Thankfully, the chances of that happening vanished as a light beam suddenly shot at Luna and struck her in the side of the face. It had enough force behind it to force her head sideways, but it only actually did enough damage to scuff her scales and make Luna turn to the source with a furious glare. She saw Luz flying around underwater with a barrier, and immediately gave chase.
"That's right! Come and get me!" Luz yelled, fleeing to the top of the pillar (that still had Luna's transmuted chains on the top). Luna followed her, transmuting and throwing spears at her, which shattered uselessly against Luz's crystal barrier. Luz then flew a little further back, shooting some light beams from light glyphs embedded into her barrier as she went. The beams stung the enraged Merrow, who swam forward without a second thought… directly over the pillar of earth.
The second she was over it, Lilith (who was hiding inside a barrier hidden by an illusion) suddenly slapped a giant plant glyph she'd carved into the top of the pillar. A monstrous tangle of seaweed shot up and wrapped around Luna, trapping her and holding her down, pinning her to the pillar just as her chains had done to Luz a little while ago.
Matt, hidden in the same way Lilith had been, then rammed his crystal barrier into the base of the pillar, causing it to shatter and break. As the pillar lost its base and began to slowly topple over, Matt used earth magic empowered by Pebbles to control the pillar and launch it, and Luna, out of the water like a javelin. The maddened Merrow roared furiously as she was sent flying out of the sea and into the air, but this didn't last long; before she reached the apex of her forced flight, she used Potions Magic to produce a powerful acid that ate away the seaweed binding her, allowing her to leap off the pillar and dive back into the water. Unfortunately for her, Luz and the others were ready for her.
Luz and Lilith used the ice glyph to massive expand the latter's iceberg from earlier, turning it into a thick sheet of ice that stretched out across the Boiling Sea, creating an icy land mass that was almost half a kilometre thick and about a quarter of a kilometre wide from edge to edge, all directly beneath where Luna was falling. Luz has also grown some Cushioning Cotton over the ice, so when Luna came crashing down, she wasn't hurt by the landing.
"Conniving little beasts!" Luna snarled, getting to her feet and trying to run for edge of the iceberg-turned-glacier so she could dive back into the water. However Lilith used some simple fire magic to destroy the Cushioning Cotton, creating a smoke cloud that disoriented the giant Merrow while also taking away any traction she had on the ice, causing her to slip around and fall on her rear. As this was happening, Luz carried Mason out of the sea and began to heal his wounds while Matt darted into the sky so he could use his earth magic to grab the launched pillar before it landed, then sent it flying at Luna. The woman saw it coming and conjured more acid that melted the pillar into nothing, then shot it up at Matt, who dodged out of the way and used earth magic to create a shield of rock to block the bursts of acid he couldn't fully evade.
The effort of creating earth out of nothing but magic was draining however, and Matt found himself flagging. "Man, I could really do with a Power Glyph right about now! You hanging in there, Pebbles?" he asked.
"Pebbles is okay! Matty should take a break!"
Matt grinned sardonically as he was forced to dodge another spray of acid; "I don't think she'll give me a chance!"
He dodged more acid, until Lilith and Hooty attacked Luna from behind, the former creating tree roots with a plant glyph to restrain Luna while Hooty wrapped himself around her to further hold her down. Matt decided to add his own restraints by conjuring sand and shaping it into chains before refining it into glass, but despite their efforts, Luna was too strong! She was able to tear away some of the roots binding one of her arms by using her teeth, then used the free arm to grab Hooty and squeeze him until he hooted in pain and loosened his grip, allowing Luna to yank him off and begin spinning him in the air like a lasso. Since Hooty was attached to Lilith's back via his birdhouse, Lilith ended up being spun around too, and when Luna released them, they went flying towards the Shin, where they crashed painfully, barely cushioned by some emergency magic cast by Corvanc. Luna was then able to shatter the glass restraints by releasing a deafening sonic scream, which had the added effect of making Matt cry out in pain and cover his ears.
Luna took the opportunity to leap up to where he was flying and swat him down. The blow would have killed him if Pebbles hadn't flown out of the way just in time, but the attack still hit the end of the Palisman's staff, causing him to lose control and go crashing towards the sea. Matt was able to recover from the scream just in time to pull up, allowing them to avoid hitting the water.
Luz and Mason watched all this with worried expressions, before Luz shouted; "Matt, get to the Shin and check on Tia Lily and Hooty! Leave Luna to us!"
