It's a painfully familiar sight that beholds LUZ NOCEDA as she stumbles out of the wooden door. As her face lands in the soft muddy dirt, her sense is invaded by the all too calming smells of pine and chalk. Rain pours rapidly down from the dark sky above and harmlessly drenches her small body in its many cold water droplets. Luz quickly scrambles to her shaky feet and surges towards the quickly closing portal door. The human witch can just barely see her adopted brother floating in the air as The Collector begins to magically disassemble the whole castle, which is a sight that Luz has no time to process. She can still see just a faint handful of golden magic orbs floating about the castle ruins.

Harmony had died...

Her adopted sister died to protect her and Amity. Harmony was gone as was her magic; her soul, with all its essence and magic, was moving back into the Boiling Isles itself.

And now, Luz was helpless as she watched her other adopted sibling, King, float in the air with no one there to protect or help him.

"King! No!" Cried Luz miserably as she stumbled up the wet steps toward the abandoned and falling apart the house. The wood door suddenly slammed in her face just as she reached for the door handle. Helplessly, Luz grabbed a firm hold on the door handle before the human witch forcibly yanked the door open. Instead of seeing the inside of the Emperor's Castle that was back on the Boiling Isles, all that the human witch saw was the inside of the abandoned house. The abandoned house that Luz now looked at was ravaged by time. Bits of the house had cracked and burnt wood that twisted and splintered off. Although, the beams of the house's structure held up strongly and held up all of what remained of the building. There were many spider webs and layers of dust that covered all of the abandoned furniture and caked onto the walls. There was grass, vines, and some little flowers that overtook small parts of what remained of this old structure. The ancient house was dark with only the sliver of light from the outside world leaking in.

Luz stared blankly at the inside of the house. Despair and grief began to wash over her every nerve like an overbearing tidal wave. They pulled her into an ocean of overwhelming emotions and tugged her deeper into its depths till she was drowning.

She trembles horribly as she turns back to her friends. Her eyes are glossy as tears threaten to fall, yet her haze of anger and confusion manages to keep her together enough. The human witch can keep herself from not quite crying fully. Luz numbly watches as the youngest of her friend group, Gus Porter, falls to the ground. The youngest of the witches begins to sob uncontrollably. His fancy blue shirt quickly gets mud splattered on it as the young boy buries himself into the earthly wet soil beneath him. Luz knows that Gus is just so overwhelmed with everything they just went through; hell, she's a few years older than Gus and even she's very overwhelmed by this. They were completely out of their depth and it cost them the life of someone very near and dear to them.

Luz's dark brown eyes slowly shift to his side to see Willow numbly staring out in front of them. The blue-haired witch's face was completely unreadable. Which startled Luz as Willow always wore her heart on her sleeve. Luz was almost always able to tell what Willow was feeling. So, it scared Luz when she wasn't able to tell. When the human witch then glanced at Willow's right side, Luz saw Hunter clutching his hands so tightly that Luz swore the blonde boy was gonna make himself bleed. The boy's jaw was clamped tight as if Hunter was trying to hold back a scream and his boiling anger; an anger she fully understood. Luz's brown eyes then shifted to the last person in their group of now-stranded witches...her soft brown eyes landed on her favorite cotton candy-haired goddess; on her girlfriend, Amity Blight. Amity was crying and looking at her with sheer concern. The purple-haired witch stumbled to her feet before making rushing her way up toward her girlfriend.

Amity immediately enveloped Luz in the tightest embrace ever. Amity truly tried to give the kind of hug that would reassure Luz and let her know that she was safe. That loss may have happened, but they both were here and alive.

The Dominican-American human girl looked at her witch girlfriend miserably. She didn't know what to stay or do. She could feel her heart sink lower as the thought of The Owl Lady crossed her mind. Eda was most certainly going to be crushed; Eda was gonna be heartbroken and alone. Eda wasn't going to have any of her kids and that wasn't fair. It wasn't how things were supposed to go.

Luz felt like she lost her dad all over again.

It was the same story playing out yet again. A mother figure in her life made a plan and said things would get better. But, they never do get better and it ends with someone's life getting stolen by the cruelty of fate.

"Luz, I'm...I'm so sorry," Amity tries to force the words out of herself, but she's trembling horribly. Hot burning tears mix with a cold icy rain. The abomination witch's pale face is slowly becoming red and blotchy as the tears pour out of her. "Harmony... she...she didn't deserve that. She didn't deserve to..." Amity swallows thickly as she stares into Luz's eyes. The witch couldn't even dare say the words. It was like saying the words would mean that it was true and they refused to believe that it was true.

