Boiling Gems (The Owl House x Steven Universe)

Summary: Dreams suck

King took a bite of breakfast. "It's too bad you're stuck with griffon eggs Luz, spider toast is delicious."

"Sorry, but the feeling of spider eggs grinded down into grains just doesn't feel right in my mouth…I can practically feel them crawling down to my stomach." Luz shivered as she took a bite of her breakfast.

"The simplicity of your bodily functions are both baffling and intriguing." Lilith commented, looking around with confusion. "I know Edalyn usually stays in bed due to her apple blood consumption, but Isn't Lucifer normally up by now?"

"He's been having nightmares." King explained. "Last night we had a cuddle pile, so he and Eda are probably still in the nest." An advantage to being the smallest was being able to squeeze in the middle, so he got the best and warmest spot by being hugged from every corner.

"Are we certain that's the healthiest way to process the situation?" Lilith asked. "I've noticed there's an unhealthy amount of clinginess when the two are alone together."

"Nah, that's just how they've always done it, with Eda constantly feeling like she couldn't get close to anyone with her curse and Lucci not having a lot of friends for ten years." Hooty came in through the window. "You should've seen her when he was a baby, she practically wrapped herself around him like a wolf in bird's clothing."

"Aww, adorable." Luz cooed. "But what about the nightmares? Are they normal?"

"With how much of a beating Lucifer's been taking lately, he hasn't managed to recover at one hundred percent." Lilith responded simply. "In fact, given the emotional factor of his powers, he might genuinely be making himself weaker at this rate, which becomes its own negative spiral."

"Okay, so since Lucci makes himself super monster and buff whenever he's stressed out, that means what we should be doing is getting him to cheer up and relax so his healing finally gets back into full gear." Luz pounded her fists.

"Are we sure this is the right idea?" King asked. "How do you even know it's a negative emotion thing?"

"Because stress is my bitch." Lilith responded instantly, before blushing. "I mean, I have some experience. Here and there."

"Oooh, looks like aunt Lilith has a cool bad girl side to her after all." Luz teased with a smirk. "You're becoming a part of the owl house more every day."

"Given how far my standards have fallen, I can't tell whether or not that's a good thing." Eda's sister groaned. "I've been trying to find a new occupation as of late; but with my fall from grace, not many are willing to hire former coven heads kicked out into the dirt."

"Maybe you could work in alternative medicine." Eda spoke as she walked in, bandaging her side.

"How did you hurt yourself that fast in the morning?" King questioned.

"I didn't, Lucci was kicking all night with his super strength on." Eda twisted her head completely around in a circle. "I got creaks in places I didn't know I had places."

"Jsst pud some ice glyph on id." The slurred voice of Lucci came down the stairs, and his face looked horrible. Black circles around his eyes, which were bloodshot something fierce. "Morning Keg, Hoofy, Zul." Lucci sat himself down around the table, his head slumping right on the flat surface.

"Yikes." King winced. "Someone got up on the wrong side of the nest."

"Busp iref." The boy responded. "Eafask Yummy."

"Lucci." Luz spoke up. "You're eating the table."

The boy looked down at the piece of wood in his hand … and continued to eat anyway. "Greak recipe mom, luv the extra crunch." He idly took another chomp at the table with large fangs growing out of his mouth.

Everyone winced as they heard each ear grating crunch, wood chippings falling out of his mouth. "Good morning, dear nephew." Lilith hesitantly greeted.

"Mornin Lilith." The boy answered in between bites, a low growl being heard underneath the crunching. "Hos our mornin, Zul?"

"Fine, fine, say Lucci, old buddy, old pall, old friend of my, why don't we gather up the whole gang today and treat ourselves? We'll discuss revenge plans against the Blights and grab us a jar of fire bee honey."

"Hmmmm…nah.." Lucci groaned out. "Too cloudy to do anything outside."

"It's literally the sunniest day the Isles has ever had." Hooty explained as something fell out of the sky. "Ooh, a bird flew too close to the sun, dinner for breakfast!"

"Your turning down revenge? But you love plotting against people you hate." King pondered.

"Meh, revenge can wait. Right now I think I'll just stroll east until I feel tired …" The boy squinted. "Was your skull always exposed?"

"Lucci, I really think we should talk about these nightmares that are keeping you up." Eda rubbed the boy's head.