Matt looked ready to argue, but he really did need a moment to rest and recover, so he nodded; "Got it! Don't get killed!" he ordered. He then flew to the Shin as fast as he could, while Luna transmuted some seawater into spears that she launched after him. Luz blasted theses spears with some light beams, getting Luna's attention back on her as she landed on the iceberg and placed Mason down beside her.
"Luna, please listen to us! I know you're angry and confused, but it isn't what you think! Just let us explain!" Luz begged, making one last ditch effort to settle things peacefully.
"I don't believe you! I'll avenge my family and sink the entire Coven System into the Boiling Sea!" Luna bellowed, swiping her tail towards Luz. The Angel girl blocked with a barrier, groaning as her magic was strained.
Mason saw this and frowned worriedly; "Miss Luz, are you alright?"
"Reversing Petrification on someone this big used up a lot of magic and I've barely had time to rest. Even when I was trapped under the sea, I still had to use magic to stay cool and keep my barrier up." Luz muttered lowly, so only Mason could hear. "I'm getting low… So we need to end this soon."
Luna snarled and transmuted a massive hammer, the head of which was probably about half the size of the Owl House, and tried to slam it down on top of Luz and Mason. The Coven Head rushed to shield Luz, but she ended up protecting both of them with another barrier, though this time she actually collapsed to one knee from the strain.
"Miss Luz, that's enough! You've done more than I could ask for and freed my Ma! Let me handle the rest!" Mason implored, not wanting to see the girl suffer for his selfish request.
Luz shook her head and forced herself back onto her feet, bracing herself as Luna smashed down on them again. "I'm not giving up! I'm helping you because I want to! If I leave, you'll be killed! But if I stay and hold out until Matt and Tia Lily come back, then I know we can win! I have faith in us!"
Another hammer smash to her barrier made it crack, forcing Luz to expend more magic to repair it. "I want to give Luna back her freedom! And I want to do the same for everyone petrified down below! I want to give them their lives back! I won't-" another blow smashed down on her barrier, "-give-" and another, "-UP!"
Luna, with all her strength, slammed the hammer down with one last blow, finally shattering Luz's barrier, but causing the head of the hammer to shatter apart as well. This caused Luna to stagger back in surprise, while Luz was knocked flat on her back, drained of magic even as she felt a powerful heat burning in her chest.
Luz suddenly felt like she was floating as the world around her went white and silent.
"D-Did I get knocked out by that last blow?" she thought, looking around in confusion. Aside from the magic drain and the heat in her chest, she didn't feel hurt or anything. She had a weird tingling in her right foot too, but that didn't really bother her, so she was puzzled as to what had happened.
She blinked, then felt a shadow looming over her from behind. Luz turned to look at it, then went pale as she came face to face with something truly colossal.
The Titan.
Luz froze and her heart began to beat so fast that it was practically vibrating as she stared up at the gargantuan being before her. The Titan looked a lot like King, but naturally far bigger, being the size of the Boiling Isles. He also had far more muscular arms, and a rotund "Dad bod", as well as a pair of giant draconic wings with odd holes spread across them. His lower body was submerged into a gigantic sea that had suddenly appeared far beneath Luz, who was now floating in front of the Titan's face. The Titan also appeared to be missing their right eye and there was… something… hiding in the shadow of his empty eye socket.
"Y-You're the Titan! You're King's Dad; Orion!" Luz exclaimed.
Orion nodded, though he was strangely silent. Luz stared at him for a moment, then saw as his expression became one of disappointment. She got the impression he was trying to speak to her, but she couldn't hear his voice… it was hard to tell, since his mouth wasn't moving, but then King's didn't move when he talked either.
"A-Are you trying to contact me?" Luz asked.
Orion nodded once again, and slowly lifted a colossal paw to point a finger (of which he had five, unlike King's three) at Luz, whose Glyph Markings began to glow softly.
"You're using the Glyphs to talk to me? But the connection isn't strong enough yet?" Luz said, trying to infer his meaning.
She was correct, as Orion looked pleased. He had been able to speak to her once before, when she'd ascended to the rank of Arch-Angel, but clearly manifesting to her like this AND talking at the same time was still a bit too difficult.
Luz looked around at the white void and the sea beneath her; "Am I unconscious, or in a trance or something?"
Another nod answered her question, before Orion pointed his claw at something behind Luz. She curiously turned to see it and gaped as another Titan appeared there, rising out of the ocean. This Titan appeared as a gigantic silhouette made of spiralling colours of silvery grey, orangey bronze, brilliant yellow, and deep purple, and the silhouette itself was wavy and distorted, making it hard to make out their true shape. From what Luz could tell, they were slightly smaller than Orion, and with a slender body type with larger wings and longer horns that appeared to be somewhat forked rather than sleek like King's. Oddly enough, there was a massive hole in this Titan's chest, allowing Luz to see straight through where their heart should be.
