The two boys were happy to let Boscha take charge, and obediently dragged the unconscious guard into one of the nearby storerooms, then raided the place for equipment. They found a plethora of useful ingredients, as well as some older models of the Combat Potioneer Belt. Morton took one of these and left the newer one to Boscha, whilst also stripping the uniform from the unconscious guard and putting it on himself as a disguise. He and Boscha then filled their ingredient drums with everything they could from the room, while Barcus (who couldn't effectively wear and use the belt) instead armed himself with some old flasks and vials, and had his Oracle Spirit whip up some potion projectiles for him to use.
Once they were stocked up and ready for anything, Boscha said; "We should split up. I'm going to Vitimir's Lab to save Luz. You two should go after Eda."
"You can't be serious! You want to take on the Head Witch on your own!?" Morton protested.
"Of course not! I'm not an idiot! But my Palisman is there, Luz is there, and from what Vitimir ordered while dragging me away, my parents should be there! Between me and them, we should be able to free Luz and hopefully beat Vitimir! And if that's still not enough, I'm counting on my teammates to rescue Eda and come back me up!" Boscha retorted.
Morton opened his mouth to argue again, but swiftly shut it; if Vitimir was plotting to brainwash Luz then they couldn't afford to dawdle. "Alright. If they're taking Eda and Barcus' parents to the Emperor, then they'll either take an airship from the yard or a cart from the bridge. Either way, we're heading outside."
"That's good. We'll be able to fly straight to the top floor after we save them." Barcus said.
"Right. There's a balcony on the west side; once you free Eda and the others, bring them there to back me up." Boscha ordered.
The canine demon nodded, and with all of them as prepared as they could hope to be, they headed off; Barcus and Morton heading to central staircase while Boscha ran up the stairs in the secret passage.
Thanks to Morton's stolen uniform, they were able to get the drop on another guard and knock him out too, stealing a second uniform for Barcus to wear. It wasn't a great fit, but the guards and coven members running about the lower floors of the Alchemist Atelier were too busy to notice that; so long as the two looked like they belonged there at a glance, then their disguise was good enough. Morton led Barcus outside to the Atelier's grounds via a side door meant for picking up and dropping off deliveries, and to their immense relief, they saw Eda, Rom, and Howlena unconscious and tied to posts beside an airship, which was being prepared for take off.
"I'll need to brew up a cleansing potion to cure the effects of the Bile Inhibitor." Morton whispered as they approached; "I've got the ingredients from the storeroom, now I just need a few minutes to mix it together. Think you can distract the guards and keep them from flying off in the meantime?"
Barcus smirked behind his stolen plague doctor mask and nodded. He willed his Oracle Spirit to sink into the ground and travel underneath it until it was directly below the airship. Then, with a banshee-like wail, the spirit burst out of the ground, up through the bowels of the airship, and into the balloon itself, which it then began to tear apart with furious swipes. The balloon burst with a mighty explosion, setting fire to the deck of the ship and causing the floating vessel to slam into the ground, cracking the keel and ensuring it wasn't going anywhere.
Most of the guards and coven members in the yard began running about and screaming to put the fire out, while a few ran over to surround their prisoners, who'd been startled awake by the explosion (though they were still groggy from the after effects of the Sleeping Nettles).
"That was an Oracle Spirit!" one of the elite guards screamed; "That means we've got an intruder! Secure the prisoners and search the place! I want that intruder's head in a cauldron before midnight!"
Morton grinned at the chaos, then led Barcus to a small maintenance shed only a stone's throw from the airship wreckage. There he was able to begin working on the cleansing potion while Barcus had a clear view of the yard through a window, which he could use to order his spirit to attack and cause chaos, throwing around the potion projectiles they'd brewed up in the storeroom. The potions did all sorts of weird and wonderful things; one made the people effected by it shrink to the size of mice, while another hardened their bodies like an Iron Iris, but to the point that they were too heavy to even move. Yet another potion created a pool of water that had tentacles emerging from inside to grab and restrain anyone nearby, and there was even one that made people extremely emotional and begin sobbing and hugging each other. Half the scouts in the yard were either tiny, unable to move, restrained, or trying to make each other feel better, leaving the remaining half with a lot less man power to put out the fire, guard Eda and the others, and deal with the Oracle Spirit.
Eventually one of them was able to craft an Elixir of Ectoplasm and nail the spirit with it, not only binding its arms to hits body with sticky green goo, but also forcing the spirit to remain corporeal and instinctively try to return to its Oracle Stone, which meant the spirit and the people chasing it were now heading straight for Barcus and Morton!
"Uh oh. Incoming!" Barcus woofed out a warning. Morton knew just barely enough of the Direwolf tongue to understand.
"Almost done! Can you hold them off for a few more seconds!?" Morton yelled, not looking up from the old trash can he was brewing in. He had a pair of other, smaller potions brewing in a couple of empty paint tins too, though Barcus had no idea what these were.
"I guess I'll have to! I suppose it's time to let out my feral side!" Barcus growled as guards began banging on the shed door, trying to get in. He reached for the one potion he hadn't given his spirit to throw; a potion with the thick coppery stench of blood. It looked like blood too; a dark red liquid with ominous swirls of black. It had been made made in a volumetric flask that Barcus now held by the neck in his jaws, waiting for the instant the guards broke through the door. When that instant came, Barcus immediately tossed the flask at the first person through, and it shattering against them and made them pause to examine the stuff.
"This is… oh Titan! It's a Beast Blood Potion!" the guard shrieked in terror. The other guards gasped and began backing away rapidly, while the guard who'd been hit tried smashing vials of water on himself to wash the pungent liquid off, to no avail.
The reason for their terror became abundantly clear when Barcus got a good whiff of the blood-like scent, mixed with the scent of sweat and fear from the guard. Feeling his feral instincts rage, Barcus tapped into his Direwolf genes and tensed his body, swelling himself up to almost double his original size, and causing his almost human-like face to extend outward into a more lupine appearance. His fur stood on end and a deep rumbling growl filled his chest as his blue eyes turned a blood red. With one final rabid snarl, he leapt at the guard coated in Beast Blood Potion and grabbed his throat with his jaws, using it to hoist him into the air then slam him down into the ground head first, knocking him out.
Beast Blood Potion was a rarely used creation, to the point of having its legality frequently argued on the Boiling Isles. When its fumes were mixed with the scent of another living creature, it caused Beast Demons like Direwolves (and those with Beast Demon blood like Barcus) to go into a frenzy, like a shark smelling blood in the water. They would briefly go feral, gaining incredible strength and resilience but losing a lot of their intelligence and ability to reason. Barcus was just barely keeping enough self-control to not kill the guards or attack Morton and Eda (his parents were safe, as they were his pack).