Luz wished that the whole day was nothing more than a mere bad dream, but the human witch, unfortunately, knew better.

"I know." Was all Luz was able to bring herself to say as she placed her forehead against Amity's. Luz allowed herself to crumple into her girlfriend's arms and allowed herself to unleash the tears she was fighting back.

Luz knew that Amity was so desperately trying to comfort her, but she didn't know what to say or do. As bad as Odelia Blight is, she, at the very bare minimum, kept all of her children alive; although, Luz has a fair share of thoughts on Odelia's treatment of her kids and their quality of life. Amity, thankfully, has never known the pains of losing a close family member like a father...or a sister. She doesn't quite know the full kind of massive hole that grief can leave within a person. She doesn't know how it eats away at a person or how it can make people do the stupidest of things at the most random times.

None of them knew what to do next. They didn't plan for any of this to happen. They did not plan for death noir for them to be all alone and stranded. For a minute, in all of the very staggering silence and hissing of heavy rain, they all think it. 'Harmony...she would know what to do!'. The heavyweight of they're grief is like a thick fog cloud that refuses to leaven.

This, for most of the group, was their first real experience of grief. And it wasn't the kind of grief that came after losing a grandparent, who themselves had lived long and eventful lives that had been filled with love and friendships and their hardships. No, this was the hard kind of grief that came from life begin stolen. A young life that did not know of true love or adulthood. It was a young life that had only known of a world that did not want her in it; a cruel world that hated the curse she had no choice in inheriting and ostracized her for merely begin a witch that refused to just be one simple thing.

Darkness from the rain clouds lingered over them. Their clothes began to cling to their body as they were starting to become drenched from head to toe. The sound of the violent rain around them sounds almost like horrible tv static to Luz as she sits with her uneasy and rather overwhelming feelings. Luz can't help but feel so scared and grief-stricken after she had to forcibly watch what happened to all of her friends due to the draining spell, then her adopted sister dying, then everything dealing with Belos and the Collector, then not knowing what was happening back at in The Boiling Isles; it made the girl remarkably uneasy.

Luz slowly peeled herself away from Amity. She slowly wiped at her tears and tried to get her breathing back under control. Luz can vaguely hear Willow, who seemingly snapped herself out of whatever grief-riddled haze she had been in, begin to try to soothe the very upset illusionist witch at her left side. Luz watched as Willow scooped up Emmiline Bailey Marcostimo, a blue chameleon palisman that is bonded to the illusionist witch, and gently put the creature on Gus's lap. The dark-skinned boy immediately hugged his palisman close to his chest as he slowly began to pull himself together. Clover then perched herself on Willow's shoulder and the bee palisman buzzed worriedly at Willow. Whatever it was that Clover had said to the witch, had Willow pulling the creature close to her and reassuring her.

"We should get to my house and get out of the rain," Luz states weakly. The other witches just meekly nod at her words. The silence that falls between them is somehow deafening and maddening. It's so unusual to Luz and it makes her feel sick to her stomach. "We are gonna get sick if we stay out in this rain any longer at this rate," Luz adds as she tries to fill the space that feels too empty. Luz's shoulders drop as she lets out a heavy sigh.

Luz's eyes stared out at the vast forest that was before them all. She knew this forest all too well. She had practically grown up within these thick walls of green leaves and lush brown bark. Luz mechanically began to carry her thoughts out of the dark green canopies and around the maze-like structure of tall trees. Her white shoes hit the mossy, leaf-filled, and twig-riddled forest floor with a loud crunch. An arrangement of bright-colored flowers flowed down the forest floor like a river. Luz's hand drifted briefly across the exposed bark of a pine tree as she lingered a little longer in the forest.

If it was any other situation, Luz would have taken the time to point out all of the differences between human realm planets for Willow and would have told Gus all about the various nicknames that humans gave them and why humans have the beliefs that they do about forests. But, the dark and somber mood prevented the human witch from doing anything like that. Instead, she leads the pack of witches down an old forest path. The same one she walked down so many up times. The forest eventually clashed with gravel as they got to the edge of the forest that met the city. They followed the gravel parking lot to the hard cement sidewalk and followed it to her home which was nearby.

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   Just an hour ago, the world had felt like it was ending around EDALYN CLAWTHORNE and Raine Whispers. Bright-colored stars and strange glitter filled the sky. The Owl Lady had to merely watch as one of her children was forcibly lifted in the air and was held close to the Collector, who just looked like a kid. Well, if a kid had strange god-like powers. Eda had watched Lilith charge forth to save her nephew, but the witch and her the very strange house demon she was fond of, were turned into a strange-looking puppet. Eda couldn't help herself, so she immediately charged toward the strange child in her harpy form. Although, as she saw no sight of her daughters and the fear building up in her, the owl curse took full control over her body. It wasn't long till her consciousness slipped away into the soft lull of darkness and the owl beast took full control.