"Whoa… another Titan!? C-Could you be King's Mom? Cassiopeia?" Luz asked, staring at the Titan with awe.
The new Titan nodded slowly, and she pointed to the hole in her chest. Luz watched her with confusion, as her pointing got more and more insistent, but Luz couldn't completely figure out what she was trying to say. "Something about your heart? Is it missing?" Luz asked. She'd heard from Lilith that Orion's heart (shrunken, but still beating) could be find in Belos' throne room, so maybe Cassiopeia's heart was still beating somewhere too.
Cassiopeia responded with another slow nod, then gently lifted a claw and tapped Luz's forehead. The memory of her hugging King and first giving him the name Clawthorne-Noceda suddenly flashed through Luz's mind, making her blink in surprise. A second tap then brought forth another memory; one of Luz opening Eda's present to her after her Mom had been captured whilst rescuing her. Once the memory was over, Cassiopeia placed her other hand against her chest, then gestured it towards Luz as if giving her something, before she tapped Luz's forehead one more time and the memory of finding the wind glyph played in Luz's mind.
With all that together, Luz was able to piece together what Cassiopeia was trying to say; "You gave me the wind glyph as a gift because I became King's big sister?"
There was a nod in response, and Orion nodded too, before raising her paws and causing large floating versions of his own four glyphs to appear in front of him. Luz smiled brilliantly, and bowed to them both.
"Thank you for the gifts! You saved my bacon more than once!" Luz said gratefully.
The two Titans shook their heads, and a tap on her forehead from Orion caused Luz to remember saving King from Warden Wrath and the Owl Beast's stomach, and stopping him from being hurt by Zara the Ice Wyrm's breath attack. It was their way of saying she'd more than earned them, which made Luz smile bashfully.
"Aw, you know I love my little brother! I did promise you I'd take good care of him!" Luz said.
Orion's body began to shake as it looked like he was laughing, while Cassiopeia held out her hand and caused an image of the wind glyph to appear there, while her entire silhouette turned silvery grey. Luz was briefly puzzled by what she was trying to show her, but then she slowly tapped her forehead three times in a row, with each tap repeating words Luz had said earlier that day.
"I want to give Luna back her freedom!"
"I'm happy for you both! I had faith in you!"
"Before I came to the Demon Realm, what I desired most was to be a good Angel!"
Luz was briefly confused, until Cassiopeia tapped her head again and only three words were repeated from those sentences.
"Freedom! Faith! Desire!"
In an instant, Luz's eyes widened; "Wait, those are the aspects of the Wind Element! D-Did you contact me to help me bond with the wind glyph!?" she exclaimed.
Cassiopeia shook her head and twirled her finger clockwise, then suddenly counter clockwise. Luz tilted her head in confusion for a second, before asking; "Are you saying its the other way around?"
That got a nod, making Luz smile; "So I was bonding with the wind glyph because I understood freedom, faith, and desire, and because I was bonding with it, I had a strong enough connection to talk to you? Is that right?"
Another nod answered her question, but then the water beneath them started to rise, slowly dragging the two Titans back under. Orion frowned, and while Luz couldn't see Cassiopeia's expression, she could see the disappointed slump in her shoulders.
"Wait! You brought me here to tell me something right!? It's something to do with your heart, or King, right!?" Luz cried urgently.
Both Titans gestured to their hearts, then pointed upwards, but Luz couldn't figure out what it was they were trying to tell her. The only other clue she had was that Cassiopeia's hand turned from silvery grey to brilliant yellow as she pointed it at the sky, but Luz didn't know what that meant!
Sadly she was out of time; the water beneath them (thankfully cool and not boiling) rose up high enough to engulf Luz completely, and beneath the waves she couldn't see either Orion or Cassiopeia any more. She looked around for them desperately, before her vision suddenly went white and she found herself snapping back to reality as their connection broke.
When she opened her eyes, she was upright again and her barrier had only just been broken, meaning the entire vision had happened in an instant. Her heart was still burning with magic, and Luz could feel the warmth spreading through her veins and beneath her skin, pooling in her right leg, which was tingling with power. Luna, who had staggered back after her hammer broke, snarled and brought the shaft of the hammer down to try and smash Luz, while Mason reached for her to pull her out of the way. Before either could touch her though, Luz allowed the magic building inside her to erupt out in a blast of golden light, causing both Merrows to cringe back and cover their eyes.