With a bloodthirsty howl, Barcus began rampaging through the remaining guards, leaving Morton more than enough time to finish his cleansing potion. As soon as it was done, he put his other two potions to use, then bottled up three doses of cleansing potion and ran to where Eda, Rom, and Howlena were tied up. The trio had been watching the chaos with confusion, but all three smiled when they saw Morton lift his stolen mask and show his face.
"Morton! You're a sight for sore eyes! How did you break out!?" Eda asked with a grin as Morton poured a little bit of acid he'd brewed onto her chains, freeing her.
"Boscha pulled off a mix of potions and bardic magic and busted us out! She's gone to save Luz from Vitimir, but we need to back her up!" Morton explained, freeing Barcus' parents too, before handing each of them a cleansing potion. "Drink these; they'll take a few seconds to work, but they should stop the effects of the Bile Inhibitor Potion."
"Thanks Morton! And here I always thought you were kind of a Dweeb!" Eda smirked, gulping down the potion in one go.
"You have our thanks too." Rom said, "Now we need to go help Barcus!"
Howlena barked her agreement and made a run for the guards, who had given up on escaping the feral Barcus and were now trying to dog pile and overwhelm him. The cleansing potion hadn't fully done its work yet, so Eda was forced to hang back while Rom chased after his wife, ready to help in the fight.
Between the blood raged Barcus and his parents, it really wasn't much of a fight. Potioneers could fight with some basic ice and fire magic, and maybe even a little elemental plant magic, but mostly relied on brewing potions to enhance themselves and debilitate their opponents, since transmutation was too difficult for all but the upper echelons of the Potions Coven. But against a trio of fast and powerful Demons, they stood no chance.
However the fighting had drawn the attention of more guards from inside, who sounded the alarm and came running out. Eda frowned and prepared to head them off before they could overwhelm Barcus' family with sheer numbers, but Morton stopped her.
"Let me block off their reinforcements first." he said, drawing a spell circle. Eda eyed him curiously, then gasped as she saw that his spell circle was green.
Suddenly, thick vines and roots burst out of the ground of the side entrance the guards were pouring out from, completely blocking off the door and preventing more from getting out.
"That was Plant Magic, and not just the raw elemental kind!? But how? I thought you were in the Potions Coven!?" Eda exclaimed.
Morton grinned and raised his right hand, showing Eda the inside of his wrist. His sigil was gone, replaced by a poorly healed acid burn. "I heard Luz escaped a sigil by cutting her hand off. I'm not that brave, but that acid I brewed up to melt your chains was enough to burn the sigil away." he explained. He then winced as he added; "It took a chunk of my wrist too… good thing I brewed a healing potion too!"
"You were never very good at healing potions." Eda frowned, eyeing the burn. "I'll ask Luz to heal it properly once this is over… in the meantime, welcome to the life of a Wild Witch!"
Morton grinned, then he and Eda leapt into the fray to help Barcus' family beat up the last of the guards in the yard, with Eda summoning Owlbert and switching to Harpy Mode to show off her full power. It didn't take long to knock out or tie up the last of the guards, especially with Morton using Plant Magic to help corral them all and block off reinforcements. But the alarm was still blaring and the other entrances and exits from the Atelier were still open, so more guards would be coming any second now.
"We should get out of here and back up Boscha, before we get overwhelmed by numbers." Morton said as he used more of his cleansing potion to calm down Barcus, as well as remove the ectoplasm from his Oracle Spirit.
"Right! Let's go!" Eda said, taking to the skies. Barcus summoned his Palisman Duno, and offered Morton a ride while his mother rode with her husband, all of them flying up to the top floor of the atelier, ready to run to Luz and Boscha's aid.
[Meanwhile]
It was only a few minutes of stair climbing for Boscha to reach the top of the secret staircase that Vitimir had dragged her down earlier. Once she got to the top, she gulped down an Ichor of Invisibility, which turned her entire body transparent, then used the stolen brass key to carefully open the secret passage and emerge back into Vitimir's large penthouse laboratory. As expected, Vitimir was present and working on what appeared to be a hideously complicated potion that required a lot of differently brewed liquids and compounds, which were being slowly distilled into a giant crystalline cauldron.
Boscha narrowed her eyes on it, then looked around and saw that her parents were present and actually helping Vitimir, though neither looked happy about it. Her mother had a worried frown on her face as she brewed one of the chemicals Vitimir needed, while her Daddy was working out their own obvious anger by grinding several ingredients down to powder. It appeared the potion was almost done too, as Morel angrily stomped over and slammed the mortar of powder onto the table beside Vitimir.
"There, the Ionizing Compound is complete. Anything else you need?" they asked venomously.
"Help your wife with the last binding agent. Once it's done and the potion is complete, I will forgive your daughter's rebellion and free her." Vitimir said coldly, slowly stirring the powder into the cauldron, then turning a valve on the distilling vials to make it steadily drip an unknown pink liquid into the potion.
"Boscha didn't mean any harm…" Callisto weakly argued, walking over with the binding agent Vitimir wanted. He snatched it from her and attached it to another valve for distilling, which began dripping it into the cauldron.
"Your daughter attacked a Coven Head and tried to interfere with my plans! You're all lucky I'm not sending her to the Emperor along with the Owl Lady!" he sneered.
"And what exactly are your plans!?"
The new voice made Boscha turn to the source, finding that it was Luz. She was in her Holy Raiment now, but was trapped in some kind of strange, frilly bedroom with some kind of crystal door blocking her from escaping. Considering the firepower Boscha knew Luz had, Vitimir must have reinforced the whole place to stop her escaping… either that or Luz was holding back for fear he'll kill her friends.
Vitimir made a few final preparations and set the potion to simmer until it was complete, then ordered the Alembics to stand against the wall within his line of sight as he turned to speak to Luz.
"I told you before; I will make you my child. Family is all I've ever wanted… The Bazamets were a family of lesser nobles that were wiped out by enemies of the Emperor after they sided with him. I alone survived and was tossed into a neglectful orphanage to be forgotten about, with all my family's wealth, possessions, and heirlooms being stolen by their murderers! I thought I would live my life alone, but then when I was twelve, I met her…"
Vitimir had a look of nostalgic bliss on his face as he recalled that day; "Cassiel… the first time I met her, she saved me from bullies like my own personal guardian angel! It was love at first sight. Of course, I didn't know what she was at the time, but I wanted to thank her and so took her to Hexside with me. For years we were friends, and she confessed that she too had come from an unhappy orphanage in the Human Realm. She understood me like no one ever did and we spent years together. When I graduated Hexside, I intended to finally ask her to marry me… only for those foul creatures to get in the way! Because of them, she fled the Boiling Isles and my dream of finally having a family fled with her…"
He then looked Luz in the eye with a manic smile; "If she hadn't been forced to flee, we'd have been married and had a child of our own! They'd be about your age now! But I can fix it! I can build my family with my own hands! I'll make you my daughter, you look so much like my Cassiel, and then when the Day of Unity is complete and we ascend to the Divine Realm, I can reunite with Cassiel and we can be a real family!"
