever trap their heading into?"

"Okay, but I'll bet you twenty snails it's not a trap." It's not like editors were evil.

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

Eda created a small swarm of bugs to blind the bounty hunter, making her way around as she set up a spear tipped ball with multiple thrusters of explosions on the back, making it rocket forth with an incredible amount of power. She's been feeling better since the kiss, but still felt bad about wasting the time buff when Lucci was already so worried.

That was exactly why she never told him before. Now that he knew, he was going to thrust every single bit of responsibility he could on himself, and she didn't want that! Not when he shouldn't have gotten involved in the first place. "Have to say Bizy, I knew you were crazy and I loved that about you, but I didn't think you'd be completely bonkers to come up with a story like that!"

"Oh you're saying that now, but just you wait!" They shouted, turning their arms into hammers as they charged. "You'll see that she can't be trusted!" Bizy tried to swing at her, only to be blocked by a vine from Lilith.

"You keep saying 'she', as in female." The woman noted as they swung the 'devil' around. "I think Eda was around long enough in that child's life to know that's not the case …" They paused as Bismuth went through the pedestal. "He still identifies as male right?"

"He wears a dress or two every now and again, but yeah, still male." Eda was certain that if she ever had a daughter, all of Bone's Burrow would've been burned to ash. Girls could be such little devils, as she was one herself 

"I'm not talking about that fake identity!" Once more proving why they were a hassle, the hunter came back up without a scratch. "That fake act, I fell for it myself, I know the truth about that gem." They charged forward at her sister, swinging at the ground as a small shockwave formed. "I won't let them taint this world!"

"Good luck with that, Edalyn raised him to be a criminal scammer just like her. The taint goes pretty deep." Lilly responded by making vines to restrain the hunter.

"Hey, I taught him to stand his ground and know a liar when he sees one. I've done a pretty alright job." Barring the trust issues. "Plus now he'll have Hexide to fill in the gaps I missed." Eda morphed the earth into a giant Hooty golem and slammed it right into Bismuth.

"You're letting that clod around children!" They shouted, gripping the golem and ripping it out of the ground, using it as a makeshift club.

"I know an insult when I hear one!" She snapped her finger as the golem exploded in Bismuth's hand. "How many times do I have to tell you, it's Lucci."

"That person isn't Lucci …" Bismuth growled. "Her name is … Rose Quartz!"

Eda paused her next spell. "... I'm sorry, Quartz?" They asked in confusion.

"Yes." The hunter glared. "Rose Quartz, the traitor that stabbed me in the back."

"That's impossible."

"What, no it's not!" Bismuth shouted. "If you've listened to anything I said-"

"No, I'm saying that Lucci's gem isn't a Quartz." Eda clarified. "Anyone who's seen shiney rocks before would know it's a pink diamond." Seriously, it was like everyone was a moron.

That made the crazy lady freeze. "Wait, no that's not possible-but then that would explain...but no…but she knew so much about Homeworld…I can't be…no no, that can't be right!"

"Edalyn?" Lilith said quietly. "Is this our chance to flee or strike?" They asked.

"Strike, definitely strike now with something sharp and pointy!" She whispered, channeling all the power she had into Owlbert to charge her staff into a power lance. "Remember our secret grudgby strategy? Time to break out the old moves, sis."

They nodded, forming a circle on the ground. "The moment she looks up, thorn vault." Lilith gave the timing, working on adding multiple additions to her makeshift lance.

"She was … then that means … it was all a lie!" They looked up.

Eda rushed forward with the thorns, launched into the air as the explosive spells amplified her speed further, rocketing like lightning as she hit Bismuth's stomach. "Looks like I stopped you in the middle of your bismuth ." Ha, still got.

"You are … so lucky … you're endearing-"

Pooof

She watched as a rainbow colored rock fell to the ground. "Huh, just like a crystal devil, guess she wasn't completely full of snorseshit."

"Which means that she's immortal just like them." Lilith groaned. "Not to mention … Do you think she was right?"

She gave time for that to simmer. "My kid may be following in my footsteps, but there's no way he's the evil reincarnation of whatever old broad she was going on about."