The light faded fast, and Mason blinked away the spots it had made him see so he could make sure Luz was okay. He found her stood exactly where she'd been stood before, only now she was practically radiating magic. Her wings were shining a little brighter, and Mason could have sworn her hair had grown a little longer, but the real difference was Luz's right leg. A silvery grey wind glyph had been tattooed onto the top of her right foot (left bare by her Holy raiment), and glowing silver lines stretched from the glyph up to her thigh, where it then curled around the girl's side to just below her rib cage, before curling around to her back and connecting to her wing joints, forming a silver ring of colour around them.
Mason gaped at the changes while Luz smiled and looked at her newly marked foot, wiggling her toes as she admired that glyph mark.
"I've finally bonded with the wind glyph!" Luz cheered. It was the longest she'd gone from finding a glyph to bonding with it at nearly a whole month, but the wait was well worth it! Using just the tiniest amount of wind magic, Luz waved her hand and created a comforting breeze around her, making her sigh with delight. She allowed the wind to flow through her wings, eventually catching them and allowing her to take to the sky with ease. The feeling of freedom it gave her to be able to fly while in full control of the wind was intoxicating for the girl, who couldn't help but giggle.
"I guess it's not the element of freedom for nothing!" she cheered, before turning her eyes on Luna, who was sneering at her, her glowing teal eyes still blinking away the flash of light.
"But it's the element of desire too, and right now I want to snap you out of it and make you listen to what we've got to say!" Luz declared, taking a combat stance now that she was reenergised.
"Miss Luz, are you alright!?" Mason cried, having no idea what just happened.
Luz nodded with a smile; "Better than ever! Let's just say the Titan gave me a little present!"
"LIAR!" bellowed Luna, "The Titan would never aid an abomination like you or Belos!"
The young Arch-Angel gulped; it looked like Hooty wasn't the only one saying the wrong thing today!
Luna threw the shaft of her destroyed hammer at Luz, who blocked it with her new wind magic by infusing it into her wings (which glowed with silver light) then flapping them hard, producing a gale strong enough to send the shaft flying back at Luna, striking her in the gut and winding her. This just made her angrier however, and Luna then used a combination of water and potions magic to pull up a huge amount of water from the Boiling Sea and transmute it into crystalline spears, which she then filled with the same acidic poison as she'd used against Mason. However, like the hammer shaft, none of them got even close to her as Luz flapped her wings hard and the resulting gale blasted the spears away. Some shattered against Luna's skin and began to burn her thanks to the poison, but she swiftly neutralised it, before leaping at Luz in a blind rage.
"Hope you like skydiving!" Luz yelled, conjuring a wind glyph in her hand and then waving it upwards, creating a powerful updraft that sent Luna careening into the sky. Luz ended up using a little more power than she'd intended to, and so Luna flew all the way up into the clouds.
"Oops…" Luz said, beginning to laugh nervously as Mason just stared at her.
"I'm starting to think the talk of Angels being orderly was all just propaganda by Belos." he commented.
"Eh, I'm kind of an outlier when it comes to angels…" Luz shrugged.
"LUZ!"
Luz and Mason turned around and saw Matt and Lilith flying straight at them. "Guys! Are you all okay?" Luz asked.
"We're fine. I needed to make some more healing combos and I'm now out of paper and almost out of magic, but I'm alive." Lilith said.
"Me too. But you're looking more than fine! Did you get a new glyph?" Matt asked excitedly.
"You know it!" Luz replied, raising her right leg to show the new glyph; "I've got wind magic now! That also means I've now got the last element needed to perfect Illusion and Bardic Magic!"
"That's wonderful!" Lilith smiled, "But where is Mrs Miphari?"
Luz blinked, then her eyes widened; "Oh! I forgot about her for a second! She should be landing right about…"
There was a loud scream followed by a monumental splash as Luna landed in the Boiling Sea just a few feet away from them. "...now." Luz finished, having raised a barrier to protect herself and the others from the splash.
Luna floated on the surface of the sea, stunned by the rough landing, before shaking it off and glaring furiously at Luz. Since she was still protected by her barrier, Luz decided now was a good time to tell the others her plan.
"If my Bardic Magic has been boosted, I'm sure I can calm her down with a Song of Soothing, but I need a way to hold her down long enough to sing it. Do you think you guys can handle it?"
Mason grimaced; "I'm almost out of magic, but I could use the last of it to strengthen myself and grapple her."
"I'm fairly tapped too, but Hootsifer can probably help." Lilith said, as Hooty nodded enthusiastically.