Boscha and her parents all looked disgusted, while Luz stared at Vitimir like he'd lost his mind. Honestly, he probably had…
"I'm not your daughter! I'm not Cassiel's daughter! I already have a family!" Luz cried.
"None of that matters! My potion will fix it all! My Familial Historia Elixir will rewrite your mind and even your DNA! You're only half angel, which makes it easier; it will target all your non-angelic DNA and replace it with mine, while rewriting your memories. Once you drink it, you'll be my daughter in body and soul! It is my ultimate masterpiece!" Vitimir boasted. "I spent years perfecting it! The ingredients are rare, with one coming from an extinct creature, but I finally managed it! Compared to the Bloodline Potions used in adoptions and for surrogates, the Familial Historia Elixir is a work of art! My dream is at hand!"
Luz went green as she desperately tried to think of a way out of this that didn't get her captured friends killed. She'd already tried breaking out of the weird bedroom Vitimir had prepared for her, but it had been reinforced with her in mind, and Vitimir had threatened the others' lives if she tried again.
"W-Wait! Didn't you swear an oath not to hurt me, treat me cruelly, or hand me over to Belos!?" she cried, stalling for time.
Vitimir nodded; "I did. I made sure the potion will not hurt, and I've been nothing but kind to you, even if you don't understand my kindness. And as for Belos; once you're my obedient child, you'll happily help him without the need for me to hand you over. Everything is going to be perfect."
"Not if I've got anything to say about it!" Boscha thought. The potion was almost complete, and she could feel the Ichor of Invisibility beginning to run out due to the small dose she'd taken. She wanted to aim to destroy the potion, but Vitimir had already activated a barrier around the cauldron as it simmered (likely to keep out contagions). So she instead looked around the lab and found Maya trapped in a cage on another work table.
"If I can't take out the potion, I'll take out the potioneer!" Boscha thought to herself, sneaking over to the table with the cage. She very gently reached into the cage and tapped Maya's head, then mentally transmitted her thoughts to her through their bond. Maya immediately perked up and sent back her own emotions of relief and warning, letting Boscha know the cage was enchanted to keep Boscha from summoning her out. Thankfully this was no concern, and Boscha used her new belt to whip up a quick acid (it was a lot easier with the proper ingredients) then pour it onto the bars, melting them enough for Maya to scuttle out into Boscha's hand.
Ducking down so the table kept Maya out of sight, Boscha switched her to staff form and began creeping towards Vitimir, trying to strike a balance between moving fast before the invisibility ran out, and moving stealthily so he wouldn't hear her. Maya's staff wasn't invisible, so Luz and the Alembics both noticed the floating staff, but seeing as they knew who it belonged too, they kept silent as Boscha crept up behind Vitimir as he stared through the barrier at his simmering potion. Once she was in position, she pointed Maya at the back of his head, drew a small smell circle, and prepared to launch a fireball directly at him.
Unfortunately, Vitimir felt the sudden heat behind his head before Boscha could complete the spell and instinctively ducked, letting the fireball sail over his head and destroy his hat. With a snarl, he spun around and tossed a potion directly at the invisible Boscha, though thanks to her still being invisible, she was able to avoid it easily by dropping her staff and leaping away, then aiming a hard punch at the man's face. She socked him right in the cheek, then while he was stunned, she summoned Maya back to her hand and successfully shot a fireball into his chest, making him scream as he was blasted backward. Her spell burned a hole through his black coat and exposed his chest to the open air, revealing he was extremely gaunt and skinny, with his ribs clearly visible through his skin.
At that moment, Boscha turned visible again and Vitimir sneered.
"YOU! STOP GETTING IN MY WAY!" he demanded, preparing a spell circle. Before he could complete it however, Morel pounced on him and began punching him, breaking his point nose and making it bend to the side at a horrible angle. Callisto jumped to help her spouse by preparing a spell circle of her own, but Vitimir snapped his fingers before she could, causing both Alembics to scream as yellow lines of magic began to spread through their bodies from their sigils, sealing up their magic and paralysing them.
"Mommy! Daddy!" Boscha screamed, preparing to throw a fireball at Vitimir. He stopped her by hiding behind Morel, using them like a meat shield as he snapped his nose back into place and began transmuting himself a simple healing potion, using the blood from his nose as a base. Seeing this, Boscha instead turned the fireball spell into a smokescreen, filling the room with black smoke and giving herself the cover she needed to use her Combat Potioneer Belt to throw together something she could use if Vitimir took another hostage.
She barely had time to finish before Vitimir's lab began to vent the smoke automatically, and as expected, when she saw a gap in the smoke, she saw Vitimir holding a knife to her Daddy's throat. The man was a coward and always used others as hostages since he wasn't the best fighter, so Boscha was prepared to deal with that. Saying a silent apology to her Daddy, Boscha slid her creation towards them and Vitimir, then when the smoke cleared and Vitimir opened his mouth to demand her surrender, she quickly snapped her fingers, using a spark of magic to trigger the potion bomb she'd landed directly at Vitimir's feet in the same instant she began casting a spell with her other hand.
The potion bomb she'd created used a mix of pollen from a Fulgur Bloom, oil from a speckled yellow mushroom, and flakes of magnetite to create a lightning magic explosion, zapping both Vitimir and Morel with electricity. This caused them both to scream and convulse, allowing Boscha's other spell to create a lasso of water that grabbed Vitimir's knife and yanked it out of his hand before he could cut her Daddy's throat. Before either could recover from the electricity, Boscha sent Maya flying at Morel, where she grabbed them with her pincers and flew him away from Vitimir, while Boscha ran at Vitimir and grabbed him, tossing him over her shoulder and slamming him into the ground hard. He landed on his back, and there was a loud crack and scream as his spine smacked against the chest of potions ingredients he kept on his back.
"Got you now!" Boscha declared, preparing to restrain the Head Witch. She began casting a spell circle to grab his limbs with water lassos and then freeze them, but Vitimir was crafty.