"Can't." The boy responded.

"Can't or won't, because we're going to keep pressing the issue no matter what." Luz tapped his shoulder.

"Can't, I don't remember my dreams when I wake up." He responded. "Just the feeling of running a lot, and a bruised knuckle or three."

"Maybe your still stressed out about the golden guard and the rainbow devil attacking you.." Lilith tried to guess.

"I am not afraid of that golden shrimp." Lucci responded, making the horns pop out of his head.

"Hey, hey, nobody's saying you can't beat him man." King assured the boy, rubbing his arm. "Just, maybe because of what happened, he's stuck in your head?"

"Tell you what, how about we … try and watch some of the few shows I have left on my phone?" Luz suggested. "I made sure I had a lot downloaded just in case something happened."

Lucci grumbled internally for a bit before sighing. "Fine, but only because the background noise will help me doze off." He grabbed the salt shaker and dumped some on the table piece he was eating. "Seriously, this stuff is delicious. And full of fiber too." He walked off, taking the piece with him.

"Okay, this is clearly a code blue. Hooty, get the sleeping nezzles." Eda ordered the bird demon.

"On it mam!" The bird went off.

"What's a code blue?" Lilith questioned, new to the color schemes around here.

"Just a fancy way of saying Lucci needs to be knocked out." King explained. "Code gray is when it refers to Eda needing to be broken out of jail, black when Hooty needs to be fed, and amber for when Luz is plotting shenanigans behind our back."

"I voted for Red, but apparently that was just Belos being at the front door." Luz answered as she began clearing her plate. "Speaking of, we need a new Code Navy since Lilith is no longer trying to arrest us."

"Code gold pretty much takes up that spot now, so maybe Code Navy can refer to whenever Lilith finds a new low to fall under." King suggested.

"Oh come on-" Lilith tried to argue.

"Come on Luz! Don't let a Code Navy interrupt our movie!" Lucci shouted from the living room.

"How good is that boy's hearing, he just said that!" Lilth screamed.

"The crazy thing is that he's doing it sleep deprived...when he couldn't even say our names right." Luz muttered.

"That's my boy!" Eda cackled. "Torturing his enemies in the most absurd ways possible."

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

"What am I doing wrong here, Hootisfer?" Lilith groaned as she fell on the couch for the day. She felt nearly as tired as Lucifer was with his slightly more irritable attitude being aimed almost entirely at her the entire day.

"Well for starters, if you wanna sit on a couch, the best way to do it is with a bag of food you can toss into your mouth lazily." The door, that sadly was the closest thing she had to a genuine companion, nodded.

"While I'll take note of that for the future, that wasn't quite what I was referring to." She sighed. "I've been going out of my way to be as helpful and unburdensome as possible. Edalyn doesn't hold a grudge, Luz and King are neutral most of the time, so why can't Lucifer learn to let bygones be bygones?"

"You obviously don't know Lucci and his long history of trust issues." The house answered with a smile. "He held a grudge against Amity and Willow for ten years, and he only forgave them because they went into his head and he saw some of their memories…after nearly killing them." He explained. "Not to mention the multiple times he stopped trusting Luz early on, and only solidified stopping to hate her after a month passed."

"So I'm not the only one who's suffered from it, that's a small comfort I suppose." She groaned. Lilith wasn't completely unprepared for this outcome. "When I was hunting my sister, I was ready to receive hate, I was ready for her to never trust me again.."

"Because you thought you were doing the right thing and helping her." Hootisfer finished. "Family does the craziest things when it comes to love."

"That's the only consistent thing it seems." She sighed. "And so little love to go around as it is." Lilith laid down on the couch. "Now here I am, without anything." No family that fully trusted her, no magic to use, no status to work for, no apprentice to teach … just an endless empty void where the world could exist without her. She saw some feathers pop along her arm. "Oops." She reached down into an elixir spot, gulping it down. "Gah, it tastes like talons and entropy."

"Eda always said it tastes like gander and owl pellets." Hootisfer snickered. "Don't worry your little head about it too much, Lulu, there's no one here in this house that hasn't experienced a rock bottom at some point."

She raised an eyebrow. "When was your rock bottom?"