"Pebbles and I can take care of destroying any weapons she transmutes. Together, we can do this!" Matt grinned, pumping his fist confidently.
Luz grinned; "Great! Then let's do it! Close your eyes, because we're starting with this!"
She used light glyphs to turn her crystal barrier into a giant disco ball, creating a flash that blinded Luna. Since Luna couldn't see them for a moment, Luz put her improved illusion magic to the test by hiding her friends with invisibility and sending illusions of them out in all directions. Previously, Luz could only make visual illusions, but now with all the elemental components mastered, she could finally make audible ones as well, so each of her illusory friends began yelling at Luna, shouting things like "Over here!" and "Can't catch me!"
Naturally Luna tried to claw at them, completely unaware that Mason, Lilith, and Matt were sneaking up on her while invisible, as Luz took a deep breath to prepare for her song. Luz snapped her fingers to make her own invisibility drop (there was no point wasting magic on maintaining it when her singing would reveal her location) then began to sing her heart out, focusing all her light and wind magic into her lungs and throat as she sang the words to the Song of Soothing.
Luna heard the melody and felt her heartbeat begin to slow, just like earlier in the grotto. Turning away from the illusory clones, she began swimming rapidly towards Luz, who was flying just a little too high for Luna to grab without a huge jump. Once she'd built enough speed and was directly below Luz, the giant Merrow leapt out of the ocean and swung at the young Arch-Angel, but the instant she was fully out of the water, the real Matt, Lilith, and Mason leapt into action. Mason leapt out of the water with his Ma, grabbing onto the back of her dress and using Construction Magic to enhance his strength and physique until he was strong enough to put her into a full nelson, trapping her arms and forcing her head forward. Lilith, using what remained of her Angelic Blessing, used wind and water magic of her own to shift the iceberg she'd made earlier, placing it directly below Luna, who fell towards it since her leap had been interrupted.
Mason twisted his body in mid air so his Ma hit the iceberg face first and he landed safely on her back. With a scream of pain and rage, Luna began transmuting weapons to attack with, but before she could complete a single one, Matt (who was now stood on the iceberg) fired disintegration spells at her creations, destroying them. Shocked by this, Luna then tried to produce poison from the sea, but Hooty suddenly burst out from the ice and wrapped himself around the woman's fingers, binding them to the iceberg and disabling her hands, giving Mason the opening to jump off his Ma's back and onto her tail, ensuring she couldn't move it enough to draw a spell circle.
The maddened Luna thrashed and screeched in rage, her eyes still glowing with teal magic, but it was no use; she couldn't break free fast enough! Even trying to shriek loud enough to drown out Luz's singing failed, as Hooty wrapped himself around her mouth to gag her. Luna had no choice but to listen to Luz's song, which spread a red and gold aura over everyone listening to it. Everyone began to feel calmed by the gentle melody; Luz's friends felt themselves relaxing, and Luna felt her anger and hatred melting away, causing her eyes to begin flashing between the Bile Overload glow and her regular eyes. The flashing grew slower with every sung word, until finally, the glow vanished altogether and Luna went limp and ceased her struggling, signalling the end of her overload.
However what came next was almost worse, at least for Mason and Poor Luna herself. The Song of Soothing calmed anger, hatred, anxiety, fear, excitement, and other "high energy" emotions, but it did not stop emotions like happiness, contentedness, or sadness… so while Luna had been calmed from her rage, she still felt the despair of believing her son and husband were dead and murdered by one of the people holding her down. As such she began to sob quietly, still restrained and unable to do anything else.
Mason's own eyes stung with tears as he released his Ma's tail and ran to her face, as Luz flew down to join the others.
"Ma! Listen, I know you probably don't believe me, but I truly am your son. I am Talis! Mason is just an alias of mine that I used to sneak into Belos' Coven System so I could save you! Please believe me!" he begged.
Luna stared at him with wide, but distrusting eyes, so Luz went over to stand with him; "Luna, you know I'm an Angel and can't lie without it hurting me. So let that be proof that Mason really is your son. You were petrified for 30 years, and he has been working to save you that whole time!"
The woman tried to talk, but her words were muffled by Hooty, so Lilith had him retract enough to let her speak.
"Why should I believe you!? This bird creature said this man killed my son! My husband! And Belos was like you too, but he lied!" Luna pointed out.
Hooty spoke up; "Gee, I'm really sorry Mrs Miphari! I never meant to upset you! What I said came out wrong! Hoot!"
"W-What?" Luna stuttered.
"When he said I was there for Dad's end, it's because I was by his side on his deathbed." Mason explained, looking choked up; "I was with him in his last moments, but I did everything I could for him! If anything, I tried to prolong his life!"