He twirled a finger to make a spell circle, then opened his mouth wide and breathed out a cloud of poison gas, transmuting his own saliva into the noxious yellow fumes. Boscha had to abandon her spell and retreat back, conjuring a fireball and tossing it into the fumes in hopes of making them explode. The fumes did indeed ignite, but rather than explode and damage Vitimir, he cast another spell that seemed to change the chemical composition of his saliva again, allowing him to swallow and douse the flame. He then cast a trio of spells, one to make himself spit a huge amount of water, a second to transmute that water into oil, and a third to transmute his own teeth into flint, which he clacked together to make a spark and ignite the oil, creating a stream of fire that blasted right back towards Boscha. The girl squeaked in shock and dived out of the way, tossing two vials of water from her belt into the fire as she went. As this was an oil fire, the water made the flames explode outward in all directions, setting fire to large parts of the lab and turning the whole place into an inferno.
While it wasn't what Boscha had been planning, it did work out for her. Vitimir was doused in burning oil and had to rapidly cast ice magic on himself to put the flames out, then begin healing himself with regenerative potions and activating his laboratory's fire extinguishing enchantments, which spat a suffocating foam out onto the flames. In the chaos, Boscha was able to get both her parents (paralysed by their sigils) onto Maya's staff and have her Palisman fly them out through the western door to the balcony, where they'd be safe. While Maya was doing that, Boscha ran over to Luz and tried blasting fire at the crystal door. Sadly it failed to do anything, much to Boscha's disappointment.
"I already tried it. Vitimir reinforced this room with enchantments to keep me in! Even my full power light and fire magic was useless!" Luz frowned.
"Dang it! Is there a key or something?" Boscha asked.
The young Arch-Angel shook her head; "No idea. I woke up in here after Vitimir put me to sleep earlier. I've got no idea how it opens!"
Boscha frowned, then glanced over at Vitimir, who was busy healing himself. The oil fire had done dramatic damage to his body, and patches of exposed muscle could be seen on his shoulders and cheeks from where the flames had burned through the skin. His potions were healing them fast, so he'd be back in the fight any second and when he was, he would be gunning for Boscha's head.
"We might not be able to open it, but he can." she whispered.
"But how are we gonna make him? He's insane! I think he really believes that I'll just become his daughter!" Luz shuddered, rubbing her arms as a chill went through her.
"I've got a plan. It's an ugly one, and risky as heck, but if it works…" Boscha said, before going into the plan. Luz paled as she listened, but then nodded reluctantly.
"Okay, we'll go with that." she said.
"Are you sure?"
Luz nodded; "I trust you Boscha."
Boscha sighed and turned back to Vitimir, snapping her fingers to summon Maya back into her hand; "Here's hoping that doesn't end up being a mistake…"
The extinguishing enchantments had put out all the flames by this point, Vitimir's potion was still safe inside its barrier, and Vitimir himself was almost fully healed, though his black robe was in tatters, leaving him nearly naked from the waist up. Boscha channelled her Grudgby attitude and whistled sharply, making Vitimir snap his head towards her and glare viciously.
"So, you won round one when you locked me up. I think I won round two when I set you on fire… let's see who wins the tiebreaker!" Boscha grinned.
"The only thing that'll be broken here is you. I'm going to use what's left of your corpse for potions once I'm through with you!" Vitimir sneered, dumping the last of his healing potions on himself and healing the last of the burns. The new skin was a touch paler than Vitimir's usual grey skin and looked sensitive, but it didn't remain exposed for long as Vitimir picked up a scrap of his burnt robe and poured a potion known as Repair Fluid on it, causing the robe to be restored and cover him again.
"Time to show you that Boscha Alembic is no loser!" Boscha declared, conjuring a flaming Grudgby ball and smacking it at Vitimir with her staff. Vitimir doused it immediately with a water spell, then caught the ball. He wiggled his fingers creepily, drawing multiple spell circles simultaneous with his free hand, which caused the Grudgby ball to pulsate as he launched it back with a jet of water.
It rippled like a water balloon, something Boscha was familiar with from her bully days, so instead of blocking it, she decided to sidestep it and let it splash harmlessly against the wall behind her, releasing a toxic looking green liquid. Boscha didn't even want to imagine what that stuff did, as she used Maya to shoot a stream of flames like a flamethrower while using her other hand to begin mixing a potion with her Combat Potioneer Belt. Again, Vitimir didn't bother to dodge and instead blasted water into Boscha's flames, dousing them with ease. As a Head Witch, his magical strength was far beyond a student, even one as brilliant as Boscha, so his water spell was able to counter even the Palisman-enhanced fire spell Boscha sent his way. It also kicked up a lot of steam that began to fill the room, so Vitimir twirled his finger and transmuted the steam into acid that began to melt and burn everything it touched.
Boscha dived out of the way, only for Vitimir to turn the acid cloud into a liquid form, which he manipulated into a whip that he lashed at her. Boscha, still working on her potion, hopped onto Maya and began flying around the room, using fancy aerial manoeuvres to dodge his almost lazy acid whip lashes. As soon as her potion was complete, Boscha suddenly changed course and flew at Vitimir, and as he lashed at her once again, instead of dodging, Boscha drew the knife she'd stolen from him earlier and tossed it at Vitimir's face. The man gasped and manipulated his acid whip to catch it instead of hitting Boscha, giving her the window she needed to zip in close and throw her potion point blank into his face.
The vial broke against his forehead and splatted a silver liquid all over him, which immediately sank into his skin and made his veins feel oddly cold for a few seconds, as they began to glow white and become visible through his skin. Vitimir narrowed his eyes and waved his hand in front of him, creating a wave of fire that forced Boscha to retreat to a safe distance.
"A Pale Curse Potion… crafty little beast." Vitimir muttered. The Pale Curse was an old affliction that prevented the body from healing, either naturally or through magic. It had been annihilated centuries ago, but the effects could be mimicked with clever use of ingredients… so long as Vitimir's veins glowed, not only would he be visible through smokescreens, but his healing potions would be useless. He would need to be cautious.
He scanned the room for Boscha and found her flying around with her staff, letting Maya control their direction while she used both hands to craft two different potions at once. Abandoning his acid whip, Vitimir transmuted it into a toxic purple poison and froze it into a swarm of tiny needles with ice magic, then launched them at Boscha. The swarm was too big and too fast for her to dodge them, so she shot a fireball at them to melt them, but this was what Vitimir was counting on. The frozen poison melted and then evaporated in an instant, creating a deadly poison gas that infected Boscha instantly. Thankfully since she still had the bezoar in her stomach, the effect was greatly weakened and Boscha had enough time to adjust one of the potions she'd been throwing together into a simple antidote that was able to neutralise the rest of the poison in her system.