"When I was in the womb."…..It frightened Lilith how the house demon was able to say that without so much as blinking. "But as I have been saying, we've all been there, and there's nowhere left to go but up. And if you do fall down, I'll always be there to push you back up again."

"Thank you Hootsifer." She rubbed the demon's head. "Do you want me to take watch while you sleep?"

"Nope. Eda made it so I never sleep!" Again, not a single blink. "It's how I notice everything. Like how we need a new crystal ball cause that one's clearly broken."

"Hm?" She turned to the item in question. It was on, constantly flickering in a variety of colors and static. "Strange … must be picking up an unknown energy."

"Like a ghost nearby, wailing in the wind as it floats aimlessly through the futility of unlife?"

"Hootsifer, I love the morbid talk, but tone it down for a moment." She picked up the ball, looking it over. "Strange, it can't fully pick up the image. The signal must be weak."

Oracle magic was one of the more abstract forms of magic, requiring more mental concentration and power of the soul then most. "And here I am without my magic …" She grumbled at the lack of ability to fix the image. "Hootsifer, do we have any tarot cards lying around?" Maybe they would have some energy on hand.

"Eda tried kicking her Hexus Holdem habit a while back…but we both know how bad she is at addictions." The house Demon smiled as he hacked up a stack of cards. "She had me swallow a spare deck for a rainy day."

"Right right." She grabbed the cards, shuffling them. "Let's see what they have to say about this orb." Oracle magic may have not been the strongest out of her skillset, but she studied enough to enact a reading or two.

After a minute or two of mental preparation, she finally began. She took the five cards from the top, placing them onto the table. The first card, for the root of the energy. "The plant." A strange origin, given the forest around them wasn't unnatural. The second, third, and fourth cards in order to represent the cause, flow, and effect. "The weight, the river, and the imp." The pressures of something, taking the flow of least resistance, resulting in suffering.

"Ooooh, pretty pictures, something amazing must be happening." Hootisfer commented.

"Not so much something happening as much as something nothing occurring." This was an indication of someone or something holding back or resisting change and acceptance, perhaps whoever was the source of the crystal ball's interference. "Either the park girl might be tapping into Oracle magic, or someone here has a strong relation with Plant magic …"

"Well Luz does use plant glyphs the most out of all her basic glyphs." Hooty suggested.

"But she's not causing suffering with stress …" Lilith needed more information. She pulled the fifth card, the one that represented the 'destiny' of this energy. "… The apocalypse card …"

"Gzzzzzzt awszzzzzzt….fmmmmzzzt meeeeee…" The crystal ball began sparking up more, a notable voice being heard from all the static.

"Lucifer?" She questioned.

"Geeet awaaaaayyy …. GET AWAY FROM ME!" The ball cracked.

"Hit the deck!" Hootsifer shoved Lilith onto the floor.

CRA-BOOM!

After a second the two of them got up, looking at the spot the crystal ball once was, and the wall it obliterated. "Ahhh…so that doomsday card…that doesn't mean the whole world is going to end, right?" Hootisfer asked with a worried grimace.

"No, just as much damage as Lucifer could cause at his maximum." She responded. "… Why was his root Plants?"

"Veggie incident. He brings plants to life… I guess that means plants are the strongest magic he has."

She thought about that for a moment, as Edalyn jumped into the room, brandishing Owlbert, while Luz rolled in, carrying her sword, and King rode on that Crystal Devil like a mount. "Alright, who's trying to kill us at this hour, because they need to wait until mama gets ten more hours of beauty sleep."

"Your son." Lilith stated bluntly.

"What?" Her sister looked around. "Impossible, he's still asleep in the nest."

Lilith's eyes widened, having realized something important. "Is he still having those nightmares?"

"He almost poked my eye out." King added. "At some point I had to add Centi to the pile just to survive. Thanks for the save, girl."

"Krkrkrkrkr." Why did it come to the point where the mindless savage animal was safer to be around than her own family?

"I believe Lucifer's nightmares might be the cause for alarm." Lilith began to explain. "Before the crystal ball exploded, it began flickering and flashing as his voice was yelling at someone or something to stay away."

"Wait, he's projecting his dreams into a crystal ball?" Luz asked. "Because that sounds awesome."

"It is awesome, and highly taxing on the body." Edalyn explained. "No wonder he hasn't been sleeping lately, he's overworking himself without giving his brain a chance to recover."