Luna clenched her eyes shut; she'd already come to accept her husband was gone… but she would have time to grieve later, once she knew the fate of her son.
"And Talis? What of him?"
"I am him, Ma." Mason said again; "I left the Boiling Isles as Talis Miphari, and changed my name to Mason when I came back to rescue you and get revenge on Belos! I can tell you things only Talis would know! Like how your favourite food was salt-cured Dairy Cow Legs! Or that you used to brew potions for the Old Lady who lived next door, and told her it only cost 5 snails when it was actually closer to 50! Or that you dreamt of going to the Human Realm and riding a Blue Whale!"
Luna gasped softly; she hadn't told a single other soul about that old dream of hers… it had been a private confession between her and her son, who'd been nervous about admitting his own dream of wanting to build a city in the sky, since he'd been mocked for it by the other children.
That revelation hit Luna like a raging Slitherbeast; if Mason knew that secret, it's either because Talis told him… or he WAS Talis!
"I-I… you can't be…!?" she whispered, aghast at the possibility.
"I am Ma. I swear it. I'll sit here and wait for you to brew Blabber Serum to prove it if I have too." he replied.
The tears flowing down Luna's face began to flow faster; "But that means that this whole time… I've been trying to murder my own son!"
"It wasn't your fault." Luz said gently; "It was a misunderstanding. You were confused and mentally impaired by being petrified for so long, and everything just got out of control. But now your son is right here, alive and well!"
She gestured to Hooty once again, who completely unbound Luna's fingers and retreated back into the birdhouse on Lilith's back, while everyone but Mason stepped back. Now free, Luna looked between Luz and Mason with regret dawning on her face. She looked at Mason as thick tears dripped down her cheeks and hit the iceberg beneath her with loud splashes.
"Talis? My baby?" she whispered.
"I'm a little more grown up now, but yeah. It's me Ma. I missed you." Mason said, smiling even as tears when down his own face.
"TALIS!" Luna sobbed, grabbing her son and pulling him up to her face so she could nuzzle him. "Oh my poor baby! Mama is so sorry! I never wanted to hurt you!"
Mason returned the hug as best he could; "I know Ma, I never doubted it. I'm just so glad you're back to being yourself!"
The mother and son held each other for a long time, each crying with relief, and then grief over all the time they'd lost, as well as the loss of their husband/father. Luz and the others watched from a respectful distance, just glad that the whole ordeal was over. It was a while before either Mason or Luna were able to compose themselves enough to talk to them, but when they finally did (after Luna got back in the water to warm up from the iceberg), they both bowed their heads gratefully to them.
"Miss Angel, I owe you and your friends a great apology, and an even greater debt." Luna said contritely; "Everything still feels so strange, and part of me is afraid this is all another delusion inside my head, but I still need to thank you for freeing me from petrification. It seems I've missed a lot in the last 30 years."
"I'll be sure to fill you in on everything." Mason promised, before bowing formally to Luz; "Miss Luz, you did a great service for me. You, Miss Lilith, and the young lad." he nodded to Lilith and Matt. He even nodded to Hooty; "The Bird Worm did his best too; fumbled as his attempts may be, he still tried and I appreciate honest effort."
Hooty beamed; "You're welcome! Hoot!" he said, wiggling happily. Mason and Luna shuddered a little, then ignored him in favour of the others.
"You're welcome, Mason! I'm just glad it worked out! Besides, this adventure helped me bond with the wind glyph and feel better about a problem of my own. I've decided not to get so hung up on what I want most in life, and just keep doing my best to achieve everything I can. Seeing your devotion to saving your Ma after all these years is part of what helped me understand." Luz smiled.
"Me too. I was able to bond with Pebbles thanks to all of this! That made it all worth it." Matt grinned, his new Palisman resting on his shoulder.
Lilith nodded too; "We worked together for years, Mason. I'm glad to have helped an old colleague."
Mason gave a smile of appreciation, then looked back up at his Ma; "We still need to find a place to hide you, and a way to get you the help you need. If you're seen, then Belos will find out I didn't destroy the petrified statues and I'll be exposed as a traitor."
"We can help with that too." Luz said, "We have a perfect safe haven that Belos and his people can't reach; only an Angel like me can open the way. I can't say more unless you both join the CATTs, but it would be the perfect place to hide Miss Luna!"
"Great idea! Mason, you did say you'd join our rebellion against Belos anyway, so what do you say?" Lilith asked.