Vitimir didn't know that however, so Boscha faked coughing and spluttering, and fell from her staff. Maya immediately played dead and clattered to the floor. Luz cried out in horror and screamed her name, while Vitimir began edging towards the fallen girl. Once he was close enough, nudged her with his foot to roll her onto her back, then before he could react, Boscha tossed the other potion at him.
The vial shattered and sprayed him with a red liquid, each drop of which transformed into a small ravenous beetle, which began trying to eat their way through his robe. Vitimir yelped and instinctively began swatting them away, getting a few bites to his hands in the process, just as Boscha had hoped, giving her a window to back away and begin preparing more potions. The combination of a Ravenous Swarm Potion and a Pale Curse Potion was a deadly one, as the bites of the insects would bleed a lot as they tried to tunnel into their victim's flesh, and the Pale Curse would prevent the victim from healing. It was a brutal combo Boscha had learned by peeking in her Mommy's forbidden books (one of the few acts that could make Callisto yell at her daughter).
Vitimir, despite his fury, respected Boscha's ruthlessness even if he didn't appreciate being the target of it. He quickly doused himself in his own purple poison, which rapidly killed all the bugs before they could do that leave a few minor wounds on his fingers. Like many Master Potioneers, he had built a tolerance to most poisons and so was unharmed, and was able to quickly transmute some of his spilled blood into a sticky material that he could seal over his cuts to stem the bleeding until the Pale Curse wore off and he could heal them.
"Impressive, Brat. But I won't lose and let my dream be crushed by some whelp who can't even use Transmutation!" Vitimir growled, before roaring at Boscha and releasing a cloud of blue gas from his mouth. Boscha snapped her fingers and summoned Maya back to her side to fly her away from the cloud, though the very end of her staff did touch the gas. Almost immediately, crystals began to form on the end of the staff, forcing Boscha to leap off Maya and turn her back into Crab mode to get rid of them. The gas was still coming though, so Boscha tossed some vials of water into it. They immediately became covered in crystals and clattered to the ground, not breaking and thus not returning to her stolen belt, much to her chagrin.
"What is this stuff!?" Boscha scowled, next trying to burn the gas away. Her flames turned blue as it touched the gas, then exploded violently, sending crystal shards in all directions. Boscha ended up stabbed by a few of them, though thankfully the wounds were shallow and didn't seem to spread the crystallizing effect.
"That is a potions variant of Myla's Requiem, a bardic song that grows magic sapping crystals on the afflicted. Sadly I've yet to perfect the magic sapping effect, but it is quite potent regardless." Vitimir explained, beginning to grin. "This is the power of a real Potions Witch. We don't just follow instructions in books! We craft our own unique creations! And while my sigil limits me to Potions Magic…"
Vitimir reached into his pockets and pulled out eight test tubes, each filled with a liquid that glowed in the colour of one of the other eight covens. He held them between his fingers even as blue gas continued to leak from between his teeth as he grinned menacingly; "These are infusions of magic from the other Covens. With these, I can make potions that mimic their magic. With these, I can do almost anything! Aside from the Emperor and arguably the Clawthorne Sisters, I am the most powerful witch on the Boiling Isles!"
Boscha sneered as she pulled out one of the crystals stuck in her flesh. She grabbed the potion she'd been working on (which was a pinkish-purple colour) and tried to throw it at Vitimir, but he just sidestepped it and let it smash on the ground behind him. Upon seeing it do nothing but make an unusually big puddle, Vitimir turned back to Boscha with a smirk; "You're starting to disappoint me. Did you finally realise you're outmatched?"
"I'm not dead yet, you creepy freak!" Boscha growled, pulling another crystal out of her skin as she edged away from Vitimir. As she moved, she drew a spell circle with her heel, creating a torrent of flame from the bottom of her foot that launched her into the air over Vitimir's head. As she flew over his head, she tossed the crystal at him with one hand and snapped her fingers to turn Maya back into her staff with the other, blasting more fire at him with it. Vitimir countered by conjuring water around himself and transmuting it into some kind of gelatinous material, which absorbed the heat and flame without producing steam. The gel also prevented the thrown crystal from hitting him, as he began using magic to levitate ingredients out of the wooden chest on his back and mixing it into a ball of water he'd created.
Boscha recognised Fulgur Bloom and Magnetite, and realised he was planning to create a Lightning Magic Bomb just like she had before. However such a thing was a volatile brew, and she knew just how to mess Vitimir up!
"RASIEL! GET HIM!" she screamed.
Vitimir's eyes widened and he looked around for signs of another attacker or intruder, having not heard Rasiel's name before. The one place he didn't think to look was his own pocket, where he'd stashed Rasiel's ring, so when the Ancient Seraphim Spirit burst out from the ring with a startling roar, Vitimir was caught completely off guard, losing his concentration and causing his magic to falter, fumbling the potion he'd been crafting. The half-complete potion splattered to the floor and released an electrical discharge that zapped Vitimir, though sadly it wasn't very powerful and the man was only stunned. Still, this was enough time for Boscha to prepare a couple more potion grenades.
"Eat this!" she screamed, throwing one of them as hard as she could at Vitimir. It sank into the gel that still surrounded him, then with a snap of her fingers and a spark of fire magic, the potion grenade (which was actually pretty close to a real grenade) exploded violently. The gel barrier was blown apart and while Vitimir was spared the brunt of the damage, he did receive some cuts from glass shrapnel, which he had to patch with more of his transmuted blood gel.
"What!? How did you command the spirit without holding his vessel!" Vitimir snarled, his stinging cuts making his temper even worse. "And since when were you an Oracle Witch!?"
"I'm not, and I didn't." Boscha retorted; "Rasiel's a weird spirit. He can't become corporeal, but he also isn't restrained by that stone. He could have popped out at any time!"
"That's right." Rasiel said, glaring down at Vitimir as he hovered menacingly above him; "I'd have leapt out earlier and caused you to make a mistake in your brewing, but I feared you'd punish Luz or the hostages in revenge. I've been waiting for the ideal moment ever since Boscha showed up."
Vitimir glared at him hatefully, then took to ignoring him entirely. If Rasiel couldn't touch him, then he was nothing more than an inconvenience while he focused on Boscha! He began preparing another potion while conjuring a water whip to keep the girl busy, but Rasiel flew in his face and flapped his wings while loudly singing some silly pop song Luz had shown him on her phone, distracting Vitimir completely. The Head Witch was just about to scream in frustration, when a purple fist suddenly burst through Rasiel's spectral body and smacked him in the face, sending Vitimir flying backward.
The blow broke his nose (again), forcing Vitimir to stem the flow of blood by transmuting it into gel again as he looked at the source of the fist. It was an Abomination, and a fairly amateurish one at that, currently being controlled by Boscha. That purple potion she'd been brewing earlier hadn't been a potion at all! It had been an abomination!