  When Edalyn was awoken next, she was standing in a strange cave and Lilith was standing over her with a worried expression. "Lily?" She questioned in a hazy confusion as she slowly sat up. "Yeah, it's me. You should be careful as you sit up. The curse really did a number on you."

  "I'm glad you're okay, Lily. You really had me scared back there." Eda told her with a small smile. The blue-haired witch helped her sister sit up properly. Eda's multi-colored eyes looked around at their new surroundings. There were a few makeshift beds and a caldron with a bunch of potion ingredients haphazardly laying about. Her eyes went wide as she saw Raine kneeling in front of King as the small Titan was crying. Eda's blood ran cold at the sight. Something within her felt wrong. When she looked back at Lilith, the older witch just knew something was vividly wrong.

  "Eda!" Cried King as he realized the older woman was finally awake. The small titan ran to hug her. She carefully scooped him up and brought him close to her. She pulled him into the tightest of embraces. She let out a sigh of relief as she hugged at least one of her children close to her chest. 

  "I thought that strange kid got to us all?" Edalyn questioned the two older witches with a concerned look. "The Collector did get to us, but King convinced them that you wouldn't be a good friend to play with due to you're a curse. As for me and Raine, well, I'm supposed to be finding a potion to subdue the curse, and Raine's supposed to be doing healing music or whatever. In addition, King also managed to smug Hooty with him." Lilith explained half-heartedly.

   "That sounds like a good thing? We have a cover! Doesn't this means we have time to figure things out?" She questions. The wild witch then tilted her head curiously as she stared at the group before her. "You guys look like someone died." Eda half joked as she noticed their grim looks. "Guys?"

   "Eda...this isn't going to be easy to hear," Raine started as they approached where Eda was still sitting with King on her lap. The little Titan shifted uncomfortably as he knew all too well what the Former Head Bard was going to say next. The Titan gives Lilith an all too knowing look. Wordlessly, Lilith takes the young Titan from his adopted mother, who is focused on the bard's words. The other Clawthorne witch sets King and Hooty at the entrance of the cave so that the adults could have a moment of privacy and so that King doesn't have to relive his adopted sister's death. Hooty, upon seeing his distressed friend, wrapped King in a very tight enduring hug. Once Lilith was sure that the pair would be fine, she then rejoined Raine and her sister. The bard then continued.

  "There was an incident when the children were fighting Belos. Luz and the others, King sent them back to the human realm. But, not everyone made it to the human realm."

  "Did something happen to Harmony? Did the Collector turn her into one of those creepy-looking puppets?" She immediately questioned. Raine looked at her miserably as Lilith pushed her hand over her mouth to smother a building sob.

  "She's not here, Eda. Belos killed Harmony." Raine said softly. Edalyn froze as her whole world practically shattered at her feet. Eda felt hot tears running down her cheeks as she stared forward horrifically. The Owl Lady had no words left to say. "I'm sorry for your loss, Eda. She seemed like a good kid." Raine tried to comfort her, but the woman just jerked away from Raine's delicate touch. Eda covered her face with her hands as she began to sob uncontrollably.

  "I'm so stupid!" Cried Eda harshly as feathers slowly began to protrude out of her neck and her elbows. She could feel the owl beast wanting to take control of her. And, for once, Edalyn was tempted to give in. The thought of giving up the reins and not having to process the grief seemed like a better deal. It was better than whatever downward spiral she was quickly falling into.

  "Eda, you can't blame yourself. It was Belos's fault. Her blood is on his hands. Not you're own." Raine tries to reassure her softly.

  "No! You can't just say that. If you knew what I knew about Harmony, then you would und how this is all my fault." Eda retorts miserably as her body trembles. "You just don't understand, Raine!"

  "Then help me understand." They say softly as they take Eda's trembling hands into their own. She stares into Raine's deep emerald-colored eyes. Years of restless and painful longing return to her as she stares at them. Years that she threw away because of her curse and her stubbornness. It was also years that she couldn't give back to her daughter. The years she wasted simply because she didn't dare to admit things and confront her past. It made Eda feel pathetic and like the worst mother in existence.