"If he's using a crystal ball, he's seeing the flow of time constantly. His nightmares are probably terrible moments of his life floating into his skull, and he can't remember them due to the mental strain of accessing so much information at once." She added, before frowning. "It takes years of constant dedication and effort to develop this level of oracle magic, and my nephew can literally do it in his sleep." Lilith banged her head against the table.

"So he causes explosions in his sleep. Just wake him up and boom, problem solved." King waved off.

"Except we don't know what's causing these nightmares, so they'll just keep coming back every time he goes to bed." Eda groaned.

"And it's not like we can't keep him awake forever." Luz rolled her eyes, before pausing. "Magic can't keep him awake forever, right?"

"I did it to Hooty, and look how he turned out." Her sister pointed to the door.

"Who needs sleep! I get to make so many friends and see so many interesting things. Ooh! Did I tell you about the time I named all the stars in the sky? There was Jeffery, Zeke, Dan, Lila, oh, she was a big flirt.."

"Definitely not an option!" Luz shouted. "Okay, this is a last resort, but it seems we have no other choice." The girl spoke darkly. "We need to give Lucci … therapy." Why did she say that like it was a terrible idea?

"Luz, the boy's a half human half crystal devil that's been kidnapped for fourteen years and raised by a notorious criminal with a curse, who's also best friends with Hooty." King looked at the girl. "No amount of therapy will ever make that okay."

"I'd like to see you come up with a plan." Luz pointed.

"Alright, I know it's a controversial plan, but hear me out." The little guy pulled out a frying pan. "Amnesia through head damage."

"Isn't he thrown through buildings regularly?" Luz questioned.

"Yes, but we can still burn a few memories.."

"Finish that sentence and I will skin you alive and use your skull as a helmet and your fur as a scarf." Edalyn threatened.

"Well why don't you make a plan?!" The little tyke shouted.

"Because it's too early in the morning, we'll fix it later." The woman explained. "Now come on, back to rest."

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

Luz watched as Lucci slumped against the wall, groaning. "Dang it. I always hated Oracle magic, now it's flooding my sleep." He responded. "I don't need to see the future."

"Trust me, I hate it just as much..you almost peeled my back skin off last night because you kept shifting into manticore mode." Luz yawned. "Then again, the fur was pretty soft."

"Good to know that even when I'm at my most savage and mindless, the constant hours I've put into my hair care at least shine through." Lucci groaned. "So, what's the plan?"

"That's what we're working on now." Lilith sighed, looking at a board they brought out. "Our top three options are spa trip, therapy, and amnesia."

"Ther-apy?" Lucci asked. "I don't know what that is, but it sounds evil."

"… Edalyn, come on. I know you tried your best, but that's overkill." Lilith told the woman.

"What, it's not like I can take him to the nearest quack for a check up. We're criminals, and they all work too close to Cutburn for my taste." The downside to being an outlaw was the sheer number of enemies that were at every corner.

"Then I guess it's spa day." Lucci sighed. "How much money do we have stored for rest and relaxation?"

"I can afford one meal." Eda sighed. "And I refuse to use amnesia on my baby boy."

"You can't tell me it wouldn't be effective!" King said definitely.

"It's cool guys. I can totally stay functional with half sleep from here on out." The boy responded, falling over again. "This couch is super fluffy, when did we get it?"

"That would be Centi." Luz pointed out.

"…. You're earning your keep you psycho." Lucci just closed his eyes again. "So warm and flufffle-zzzzzzzzzzt." Her roomie was out like a light.

"He can't keep going like this." Eda rubbed the boy's head. "At this rate he'll be up in that Manticore form full time…it's just like dealing with the curse, except the elixir won't be able to help him."

"Too bad it's not like we can just punch his nightmares out of him." Luz sighed. Physical confrontation seemed to be the solution to most, if not, all their problems lately.

Eda gained a look in her eye. "Not a bad idea." Wait …

"I am not going into that boy's head again. I saw enough as it is." Pink Lucci still gave her nightmares, anger and con man were just too much at times. Child was at least cute.

"We may not have to physically go there this time." Eda scrambled up the stairs. "If this is oracle magic, then we can project ourselves in there, all we need is another crystal ball."

"True enough Edalyn, but need I remind you we currently have little to no magic. The astral constructs won't be able to hold themselves for very long." Lilith noted.