"Mom convincing me to Multi-Track in Abominations turned out to be pretty helpful after all!" Boscha smirked, "Now Abomination, destroy!"
Her creation groaned and charged at Vitimir, who sighed heavily and drank a test tube full of pink glowing liquid. Rasiel tried to distract him from whatever he was about to do, but Vitimir closed his eyes and instead reached out solely with his magic, drawing a spell circle that turned into a yellow and pink spell that he shot at the Abomination. In an instant, the Abomination stopped in its tracks and melted into a puddle of green slime, snapping Boscha's control over it.
"What the-!?" Boscha exclaimed as Vitimir opened his eyes again. He looked eerily calm, as if his anger had gotten so bad that it had come full circle and he was now in a state of tranquil fury.
"I'll give you credit, whelp. You're more resourceful than I expected. You'd have been a great Potions Witch one day… but you won't live to see tomorrow." Vitimir said, his voice so eerily calm that Boscha broke out in a cold sweat.
He drew another spell circle and the green slime suddenly lurched up and grabbed Rasiel, actually managing to tie him up and restrain him despite it him being an incorporeal spirit. Boscha and Luz both gasped in shock, while Rasiel just stared in wide-eyed silence.
"Ectoplasm. It doesn't matter what kind of spirit you are; ectoplasm can restrain all astral beings." Vitimir explained coldly. "It's not easy transmuting Abomination slime, but after drinking that Infusion of Abomination Magic, I was able to pull it off."
"Hold on Rasiel, I'll free you!" Boscha yelled, throwing her other potion bomb at Rasiel. This one was another of her electrical bombs, and she sent a torrent of water at Vitimir at the same time using her staff, hoping to amplify the effect.
However Vitimir casually caught the bomb in a ball of his own conjured water, while hiding behind the ectoplasm that bound Rasiel to keep the water from hitting him. Then with speed Boscha had never expected, Vitimir froze the ball containing her bomb and launched it into her stomach. It hit her so hard that it knocked the wind out of her, almost making her throw up, which was made a thousand times worse when Vitimir cast a spell that melted the ice ball, causing the lightning bomb inside to hit the floor at Boscha's feet and shatter.
Boscha screamed in agony as her own bomb zapped her with lightning, causing her convulsing form to collapse to the ground. She'd never felt such pain! It was excruciating, and combined with being winded from the ice ball, her screams had been more like a horrible strangled gasp. Luz and Rasiel both cried out to her, while Vitimir just slowly approached the fallen girl.
The poor girl coughed violently as she struggled to stand, only for Vitimir to put a foot on her back and force her back down hard, making her gasp and groan. He put more of his weight on her until she felt her spine creaking and her lungs crying out for air, taking a great amount of satisfaction out of her pain.
"Vitimir, please stop this!" Luz begged, pounding her fists on the crystal door that trapped her; "She's already lost! Our plan failed! Just please, don't kill her! I'll do anything!"
The Head Witch eyed her curiously; "And why should I do that? You'll do anything I say anyway once I get my potion into you. Speaking off…" he looked over to his cauldron and saw that the barrier had come down all on its own, signalling that it had finished simmering and was now complete. "My masterwork is finally done! It was far more trouble than it should be, but now everything will be perfect! At least once I kill this worm!"
He lifted is foot from Boscha's back and shifted it to her neck, where one good stomp would end her life for good.
"WAIT! Y-You don't have any hostages any more! Boscha escaped, so the others must have too! If you kill her, you've got no way of making me drink your fancy potion!" Luz argued.
That gave Vitimir a moment's pause, before he just shrugged; "That room is connected to my ventilation system. All I need to do is pump some sleeping gas into that room and feed you the potion in your sleep."
Luz gulped, then to the shock of both Boscha and Vitimir, she put her fingers against her head, miming a gun; "Well then, if you're going to murder my friend then I might as well go down with her!"
"You'd kill yourself for this brat!?" Vitimir exclaimed, watching as the ends of Luz's fingers glowed with ominous red light.
"Drinking your potion will kill the person I am now anyway!" Luz retorted.
Vitimir looked torn, and sneered down at Boscha, who groaned as he applied a bit more pressure to her neck. He then looked back at Luz; "If I promise to spare the girl's life, you will drink my potion without any trickery. Swear it."
"I swear that if you do not kill Boscha, I will drink your potion." Luz said, her voice shaking. There was no burning sensation; she was telling the truth.
"Luz, don't! What's to stop him killing Boscha as soon as you drink it!?" Rasiel argued, struggling hard in the ectoplasm restraints.
"Nothing… except maybe good will for his future daughter's last request as her real self?" Luz shrugged weakly. Her head was bowed and her expression was heartbroken; becoming the perfect picture of meek surrender.
The disturbed Potioneer's expression softened and he cast a spell, causing his crystal door to open and allow Luz out of the room. He kept his foot pressed firmly on Boscha's neck, ready to snap it the instant he saw any funny business, and Luz slowly walked out of the bedroom he'd made for her and edged her way towards the cauldron. She kept her hands up to show her surrender as she went, and eventually came to a stop and peered into the cauldron, gulping as she saw her reflection in the pale indigo liquid.
"Drink up." Vitimir ordered, conjuring a crystal goblet and tossing it to Luz. She caught it clumsily, and her hands shook as she dipped it into the cauldron and filled it up. Then, with one last look to Boscha; a look in which countless emotions passed between the two, Luz brought the goblet to her lips and gulped the potion down.
The effects were almost instantaneous. Luz gagged on the taste and clutched her chest, while her other hand went to her stomach as she stumbled away from the cauldron, dropping the goblet and letting it shatter on the floor. She fell to her knees and began to writhe with discomfort, one hand moving to her mouth as if trying to stop herself from vomiting. Her body began to glow, then suddenly released a bright flash of light as Luz screamed out in fear and sorrow.
"LUZ!" Boscha cried, blinking spots out of all three eyes after the flash.
Vitimir was doing the same, but with a manic smile that grew wider as the light faded and Luz appeared from inside it. "It worked! It truly worked!" he whispered excitedly.
Boscha stared at Luz, or at least, the girl who had once been Luz. Vitimir's potion had been designed to rewrite her DNA to incorporate his instead of her human father's, so the Luz that appeared from the light looked quite different. Her hair had lost some of its curliness and become longer with a silver tinge to it. Her skin had turned an ashen grey, similar to Vitimir's own, and while her eyes retained their golden colour, her previously normal pupils had become pink and diamond shaped, just like Vitimir's. Even her Holy Raiment and wings had changed colour; the former becoming black and gold instead of white and gold, and the latter gaining the same silver tinge as her hair.