  "Harmony only stayed at the stupid BATS hideout and went along with this whole stupid plan to save the Isles because she wanted to be near you! She just wanted to know her stupid second parent! If I had just told you years ago, then she might be here. She would have just listened and gone somewhere far from Belos. So yes, this is all of my selfish and idiotic and stubborn faults." Cried Eda. Raine went silent as Lilith let out a gasp of surprise. Her sister's multi-colored eyes went comically wide as she stared at the pair.

  "Eda...are you saying what I think you're saying?" Raine questioned as they went completely wide-eyed with shock. Their hands dropped Edalyn's as they stepped backward. Their teary eyes were transfixed on the wild witch before them.

  "I am." She admitted as she avoid their sharp gaze. "I'm...I'm so sorry. I was such a selfish fool. And now...and now she's gone and it's my fault." Eda cried as she buried her face into her hands. Lilith instantly moved to her sister's side and pulled her into her side.

  "Edalyn, don't say that. I may not have known my niece as long as I should have, but from what I do know, you gave her the world and then some. Did you make mistakes? Sure, you made plenty of them. But you never gave up on her and you let her pick what kind of witch she wanted to be. You trusted her to decide her fate. You never made her choose to just be one thing and never let what others think to affect the way you raised her. You are a good and honest mother, Eda." Lilith reassures her sister. She then laughs unhumorously. "Plus, I don't think any of us could have changed Harmony's fate, even if we all tried. Harmony still would have gone to protect Luz and she would most certainly still chase Hunter down if she got word that Belos was planning to him. Those three see each other as siblings and siblings look out for each." Lilith says with a knowing look in her eyes.

  "Lilith has a point," Raine says a bit weakly. Eda's tears-filled eyes flickered over to the former head Bard witch, who looked like they were having a full existential crisis. She didn't blame them. Finding out you're a parent would be one thing, but finding out you're a parent and that you had helped make the plans that got lead to say child getting killed was a whole different situation with much more complex emotions and guilts. "All of you Clawthornes are ridiculously stubborn and protective of you're family. Harmony was no different than the rest of you."

  "She is...was...a lot like you too, you know." Eda offers with a sad smile. The wild witch pulled herself from her sister and reached into her thick grey hair before pulling out her small purple scroll. The wild witch opened her scroll and quickly opened it to where her video library was before causally tossing it to Raine. "See for yourself. I sorta recorded a lot of the big moments... and the plain stupid ones and just everything. I didn't...I didn't want you to miss out and I thought at least you would have this whenever we figured things out." Eda admitted sadly. Raine slowly moved to sit between Edalyn and Lilith before playing a video of Harmony learning her first bard spell.

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HUNTER did his best to dry himself off with one of the many dark blue colored towels that this rather strange, yet sweet, older human woman - Luz's mother, Camila Noceda - had passed out to him and each of his friends. Camila was trying her best to make sure the children were comfortable and was trying to give them all the space to process whatever it was that they were collectively processing. It was obvious that Camila was mothering them. It was instinctive for the woman to care for people, especially her daughter and all of whom Luz considered friends and family. Which was making Hunter feel very strange. He never had any kind of mother figure in his life. The blonde witch supposes that back in the Emperor's Coven there had once been that of Lilith Clawthorne, but he rarely saw her. And when she did see the former head of the Emperor Guard, they did not have the greatest of intentions. The only familiar love he thought he had was that of Belos, but he knows the truth about that now and isn't blindly believing in Belos anymore. Yet, tragically enough, it had been Harmony who pointed out how Darius and Eberwolf cared for him. The white-haired witch had been the one who told him that sometimes, 'family isn't blood, but the people we choose.'

At the time, Hunter had called her delusional and nothing more than a wild witch trying to cloud his mind. Even now, he's kicking himself for saying all that he did to her; for all the things he did for Belos and all the people that he hurt along the way.

For a while, nobody in the Noceda house had said anything to anyone. It was just the staggering silence again. Camila Noceda, Luz's human mother, was rushing about the small human home to bring them all the things that she thought these traumatized young teens might need after whatever it was that they endured. "I hope you guys like hot chocolate because I made you guys some! I assumed since you guys are so cold you might have something to help you warm up. Oh, and there is soup in the kitchen if you are hungry. I also had Vee bring up some extra blankets and pillows just in case any of you are really cold or tired. Or both, I su Camila nervously rambled as she carefully placed a silver tray down on the large wooden coffee table before them.

It was clear that Camila was anxious for her daughter and the worry was practically oozing out of the older woman with how all of her motherly instincts seemed to kick into hyperdrive.