"Then we'll need an outside source …" The woman stroked her chin. "Luz, any of those glyphs act as a power generator?"

"Closest I got is the light glyph..however.." Luz began taking out her notepad and began drawing. "Light and fire both are different forms of energy, if I cross the symbols just right…" 

She tapped the paper, and a ball of light floated, but unlike the normal light glyph, this one was sparkling and sizzling like it was made out of static. "Electric glyph…I made an electric glyph! I didn't even have to get struck by lightning for it!"

"Fascinating." Lilith observed with wonder in her eyes as she poked her finger at it, a small hit of static hitting it as she reeled back. "The creativity and ingenuity you have for this form of magic is nothing less than magnificent."

"What, nah, this is is nothing, just something I came up with at the top of my head." Luz waved off, trying to play it cool with how flattered she was. "Now, what's next?"

"Now we just shove our thoughts into his and try to cut off his Oracle powers for the moment." Eda grabbed a wire connecting to the new crystal ball and jammed it into Luz's new glyph. "Think of it like a vacuum sucking out the consciousness of your body and placing it in another."

"That sounds really painful." Luz raised an eyebrow.

"It is." Lilith affirmed. "But it's either that or we let the boy blow up the leg of the Titan trying to vent his emotions."

"And suddenly I'm grateful I'm not one of those op isekai anime protagonists if that's the drawback." Luz winced at that. Once again, she found her fantasy being deconstructed. "So me, Eda, and King will go in and fix whatever's going on with Lucci's brain."

"I wouldn't mind lending a hand-"

"No Lily, if you go, you're going to get turned to ash." Eda explained.

"Last time we brought Willow and Amity in he almost wiped them from existence." Luz added. "Also, someone needs to keep an eye on Centi. We've had to cut her chip budget and she's been gazing at Owlbert a lot."

" Sqaaaaaawwwwk!" Lilith's palisman squawked at the little cutie pie, who just looked up with drooling acid from her maw.

"You have got to get that thing under control or contained somehow." Lilith moved her staff away defensively.

"It'll be fine, we just … need an alternative food source." Soon, fast, before it got too bad and Luz lost the first friend she ever had as it tried to eat what everyone cared about. 

"Luz!" King snapped his fingers in front of her. "You were starting to space out like Eda does. Are you sure you're up for this?"

"Yeah, yeah, no problem." She shook her head. "Let's end Lucci's nightmares before we start living one."

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

"Get away, get away, get away!" Running. That was the only thing he could do while stranded in this cold snowy void. Why did it feel so cold? He's eaten ice warmer than this. The cold felt so dark and alone and empty.

Vrrr

It came, the metal beast. It charged through snow, through trees, through rocks. It's eyes glowing menacingly in the night. It wouldn't stop, it would never stop until it ran him into the ground. It was fast, too fast for him. Why wasn't he born with superspeed with all his ridiculous powers?!

 Vrrrroooooom

It continued to roar as it flipped over, coming right on top of him as Lucci found himself stuck in the snow, feeling both numb and helpless, incapable of moving a single inch as it was about to come down on top of him. "Leave me alone!" He shouted, trying to desperately raise a flickering shield. 

He was weak, he was too weak to stop Belos, the Golden Guard, the Rainbow Devil, the school, and even a simple Abomination. Lucci was going to lose everything and everyone because he wasn't putting enough power into it. More more MORE POW-

"Lucci!" The voice of his mom shouted as familiar and warm arms wrapped around him. "It's okay, Lucci, it's just a dream, it can't hurt you!" 

"Mom!?" He shouted in bafflement. "It's gonna hurt you, I can't stop the beast, I'm not strong enough-"

"Lucci, it's not a demon!" Luz called out, hitting the creature with vines. "It's a van."

"You've seen this creature before?" He asked, trying to take in the warmth of his mother's arms.

"Yeah, just give me a moment." She jumped over it from the back and began slicing it open from the top, splitting it in half…revealing a bunch of metal, chairs, and what looked like black bloodying leaking out of the front. "It's a car, you know, one of those things the people on the shows and movies I show you move around in. It's not even alive."

He felt himself calm down a bit. "Nothing to be scared of?"