"Luz" sat their on the ground, looking confused by everything around her, at least until she laid eyes on Vitimir, then a big smile spread across her face.
"Papa! What's going on? Why am I on the floor? And who's that girl?" she asked, confused.
"Ah, you took a bit of a fall when this girl and her conspirators came here to take you away." Vitimir said, absolutely beaming; "But don't worry, everything is fine now."
"Luz" tilted her head curiously, then shrugged and hopped back to her feet and stretched her body. She briefly turned towards Rasiel, who went still with a slack-jawed expression upon getting a good look at her altered face.
At that moment, the door leading out towards the western balcony suddenly burst open, and Eda came charging into the lab in Harpy Form, followed swiftly by Barcus and his parents, as well as Morton and the Alembics, who were able to move again for some reason. Vitimir smirked at them unconcernedly.
"Vitimir, you monster! Let our daughter go!" Morel demanded as they and Callisto both brandished spell circles.
Vitimir rolled his eyes and snapped his fingers to activate their sigils, only to be shocked when nothing happened. Instead both Alembics pulled their sleeves up a bit to reveal a partially healed acid burn where their sigils had been.
"Morton showed us a way to deal with your little sigils! Titan only knows how much that hurt, but it was worth it to be able to help put you down!" Morel growled. That was why they were able to once again move.
"Well that's nice, but pointless. You're a little too late." Vitimir said, pointing to "Luz".
Everyone looked at her and she stared back blankly, blinking at the odd new group that had just appeared. "Papa, who are these people?" she asked.
Eda paled as all the fight was knocked out of her by those words, while the Alembics cursed; "No! She already drank the potion!?"
Not wanting them to say more and give his new daughter any unwanted doubts, Vitimir quickly shouted to her; "Luz my girl, these are the bad people who tried to take you away from me! Freeze them, so we might give them to the Emperor!"
"Okay!" "Luz" said cheerfully. The wind glyph on her right foot glowed as she kicked in the direction of Eda and the others, creating a whirlwind around them that huddled them together. Then before they could do anything or say a word, Luz fired a massive Aurora Beam directly at them, freezing them all completely and leaving the little group as nothing but an ice sculpture. Boscha screamed out in horror.
"Mommy! Daddy! No! What have you done!?"
"Oh do shut up, brat." Vitimir smirked, finally moving his foot from her neck as he walked away from her and towards Luz. He put a hand on the young Angel's shoulder and said; "Be a dear and knock that brat out for Papa, won't you?"
"Yes Papa!" "Luz" chirped, her ears fwipping up and down as she gave a big smile. She then ran at Boscha and launched her foot into her stomach, kicking the three-eyed girl so hard that she was sent flying all the way into the base of the frozen statue that had once been her family and fellow rescuers. The girl lay there completely limp, while Rasiel stared in horror at the scene in front of him.
With Boscha and the others taken care of, "Luz" turned to Vitimir and smiled brightly; "The bad guys aren't gonna be a problem any more! Can I have a hug now, Papa?" she asked innocently.
Vitimir nodded happily and held his arms out for her; "Of course dear! Come give Papa a hug."
"Luz" giggled and ran into his embrace, wrapping her arms around his waist as he wrapped his around her shoulders. One hand went to the back of her head, brushing against her neck, which made him pause.
"Your neck feels ice cold. Are you warm enough?" Vitimir asked.
"I'm about to be."
Before Vitimir could react, he gasped as Luz used the hug to shove a blade of light into his stomach, impaling him straight through the abdomen. Vitimir cried out as the pain hit him, and Luz pulled the light blade out of him, then kicked him away with her right leg, using a gust of wind to blast him into his cauldron of Familial Historia Elixir, knocking it over and making it spill everywhere. The mad man groaned and put a hand to his wound, which had thankfully been cauterised by the light blade.
"W-Why!?" he choked out.
"Haven't figured it out yet?"
Vitimir's eyes widened and he whipped his head around to look at Boscha, who was standing up, completely unharmed. "You!? What did you do!?"
"Foiled your plan." Luz answered cheekily, snapping her fingers and causing the ice around Eda and the others to disappear, revealing that they hadn't actually been frozen at all, just trapped inside shaped ice barriers to make it look like they'd been frozen. They looked a bit confused, especially poor Eda who was trying to wrap her head around Luz's altered appearance. Luz put an end to that by snapping her fingers again and turning back to normal with a poof of cyan coloured smoke, revealing her change had been an illusion from the start.
"What!? How! You drank my potion! I saw you!" Vitimir yelled, before looking down at the potion and noticing the colour was slightly off. It was supposed to be closer to blue, but it was slightly closer to purple. "This is impossible, I brewed it perfectly! My barrier kept out all impurities!"
"Shame it didn't keep out sound waves." Boscha smirked, before whistling and causing the potion to turn a slightly darker shade of purple.
Vitimir's eyes widened, remembering Boscha whistling at him at the beginning of their fight, after she'd sent her parents to safety. Eda also gasped, then laughed uproariously; "That's Raine's trick! Changing a potion with sound!"
"It looks like they taught it to Skara, who taught it to Boscha." Luz smiled; "This whole thing was our plan from the start."
"What!?" Vitimir cried.
"Yep! We couldn't get Luz out of that room, so we tricked you into letting her out and letting your guard down. I put up a fight to soften you up and make it look real, then Luz just had to put up an illusion to make it look like your potion had worked after I'd already messed up the chemistry!" Boscha boasted shamelessly; "I think I can make that into a decent Grudgby play! I could have done without that kick though, Luz."
Luz rubbed the back of her head sheepishly; "Sorry Boscha! I had to make it look real!"
Her kick had actually barely made contact with her, with the reason for the big impact being some added wind magic. "Besides, I had to ice my throat to stop it burning, since I had to call this nutjob "Papa" so often!" she added, shuddering.
"Whatever, it was worth it to put one over on this loser!" Boscha smirked at Vitimir, who fumed.
"NO! This isn't over! I will take you back, Luz! I will find Cassiel! I will have my family!" Vitimir snarled, practically frothing at the mouth as he tried to force himself to his feet despite the gut wound.
"Not with me you won't! It's time for you to cool off!" Luz yelled, firing a real Aurora Beam directly at him. The man was too wounded and exhausted to dodge or counter, and was promptly frozen solid with one last scream of rage.
"There! It was a little messy, but we're all safe and sound, and Vitimir is on ice. I'd say that was a successful mission!" Luz smiled, dusting off her hands.
"Yeah, but "cool off" then freezing him? We need to work on your trash talking." Boscha rolled her eyes.
Luz snorted; "I'm sure you'll teach me all about it. For now, let's get out of here."