"No, not about the whole evil thing, I know he wouldn't fall that far." Lilith amended. "I ment … Lucifer being part Crystal Devil?"

"I…" She paused. "I…I don't know…" She answered honestly.

 Lilith looked at her. "Edalyn…he's not your son is he? Biologically speaking that is."

Eda stood silent for a moment. "Found him during a snowstorm in the human world. Nobody else was around." She decided to be honest. "He had round ears, but shapeshifting made them pointy before he could remember that."

"I see." Lilith nodded slowly, before taking a deep breath. "I FUCKING CALLED IT!"

"….Really?"

"Sorry, between fighting the Rainbow Devil and learning my nephew is somehow related to Crystal Devils, I needed to let that out. It's been building for a while." She composed herself. "All that aside, it is a relief to know he isn't related by blood."

"Because another me is just that terrible?" She droned sarcastically.

"That, and that means there's no chance of the curse being inherited. You have no idea how much that stressed me out at night." Lilith sighed as she looked down at the rock. "I'll make sure to bury this as far as I can."

"Well like I said, the boiling sea seems like a nice place to take a deep now."

"We actually tried that with corrupted, but all it does is make them violently pissed and very hot." Lilith responded. "The one thing that works is giving them to Vitimir, but … I don't quite have the heart to subject her to him ."

"So you do have a heart. I was wondering about that for years." Eda let out a light hearted chuckle. "This was fun Lilly. Glad I got to kick but with you, even if it's going to just this once."

"It doesn't have to be …" They grabbed the stone. "There's always a spot open … please, come of your free will Eda … they're all getting impatient." Lilith wiped her eyes. "I just want our family to be whole again.

Eda placed a shoulder on her sister. "Hey, coven or not, we're still sister's. Nothings ever going to change that, curse or no curse.

That seemed to lighten up Lilly's mood just a little. "Even if there's a chance the Emperor can heal you?"

Eda looked at her sister. "We both know he'd just put me in an endless amount of debt." She responded, walking away. "And that's not something I want to pay." Not with the life she led.

"But … you're still looking for a cure, aren't you?" Lilith asked.

"I've learned to live with my curse, but I haven't completely lost hope." She smirked. "I'll find a way to beat it on my own terms." She didn't need her curse to ruin anyone else's life. She was already hurting Lucci. Who knew how the boy was feeling at the moment?

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

Lucci did his best to hold out his hand within the cube. "I'll be taking those snails now." It felt good to be right, but the feeling of getting squished into baby playing blocks was interrupting that. 

"Yeah, yeah, yeah." Skara rolled her eyes as she reached into her pockets. "How did we even get in this position?"

"Well that one is quite simple." The loser lizard replied. "King and Luz Noceda here signed a contract to write stories for me with the reward of fame and fortune, and in return the conceptual magic of a legally binding contract created a barrier for them."

"Wait, what about us?" Skara asked. "We never signed anything."

"Bargin Mart knock off." Pinite shrugged. "I like covering every base possible."

"Well that's not a blow to my pride or anything." Lucci grumbled, doing his best to move around. "King, I understand you blindly signing a contract without reading the fine print.."

"He offered cool shades and thrones made out of people, I couldn't resist." The little guy admitted.

"But you Luz?" He asked. Even for her this seemed a little too foolish.

"I um … thought he was legit." She did her best to shrug inside the box. "He had a contest, was a famous editor, and he liked our book."

"Ruler's reach, truly a fascinating little tale." The man held up said book. "An evil emperor that has a hand grasping at all things … shattered by a single life vanishing." 

"Wait, Luz actually agreed to kill off a character?" Lucci was shocked again. She held her creative works so closely to her heart.

"Yeah, it took some bargaining, but I got her to agree." King gave a cocky grin. "Some optimistic weirdo by the name of Luzura that kept trying to make everything right but always failed. Totally the best decision of the creative process." That was totally unsubtle.

"Death sells…yay." Luz gave a weak hand gesture in support. "And we won, so all's good, I guess." An unoptimistic Luz…he never thought he'd see the day…and he didn't think he'd never WANT to see it happen.

"Heh, that's ironic." Skara spoke up. "We killed every character in our book exceptthe optimistic weirdo." She nudged. "Lucci here wanted to give Lucia a happy ending." 