Somehow, King was there, walking up and kicking it. "Haha, the beast is nothing against the mighty King of demons!" The guy always knew how to cheer him up. "Tremble before-"

A purple hand came out, grabbing the tiny guy. "Goo goo … don't see … the fun …"

"Ah! The purple gremlin baby! She's back!" Lucci screamed as he placed himself in a bubble. "If I look away, she can't hurt me, if I look away, she can't hurt me anymore!" Lucci curled up.

"Purple what? You're afraid of this little thing?" Luz asked as she tried sending a fire glyph towards it…only for it to grow giant  and bring down its hand, making the ground rumble like it kept doing a million other times before. "Okay, I see why you're afraid of her!"

"It's not just that! If she's here, then that means we're getting into the second and worst half of my nightmare!" Lucci exclaimed. "The purple baby gremlin is basically the door greeter to pain and fear!"

"How is it worse than this?!" Luz shouted.

"Just like this … Steven …" Spoke the two headed purple tree that crawled up behind her. "Now… come on." It grabbed the human's arms, yanking and pulling. "UNFUSE!"

"Hands off my girl! You're not getting away with hurting two of my kids tonight, sap face!" Mom flew on top of Owlbert and grabbed Luz's discarded sword. "Tiiiiimbbbe...!"

"Don't cut the two headed tree, you'll just…!" Lucci tried to warn.

Shink.

The tree split in half…and regrew into two separate beings, one red and always on fire and one blue and constantly creating icicles with every step it took. "Make two of them." The boy finished.

"Kid, is there anything else we should know about!?" Mom asked frantically.

"If you hear the pale banshee, hide the best you can." He warned. "No matter how many times I fight her, she always stabs me with a spear, and she always reaches for my rock, then…then I just become a wild animal." He shrank in his bubble. "Fighting them is pointless, I'm not strong enough." He needed more power, more and more.

"Lucci, now is not the time for-giant purple hand!" King shouted as he avoided the purple gremlin. "Now's not the time for self doubt pity party! These are your nightmares, you need to try and face them!"

"What do you think I've been trying to do for the past few nights? I don't want them in my head!" Lucci yelled. "They've been around since I was five or so. They were just creepy images I got everyone once in a while, but ever since Belos, they've been showing up more."

"Wait a second. Is this really oracle magic, or repressed baby trauma?" Luz questioned. "Because between the van and the forest I'm starting to think this is the-frozen spikes!" She avoided a swipe.

"Given our track record, it's probably both!" Mom shouted as she rolled under a fireball that singled the edges of her hair. "I remember this place, this is the forest where I found Lucci in the Human realm."

Lucci stopped the shivering, focusing on that detail. "You … found me here?" He never did get the full story.

"Why is it that I only get important backstory when my life's in danger!?" Luz yelled, taking out what looked like a new glyph and pressed it on the ice trees back. "Sorry to shock you, but I'm done with this fight!" The tree was blasted with a coverage of electricity.

"Gaaahhh." The ice tree shouted.

"Nice, I really need to get in on that glyph magic." Mom smiled, before looking back at him. "Yes…fourteen years ago, I was heading back from an attempted crime spree holiday in the human realm. I was about to head right towards the door when I heard you gurgling in the snow."

"What kind of crazy and inconsiderate psychos leave a baby in the middle of the snow?" King questioned.

"Shift … like me …" The purple gremlin began to try and mold the demon like clay.

"Not that I'm trying to play therapist, because titan believe me, I would never do that to another living being, but if Lucci's nightmares are about him as a baby….then there's a small chance this might be his family." Luz guessed as she threw an abomination glyph above the fire tree. "His repressed baby memories of them at least."

"Then I am happier than all of existence to have the Owl Lady as my mom." Lucci winced at the combat taking over the area. "... What happened next?"

Seeing that Luz was handling both trees, Mom sat down next to him, a hand on his bubble as she rubbed it gently. "Well I tried to toss you to an orphanage, but the storm got worse so I just huddled you up in my house … strangely, you were the closest thing I had to a decent conversation within the last year."

"Given that the only other option at the time would be Hooty, I understand completely!" King kept trying to lose the gremlin. Seriously, why did everyone always put down the bird demon? He was fun and strong.

"So…it really was just…weird circumstances that led to me being your kid, huh?" Lucci sighed. He already knew he was adopted and accepted it….her explaining it in detail just seemed to cement it in his mind.