The man hummed in thought, then looked up to his Ma, who nodded in silent agreement. She was 30 years out of the loop (and still coming to terms with the fact she was biologically younger than her own son now, thanks to being petrified for so long) so she decided to trust in her son and her saviour. With that, Mason agreed.
"I'll take your oath and join the CATTs. I'll also need to help you fish out the other petrified statues; the underwater grotto is going to be flooded now, along with Ol' Bessie." he said.
"We should take them all back to HQ before you try to free them, Luz." Lilith quickly chimed in, seeing the look on Luz's face; "It's the safest place for them to be, and where we can best identify which ones were genuinely guilty and who were just innocents that Belos victimised."
Luz nodded; "Right. Mason was able to turn an airship into a submersible, so I bet if he tells Alador, he'll be able to make more. That'll make transporting the petrified statues back to the Owl House a lot easier! But how are we gonna get Luna back there?"
Luna was far too big to ride on their staves or be carried by Luz, and putting her in a barrier would be far too magic intensive and conspicuous, especially since they had to fly all the way from the Foot to the Right Arm! Thankfully, Luna herself had a solution.
"Give me thirty minutes and I can brew up a Reducing Residue. It was a common potion used by Merrows and I can harvest all the ingredients from around here." she said.
With no better ideas, everyone agreed to that. So for the next thirty minutes, Luna and Mason dove beneath the sea and gathered the ingredients needed for the potion, then began brewing it without the need of a cauldron. Luna instead showed off her skills with Potions magic by controlling some seawater into a ball, then purifying it, adjusting its temperature, and throwing the ingredients in after preparing them with spells, resulting in a mass of lilac coloured potion, which she sealed into crystal vials that she'd transmuted out of sea salt. She handed most of the vials to Luz, Matt, and Lilith as tokens of her appreciation, then dumped the last vial's contents on her own head, causing her to shrink until she was about half the size of Luz, making her look like a toddler version of herself.
"There! All done!" she said proudly. "Mama's still got it, right Talis?"
"That you do Ma, that you do. Now let's be getting on our way." Mason smiled.
Mason sat on the back of Lilith's staff, while Luz decided to carry Luna personally (as Matt hadn't had any practice flying with a passenger yet), before they all began the flight back to the Owl House. It was evening by the time they arrived, but thanks to Lilith sending messages to Raine and the others not on Digale Island to keep them in the loop, there were no concerned people waiting for them; just the usual people waiting for the evening transport to Digale Island. Among these people were Rasiel and Steve, the latter of whom took one look at Matt riding on Pebbles and immediately burst into the biggest smile Matt had ever seen.
They touched down in front of the Owl House and several of the waiting CATTs members immediately shot wary looks at Mason, but Luz quickly calmed them down by explaining he was there to join them. Rasiel then stepped forward with a bright smile.
"Luz! I see you bonded with another glyph! It seems you've had quite the adventure!" he said, ruffling her hair, which he noted was a little longer now.
"Yeah! It was kind of crazy, but then when are my adventures anything but?" Luz laughed, enjoying the pleasant contact; "Just wait until Mom and King hear about it! Get this, I had a vision when I bonded with the glyph and got to meet King's parents! They couldn't talk to me and his Mom was all weird and glowy, but I really got to talk to them!"
"Truly? Incredible! I guess that's the final confirmation that Digale Island is a part of King's mother then… He already strongly suspects, so it won't be too much of a surprise, but he'll probably be emotional over it." Rasiel replied.
"Yeah… I'll give him lots of hugs!" Luz decided, before turning to the others. Lilith was now reassuring the other CATTs members and informing them a little on what happened down at the Metatarsal Reef, while Steve was approaching Matt and Pebbles for a talk. Deciding not to get involved in the latter, since it would likely be very personal, Luz instead went over to Mason and Luna to have them take the necessary secrecy oaths.
Meanwhile Steve was still beaming as he looked at his little brother and former Palisman.
"Matt, Pebbles! I can't believe it! You've bonded!" Steve said, hugging his little brother tightly.
"Y-Yeah! It's a long story, but Pebbles and I are partners now! Is… is that okay?" Matt asked, looking unsure. He knew it must have been horribly painful to have to cut ties with Pebbles, even if it was to save the little guy's life. Having the Palisman he'd carved come back bonded with someone else, especially his own little brother, had to hurt.
And in truth, it did hurt. Steve's heart ached upon seeing Pebbles again and a part of him really did wish he could have re-bonded with his Palisman. But he'd made his choice when he'd severed the bond; he'd made a sacrifice and separated himself from Pebbles to save the little guy's life, instead of choosing to leave the Emperor's Coven and follow a different path in life alongside Pebbles. Steve had already decided that he didn't have the right to take Pebbles back after what he'd done, so while seeing Pebbles now bonded to Matt did sting, it also made Steve smile. It was the best possible result, as far as Steve was concerned.