"I said it was open ended." He corrected her.

"Two books, one killing off its hero, the other killing off everyone but its hero. Truly combined you can create a masterpiece." Pinite laughed. "And then I will sell trillions of copies!" 

"We didn't sign any contract." Lucci reminded him.

"The cube currently crushing you says otherwise." The man smirked

"You said this was Bargin Market, right?" Lucci asked.

"Yes in deed."

"Then just give me a sec." Lucci placed his hands on the glass … and pushed.

SHATTER

Everyone stared at him as he dusted off the shards."That was anticlimactic." Luz muttered.

Lucci rolled his eyes. "Luz, life isn't some story where drama exists in every fight either through some handicap or blind luck. Sometimes one side completely overwhelms the other, otherwise it wouldn't be realistic at all."

"Hah, no matter! I still have King's signature!" Pinete laughed holding, out the contract. "As long as this paper exists, he belongs to me!"

"So we just need to destroy it and they go free?" Skara asked as she shook shards out of her hair. "Good." Summoning her viola, she let out a single plucking of the string.

Sheriek

The paper was turned to shreds, the cage containing Luz and King broke apart. "Fine, I can spot a bad investment when I see one." He dusted off his robe. "But know that neither you nor them will ever write in this town again! Especially not wish the flowery crap the girl keeps putting in!"

"I thought you liked my book?" Luz asked.

"On please, anything you make was only turned decent because of Kings overwhelming insistence on violence." The publisher growled. "Your no author, your just a failure, worse than your Luzara character."

Lucci stared at the lizard man criticizing Luz's work, making the girl look doubtful and insecure of herself. Seeing him put her down just looked…wrong. And made him feel angry. "Hey, you don't get to mock Luz's artistic integrity! That's my job and my job alone!"

"I'm a critic, it's my job to mock the obvious." The lizard rolled his eyes.

"Not anymore!" King jumped up and kicked the man's case out of his hand … as it dumped out and revealed a collection of cubed people. "Oh that is unsettling."

"What the titan am I looking at?" Skara looked like she was going to throw up. "Wait, is that J'hon Daploon!?"

"Help us!" Some cube with glasses shouted. "We couldn't fill our end of the contracts and he cubbed us!"

"Well, I learned my lesson today." Lucci nodded. "Authors are slaves and the industry is doomed." He spat in his hands and rubbed them together. "Okay, one at a time people, I'll have you fixed in a second."

"Likely story. No one has ever undone-"

Shing

About a dozen or so adult sized demons and witches formed as Lucci touched them. "Like I said, sometimes the most realistic ending is a really bad and evil jerk getting their just desserts..in the most painful way possible."

"Stay back, I have a pen!" The man shouted.

"Is that supposed to be scary?" The editor answered Luz's question by clicking the object, turning it into a battle axe. "So the pen is mightier than the sword."

Skara once more played her viola, as the metal weapon crumbled to dust. "We'll be off now, good day, gentlemen, ladies … Please call me later Mr Daploon!" Fan girl.

"Thanks for that, Lucci." Luz laughed weakly.

Lucci thought for a moment. There was a great, great chance what he was about to say was going to bite him in the butt..but anything was better than a depressed Luz. "No problem. That's what…friends are for."

Her eyes widened for a moment. "You … you sure?" She asked.

There was that hopeful glee again…it was her best trait. "Luz, life's way too short to stay mad at you forever. And if mom can still love Aunt Lilly after everything, then I don't have an excuse." He gently patted her shoulder. "But you're going to have to learn to respect Palisman properly. If you ever want one of your own."

"Of course, understood." She nodded. "I'll do my best to respect Owlbert and every palasmin I come across."

"Good, be sure to remember that when we visit grandpa." He decided to let her have it.

"Backstory!" She shouted.

"Yeah yeah." Lucci waved off. "He's a palasmin maker, who taught me to forever respect all of nature."

"What should we do with this bastard's palasmin!?"

"Set it on fire and make him watch! He'll suffer like we did!"

"Looks like she's not the only one in need of a lesson." King noted. "Who's up for beating up famous writers!?"

"Can I kiss their unconscious bodies?" Skara asked. Once again, fan girl.