"Yep. It was weird circumstances that led you, King, and Luz all into the same house." The woman nodded. "A place to belong for no one who belongs." Lucci looked up at his mom's eyes and popped the bubble. "Lucci, I know that the truth really puts a thorn in your side, it does for me too. But as long as you're willing to accept me, I will always be your mom. I'll always be the one who gives you questionable advice you either take too literally or not seriously enough." 

She cupped his face and gently rubbed his cheeks. "I'll also show up and say embarrassing stories at the worst possible time and go crazy whenever I think your in trouble, because that's my job, because that's what I'll always choose to be above being a criminal, above being the owl lady, even above being a Clawthorne." The woman kissed his head, nuzzling him with her face..

"... I'd always choose you too." Lucci responded. "I can't imagine another living being as a mom other than you … even if this is… somehow… my… blood family." They glanced back at the chaos as Luz and King were kicking the stuffing out of the purple gremlin.

"Great, great, glad to see you have your emotional resolutions, can you help us fight this thing now!?" Luz shouted.

"In a minute, just got to make sure the last one doesn't.." 

"Lucci!" His mom yelled too late as a spear passed by his face, grazing the skin underneath his eye.

"ROOOSSEEE!" No. Not the banshee, not now. "GIVE ME BACK ROSE!"

"Do we have to face all my repressed trauma?" He asked, instantly bubbling himself and his mom. "Maybe save this for another day?"

"If you hold back the gremlin for a second, I think I can kill two birds with one stone here!" Luz shouted as she used her sword to slide down the giant purple behemoth.

"It doesn't matter if you hold her back-" Lucci didn't finish, as the familiar creature began rushing at an impossible speed. "She's here."

"ROOOSE! ROOOSEE!"

"Would you stop saying that name?!" Lucci pushed the pale monster back by the arms, meeting it halfway as the two of them were met at an impasse in the middle of all the chaos.

"SHE'S JUST STUCK! AROUND THAT FLESH!" Just like always they ignored all things and tried to claw at his stomach. Ignoring the attacks from Luz, ignoring the fidgeting of King, ignoring his mother, all just trying to claw out the rock in his stomach. "GET HER OUT!" The thing wailed.

"Look here, ghostie, gremlin, tree people, whatever the heck you are..!" Lucci growled as he pushed back harder, even when its hands began digging deep into his skin. "…I don't care what you are or how you're connected to me! I don't care about solving whatever past I have in the human realm, I have a happy life and a full family on the boiling isles, in the owl house!" He let it get close, its claws sinking into his chest as he rushed forward, slamming it into the purple creature. "I'm Lucifer Clawthorne, and if you have any problem with that, then you need to get out of my head right nooooooow!"

With that final shout, a massive shockwave was sent into the ground, cratering the two monsters to the floor. "Perfect, just what I needed!" Luz smirked, pointing to the growing with her sword. "While you were fighting, I was creating a big enough glyph to surround them in the snow." She smiled as she tapped her foot on the lines in the snow. "I hope this proves to be en-lightning!"

A huge pillar of electricity erupted from the ground, downing the creatures under its surge of power as it shot upwards, lighting up the sky. The group stared at the pile of ashes, blowing away with the snow. "Please tell me that's all of your problems." King panted, looking as tired as Lucci felt.

"After the banshee guts my rock out, that's usually when things go blank." Lucci nodded, breathing long and hard as he fell back on the snow. "Never had a dream where I beat them…I feel so much lighter now."

"Glad to help you out kiddo." Mom rubbed his head. "We'll get out of your head and let you rest up."

"Again, if I go into anyone else's head again, it'll be too soon." Luz sighed contently. "Although…I know you said you weren't curious during the fight, but this.." She waved generally all around. "..has my fan theory brain working overtime. Maybe.."

"When we find your way back to the human realm, you can look into it all you want." Lucci waved off. "Even if I'm human or a crystal devil, I choose to be a witch. Pointy ears and all…that's all that matters to me."

"Damn it, now you got me conflicted." Luz groaned. "That's got character building but it puts a damper on personal revelations that'll pop up later down the road."

"No revelations." King squeezed him. "He's Lucci." And let no one forget it.