"Thank you, Mami," Luz said quietly as she turned towards her mother before hugging her yet again. Luz cleared her throat uneasily and stared up at her mother. "I think...I think I am ready to talk about it. How did we get stranded here," Luz briefly paused to look at her friends as if silently asking if it was okay for her to talk about it. "I can't talk about all of the parts of it yet, though," Luz admitted rather reluctantly. The group of witches all knew that it was inevitable. They had to talk about all of it, no matter how bad the whole story was.

"Just say it already! And stop acting like not saying it will somehow make it less real than it is. You know, she wouldn't want any of this. She wouldn't want us to be all depressed and just mopping around. She would want us to get justice for the Boiling Isles " Hunter said.

"Hunter!" Hissed Amity lowly. "If she's not ready to fully talk about her yet, that's fine. Luz is allowed to take her things to process things..."

"I don't think anyone's truly ready to talk about it," Gus interjected sadly.

"We're gonna have to talk about it at some point. Papa says grief and sadness are not good things to bottle up. It just leads to further hurt." Willow states.

"I can't! Okay! Talking about...talking about her would be admitting that she's really gone. And it would mean that I'll never see her again. I can't...I can't believe that! What about Eda? She can't just lose her and then me and...I just can't fucking believe it." Luz cried. The anger Hunter held melted away and quickly moved to full-on concern.

"Luz, I'm sorry for pushing it. It's just..." Hunter stumbles to explain everything thing that he was feeling. Yet, the blonde witch didn't know what he was feeling and he didn't know how to express it. He's not like her. He's not in tune with his emotions and he was never taught how to express them. If anything, Belos had raised him not to have them.

"Don't apologize, Hunter. I get it...she was your sister too." Luz offers with a sad smile as she meets his magenta-colored eyes. Hunter immediately begins to break down as he meets Luz's soft brown eyes, which then makes Luz cry again. "Plus, I think you're right though. Harmony would want us to talk about her. Harmony did have a bit of an ego like Eda has." Luz offers with a small teary smile. He can tell that it's hard for her.

As Luz begins to cry again, Hunter quickly moves to place a reassuring hand on the human witch's shoulder. He knew how much she had worked to try to find a way home, only for her to get a way back home at the absolute worst time and while they were trying to save their friends. He knows it must be such a truly bittersweet thing for her and he wanted her to know that he was there for her in whatever capacity. Luz, a person he had once thought of as an enemy, had shown him what it was like to have people who truly cared about you like family; she was also the one that helped him discover the truth about himself and about how he was truly a grimwalker.

"Did someone die?" Camila blurted out wide-eyed as she stared at them all in pure horror. Hunter slowly nodded as all the witches looked away from the human woman. "She was a good friend to us all," Hunter offered to Camila. "She was my sister. Well, she was our sister." Hunter corrects as he gives Luz a look. She nods in silent agreement. "Harmony was killed by Belos. She was trying to protect Luz and Amity."

The blonde witch watched as Camila's aged features shifted and contorted as her daughter then forced herself to give Camila a small explanation of what had happened in just the past few days leading up to the Day of Unity and then events that did transpire on the day.

As Luz explains what all she could manage to get out, the blonde witch swears he sees a bright burning rage cross Camila's features, but the older woman is rather quick to school any of her emotions and knee-jerk reactions. When Luz and Hunter are done filling her in on the mere events of the past few days, she politely excuses herself and makes her way back toward the strange kitchen area. Luz's other older adopted sister, Vee, is hot on her mother's tail in the kitchen. The group of young witches just stand in a sort tension filled awkward silence as they become vividly aware of the fact Harmony's gone and they also were now stuck in the human realm with no way back.

The only sound that could be heard is hushed whispers from the kitchen and the sound of rain violently hitting the roof of the large home that Luz had rushed them into.

Hunter feels so conflicted. He's angry. Just so unmistakably angry at Belos for hurting and killing one of his first and dearest friends. But, the blonde witch also feels confused about himself as a grimwalker and he feels overwhelmingly worried for the Boiling Isles. He's just so concerned for the fates of all of his close friends that are on his and Willow's flyer derby team and his other friends like the Owl Lady and Darius.

Hunter tries to be respectful and tried not to listen to both of the muffled voices coming from behind the closed door to the kitchen. The voices that are coming from the kitchen are hushed, but even through the closed door they both sound like they're fluctuating between crying and anger-laced stage whispers. The older woman finally exits the kitchen, she is bravely trying to hold up a veneer of calm control, and Hunter almost wants to believe that it extends past her strained expression. Honestly, all things considered, she seems to be perfectly handling whatever emotions she is feeling. He, on the other hand, felt like he was handling everything horribly. He couldn't help his friends and he couldn't say anything right. He hates it.

But, he just couldn't believe she was gone.