"I second that!" Eda sighed, deactivating her Harpy Mode; "I can't believe I got caught again! All this being a "respectable rebel leader" thing is making me rusty!"
"That's less to do with you getting rusty and more to do with Vitimir being the conniving type." Morel said; "Speaking of, it's a good thing we live in a neutral town like Bonesborough, or we'd be in big trouble for leaving the Coven."
"Why don't you join the CATTs?" Luz suggested, "You basically have no future if the Emperor wins, so you're kinda on our side anyway."
"I second that." Barcus woofed as he went to free Rasiel from the ectoplasm. The poor man hadn't been aware of the plan, at least not until Luz had subtly winked at him while looking in his direction, so he was still a bit shaken by thinking he'd failed to protect her.
"I third it. Boscha basically salvaged the whole plan and saved everyone. If she can do that, then having her in the CATTs would be ideal." Rasiel said, nodding gratefully to the girl.
Rom and Howlena both agreed too, feeling grateful to the girl for saving them and their son. Morton also nodded as he said; "I'd like to join too. I kinda have no business without being able to get ingredients from the Potions Coven, so it'd be a big help to me."
The Alembic family all looked at each other, each wondering what they should do. Before this, none of them had any problem with the Emperor or the Coven System, and in honesty, their main issue was with Vitimir. But Vitimir had the Emperor's favour, and short of killing him and covering everything up, they would end up fugitives either way, like Luz had said.
"Considering the alternative is our baby being taken by the Emperor and our family losing everything… I think joining the CATTs is a good idea." Callisto said. She didn't like it, knowing her previous attitude wouldn't fly with Eda and the CATTs leaders, but she loved her daughter and spouse enough to give it an honest shot.
Truthfully, Eda wasn't too keen on recruiting Callisto either, considering the arrest incident with Luz, but the woman didn't even remember that thanks to Boscha, and she owed the kid for saving Luz, so she didn't object.
"I agree." Morel said, offering their hand to Eda; "We'd be honoured to join the CATTs. All I ask is that you keep our family safe."
Eda nodded; "I'll run it by Raine and the others. I doubt they'll refuse, and even if they do, we'll still protect you from the Covens."
The Alembics looked relieved, and Luz cheered and threw an arm around Boscha's shoulder; "This is great! Now you and Skara will be able to talk about everything again! Ooh, you could even join the Hexsquad! That would be awesome!"
Boscha smiled a little at the idea of being able to fully talk to Skara gain, but she wasn't so sure about joining the Hexsquad; "I don't want to ditch my gang." she said, crossing her arms.
Luz just looked confused; "Then don't? Everyone in the Hexsquad has friends they hang out with outside of it. Like I hang out with Barcus and the Magic Mixers, Amity hangs out with Mary from the abomination track and Celine from the oracle track, Willow hangs out with Amelia and some other plant track kids, Gus and Matt have the HAS and other friends in their tracks, and obviously Skara has you and the Banshees."
"Then what's the point of the Hexsquad?" Boscha raised an eyebrow.
"Well, we mostly just hang out, train our magic, and go on the occasional off-the-rails adventure. It's fun! We're just a group of friends, y'know?" Luz smiled brightly.
Boscha felt the urge to pinch the girl's cheeks; "You're too sunny sometimes, y'know that? But… I'll consider it. It'd be nice to see more of Skara, and I'd kinda like to start hanging out with Amity again. The three of us did always have fun together. And being around Willow more often means I'll get to compete with her more!"
"Whatever floats your boat, Boscha!" Luz giggled, skipping over to pick up Rasiel's ring now that he was free from the ectoplasm. She then frowned as she heard the Atelier alarm still blaring in the distance. "We should go soon, or we'll need to fight our way out of here."
That got nods of agreement from everyone, who headed out to the balcony and either hopped on their Palismen or hitched a ride from someone else before they all flew off together, making their way back to the Owl House.
It was almost midnight by the time they arrived, and they were all greeted by Raine and the Hexsquad, as well as Jerbo and Viney. Those two immediately ran and hugged Barcus with relief, while Skara hugged Boscha and Amity hugged Luz.
"Thank goodness you're okay!" Amity said, kissing Luz's cheek; "You were gone so long I was starting to worry!"
"It's okay now." Luz smiled, capturing Amity's lips in a full kiss. When she finally pulled away, she nuzzled against Amity's cheek and added; "It was kinda touch and go for a bit, but we're safe now! And we got some new recruits!"
She gestured to Boscha and the Alembics (the latter of whom were receiving some glares from Willow and Gus, who still remembered the arrest incident with Callisto), as well as Morton.
Skara gasped as she pulled away from Boscha's embrace with a bright smile; "Really!? You're joining the CATTs!"
"Y-Yeah. I saved Luz's butt so well that she decided she just had to have me on her team. I was gonna say no, but she begged me so much that I felt bad refusing." Boscha said haughtily, obviously lying through her teeth.
It was a blatant joke though, and Luz retorting with; "Whatever you say, Boscha!" made her friends all giggle.
Boscha was careful to watch Amity and Willow's expressions though. The former merely raised an eyebrow, then nodded her thanks silently, while the latter stared Boscha down for a few seconds. Boscha held Willow's gaze without backing down or acting like her usual boastful self, and Willow eventually hummed and turned back to Luz. It wasn't acceptance, but it was Willow deciding that she wasn't going to refuse or make a fuss. Either Boscha had won some begrudging respect from her (which was more mutual than she'd like to admit), or Willow was simply confident she could crush Boscha if she got out of line. Regardless, Willow wasn't going to protest her joining.
Meanwhile, Skara squealed and hugged Boscha even tighter; "This is great! Now I can finally tell you everything and you don't need to be mad at me for keeping secrets any more!"
"Skara, that was never your fault. I was being a jerk. I said I was sorry for it, didn't I?" Boscha reminded her.
"Yeah, but I still didn't like keeping it from you. Now I don't have to! There shouldn't be so many secrets between Besties!" Skara said cheerfully.
Boscha couldn't help but blush, seeing the other girl's bright smile. She looked away, pretending to be casual, and said; "You know, that whistle trick you showed me really saved our butts a couple of times. I should repay you."
"Repay me? How?" Skara blinked.
Fighting back a blush, Boscha said; "How about I take you to dinner?"
Skara's cheeks reddened, and the others all pretended like they weren't watching the scene between them. Shyly, Skara took Boscha's hand and nodded; "I'd like that."
"Cool. Anywhere but the Titania though; I think I'm officially over their food at this point." Boscha shuddered.
Skara burst into giggles, and Boscha soon joined her. In that moment, Boscha felt like a real winner… she could get used to this!