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

What to play, what to play, what to play, what to play, what to play, what to play, what to play, what to play, what to play. So many options of games of such variety, and so much excitement to be had. After he and Belos finish the 'exterminate the witches' game, the Collector gets to play any game HE wants.

Well, once he's able to free himself from this prison, and the void, void, void. You know, the endless realm between realms where space as a construct has no meaning and distance was an irrelevant idea the mind can no longer use to process how location functioned. 

Why did that big old bully titan have to lock him in here? All he wanted to do was play with his egg, have a playmate that could keep up with his endless need and search for entertainment. He hasn't had a truly great playmate since pinky. Everything was so fun back then, they danced around as life constantly flourished and won. Then she left and all he had were the titans, and they just kinda … lame.

When she popped up on the isles, the collector thought things would finally pick up, but he was stuck playing Belos's game, leaving no room for them to truly make it like the old days. Although he did find it funny when she ragdolled Philip, it just got boring when she actually left. It was like Pinky forgot he existed or something … nah, that couldn't be it, right?

The collector just needed to focus on completing this new game, and then he would be able to play all the games he wanted with as many people as possible. He just wished he could at least talk to someone new. Philip only wanted to talk when it was business or venting his frustrations on the latest grimwalker he would eventually destroy. Just an endless cycle of the same things repeating over and over, oh for the love of the stars, he wished for something, at least one, new to happen.

"Finally, nice, and peaceful sleep." A new voice spoke up. "Without any supernatural complications for a change."

" Hey, who said that?!" The collector shouted. Voices in the void weren't anything new, though they were mostly just lost souls or fragments of corrupted or broken gems, and they weren't much for interesting conversation.

"Hmm?" The voice sounded confused. "A disembodied voice in my head … oh my titan, are you my conscience!?" It shouted. "I haven't heard from you in … ever."

Looks like they couldn't see each other, but they could hear each other just fine…ooh this had a brand new game written all over it, the collector could practically smell the brand new opportunities he could take advantage of. " "Absolutely. Sorry about the abscene, I needed to take a vacay, met some interesting people, started a family, hooked up the mansion, all the little things you do with having a full life."

"Oh I understand, everyone needs a rest now and then. Wait, there's a mansion in my head? My conscience has a family?"

Hah, the boob was buying it. This was already great. "Yeah, duh. What, you think people are just born with one naturally? Can you honestly tell me everyone you've met in your life has a conscience?"

"Touche my friend. I can definitely say the Golden Tool does not have one." The collector snorted at the frankly funny nickname. It seems this one appreciates snarky humor, best to replicate that. "So, what advice can you give me?"

"First off, always invest in blood. You never know what kinda stuff you can get from it." Like a key out of this prison.

" Huh, I have been bleeding a lot more lately. Maybe I should start bottling it up whenever it leaks out. Plus if I run into a rich vampire one of these days, I can strike red gold at a blood bank." Puns seems to be appreciated too, a well balanced pallet of jokes.

"Second of all, there's nothing more powerful than the promise of a pinky swear. If someone breaks one, they can never be trusted again."

"Obviously, as in, who would be stupid enough to break one of those? But to be fair you save pinky swears for people you're really close to, so it's irrelevant at that point." He was close with Belos … right?

"And finally … backup."

" Backup?"

"When you're going to do something crazy, always carry a backup." He responded. "Or you'll regret it forever when everything fails."

" Huh…wow that is relevant and sound advice for me." The voice sounded wide eyed. " It's kind of funny since…well I know you wouldn't know the full story, being on vacation…in my head somehow….but I've spent the past ten years never trusting anyone so I just got used to doing things alone. Even when griffin's talons dig into my back, I still kept going out on my own."

"Well that sucks. How are you supposed to play games alone?" The collector questioned.

"Wow…you are just blowing my mind." The voice responded. " I guess I wasn't completely alone. I had a bard buddy to play music with during that time. Didn't call her my friend officially until recently…really feeling guilty about that now in retrospect."

"Hey, if you have fun together, then she knew she was your friend." He responded. "Hey, wanna play a game?" There was silence … "Hello?" Nothing … the voice was gone.

"Dang it!" He pouted, slouching in his prison once more. Just when things were getting fun around here. The guy said something about being asleep, so maybe when he fell back asleep, he would come back…he needed to come back. " Please…please come back." The collector was getting tired of being alone all the time.