"It's more than okay. Steve is a proud big bro!" Steve declared, ruffling Matt's hair with an earnest grin. He then looked at Pebbles and knelt down; "Pebbles, I'm so sorry for what I did. I should have chosen to leave the Emperor's Coven instead of giving you up… I can't ask you to forgive me for what I did, but I'm so happy that Matt was able to be the partner you deserve! Please take care of my little bro."
Pebbles leapt from Matt's shoulder and onto Steve's, nuzzling his old partner's cheek. He squeaked and Matt smiled sadly as he translated; "He says he will, and that even if you're not partners any more, he'd still like to be friends."
Naturally, Steve promptly burst into noisy tears and hugged both of them tightly. "Aw yeah, Bro Love for Steve! It's so beautiful!" he sobbed, even as his smile couldn't grow any wider.
A short time later, after Steve had calmed down and Mason and Luna had taken the oaths, Luz transported everyone to Digale Island. There they were met by Eda, Amity, Darius, and Eber, the former two having been waiting to see Luz, while the latter two were waiting for Lilith. Upon seeing Mason, Darius and Eber both blinked in surprise. Mason looked back at them, significantly less shocked than they were.
"So you two are rebels too? I figured something was up; you didn't look impressed by Belos' big Unity plan." Mason commented.
"Indeed. I thought the same of you, but figured you were just being stoic as always." Darius said, before giving Luz (who was currently being hugged by Eda and Amity) a deadpan state; "I thought I told you to take the day off, Little Light."
"In my defence, I was just hanging out with Lilith when things went a little off the rails." Luz said.
"No kidding." Eda smirked, seeing the new glyph on Luz's foot (she was still wearing her raiment) and noting her longer hair.
"I love it!" Amity gushed, running her hands through Luz's hair; "It's as long as mine is now! But curlier! You've got to let me braid it some time, Batata!"
Luz, who was practically melting as Amity's hands ran through her hair, nodded dumbly; "Anytime, Hermosa!"
Darius rolled his eyes at the lovebirds; "Alright, let's go to the meeting room so you can tell us all about the chaos you caused this time."
Luz nodded and everyone began escorting Mason and Luna to the CATTs HQ for a meeting. As they walked, Luz looked up at her Mom and said; "I've done a lot of thinking today, and while I still don't know exactly what I want to focus on to form a bond with my Palisman, I do know what I want to carve them into."
Eda smiled at her; "Oh yeah? Gonna go for a bird like your Mom? Or maybe a cat like your girlfriend? Oh, or maybe a bat? Raine would love that, and it's fluffy like a cat but flies like a bird!" she guessed.
Luz shook her head and said; "Nope! I'm gonna carve an egg!"
Eda and Amity both looked at Luz questioningly; "An egg?" Amity repeated, "Why an egg? Not that I'm judging you or anything." she added quickly.
Luz just smiled and kissed her cheek; "Partly because of something you said, and partly because of Mom and Mami." she said, making her Mom and Lover look even more puzzled.
"Something we said?" Eda questioned.
Luz nodded' "Yep! You and my Mami both had things that you wanted for me, but you also both decided to give me the freedom to decide what I would become for myself! And Amity, you bonded with Ghost because you decided that no matter what, you'd choose your own path in life. Well I decided that I want my Palisman to have the same option. I'll carve them an egg, and they can grow into any form they want! They'll have the freedom to decide who and what they become!"
Amity and Eda both looked touched; "That's so sweet!" Amity gushed.
"It is. Good job, Owlet." Eda grinned, "An Egg Palisman has been done before, but be warned; you won't be able to use it as a staff until it hatches, and it won't hatch until you form the connection. Are you ready to wait that long?"
Luz nodded, a soft smile on her lips as she put a hand over her heart; "I'll wait as long as I have to. A Palisman is a part of you after all; I'm still growing up and changing too, so I can't rush it."
Eda smiled and pulled Luz into a side hug as they walked; "My Little Owlet is really growing up…! One minute she's a fresh-faced Cherub helping me break into prison, and the next minute she's a hardened Arch-Angel Rebel Leader with a girlfriend and plans for an Egg of her own! Where does the time go?"
Luz and Amity both promptly burst out laughing, while Eda chuckled along with them. Luz didn't know where her path in life would lead, but for now she was just happy to have a good family to walk down it with.