Boiling Gems (The Owl House x Steven Universe)

Summary: Some backstory plot!

Centi watched as the girl drew circle after circle. "Base glyph of two light and two ice, connecting to a larger ring of fire and light …" She grinned, tapping it as the air felt staticy, a scorch mark now on the walls. "Invisible lightning bolt!"

"Isn't that highly dangerous?" The raven woman questioned. "How would you know to aim an invisible projectile that moves faster than sound?"

"Huh, I didn't actually think that all the way through…hm…oooh! I got an idea that I've been wanting to try." The girl ran over to the giant pink sword that always put Centi on edge whenever it was carried, and slapped the glyph on it. The air around the blade felt staticy as she waved it around. "Hahaha! I can channel my glyphs through my sword! Fireblades! Ice Daggers! Lightsabers, I can have it all now!"

"That thing already cuts through magic and steel, and you just double downed on its magical capability." The pink boy stated with a bit of sweat. "And here I thought you were a threat before Noceda."

"Oh, like you're one to talk, mr. Crystal Devil." The girl counted, making the boy flinch. "Ooh, is it too soon to start making jokes about it?"

"Nah, it's fine. I just don't like being called a devil. I'll get over it eventually." The pink boy said unconvincingly in her opinion. If it unnerved him, then he should just be honest about it.

"Hey, don't you worry about anything, Lucci." The fuzzy one patted the boy. "The title is not something to fear, it is to embrace! With you and Centi by my side, that's two Devils already added to my demon army, who will one day take over the world! Isn't that right, Francois?"

The little stuffed pile of fluff Centi was ninety percent sure wasn't alive fell slightly to the left from where it was sitting, showing off a hidden blade behind its back. "Aww, my minion's first backstab." The fuzzy one that's been smelling more and more delicious by the day began sniffling. "It brings a tear to this tyrant's eye."

"Yes, yes, you're super creative, but would you please take your make believe elsewhere? I can't go anywhere in this living room without tripping over one of your toys." The raven woman grunted as she kicked away one of piles of fluff on the ground.

"... What ?" The fuzzy one spoke with a repressed rage that Centi hadn't heard from them before.

"Historically before Belos, demon's were never united under a kingdom or empire, most assuredly not one as miniscule in stature as you." The raven lady pointed assuredly. "There has never been a 'King of Demons', ever."

"How DARE YOU!" The fuzzy one shouted. "My claim to the throne is absolute! I've commanded armies for thousands of years with an iron with nerves of steel! All trembled before my might."

"Of course, a claim to a nonexistent throne. Go ahead and keep it." The raven lady nodded sarcastically.

"Wow, and you wonder why I still don't like you." The pink boy rolled his eyes.

"Come on guys, don't start ganging up on each other now, we were doing fine just a minute ago." The girl grabbed the furry child. "You are the cutest little tyrant the world's ever seen, aren't, yes you are, yes you are."

"I know this is a house where lying and deceit is encouraged, but there should be a limit to how far you let the little twerp stretch his imagination." The old raven rolled her eyes.

"Hey, I may be a schemer, thief, occasional backstabber, and the bane of all life everywhere, but the last thing anyone can ever call me is a liar! Come on Lucci, can't you back me up!?" The furry one shouted.

"... Full honesty?" The boy questioned. "I don't really know."

"SERIOUSLY?!" The furry child jumped on the boy's head. "Come on, you know I'd never lie to you. I'm always dead serious when it comes to my past!"

"King, I was three when we met. Back then everything was fuzzy." The pink one stated as he lifted the furry one off. "I remember a giant toe, a castle, moon people, and a zombie with a drill. But mom said you were a King, and I trust her completely."

"The same mother that said you weren't kidnapped for fourteen years?" The Raven Lady questioned.

"One, it was less a kidnapping and more of a rescue if anything, and two, I wouldn't get on my high Snorse when you're the one that delivered mom to Belos after kidnapping me AND Luz." The pink boy answered.

"Hey, I said to cool it, we don't have a need to escalate the situation here." The girl got in the middle. "Why don't we just let bygones be bygones and let it go?"

"No, this ignorant fool has questioned my honor and dignity! I shall not let this stand!" The furry child ran off. "I'll be back, don't go anywhere!"

"Ignorant? Where does he get the gall to call me ignorant!?" The Raven lady shouted.

"How about when you judge our lifestyle before living it?" The Pink boy glared.

"You don't have a say in this conversation, you're more than likely to be in on it."

"What part of 'everything was fuzzy' did you not understand?"

"Seriously, it feels like a stick of dynamite is going to go off if you two are left in a room together." The girl stayed in between the two.

"Nah, we all get along great, like one big happy family!" The creepy Owl cheered.

"Honestly, you two being friends is the most baffling thing I have ever witnessed in my life." The pink boy said in disbelief. "Literally nothing weirder tops it, not even the crystal devil thing."

"I would call you out on that if I wasn't just as confused as you." The Raven women grumbled. "But seriously Luz, you can't seriously buy the nonsense King's trying to convince you of."

"Hey, if he wants to believe in something, it's our job to support him." She answered. "After all, when your mom never believes in your creativity, it causes a lot of stress, you know?"

After a second of silence, Centi once more curled with the girl. "Krkrkrkr."

"You call me out for crushing on Boscha, but this is clearly not a healthy relationship you have with Centi." The Pink Boy stepped back.

The fuzzy one came back into the room, carrying two tasty smelling sticks. "If you choose to doubt me, then I'll take you to the castle myself!"

"..Uh, you're castle?" The girl asked hesitantly.

"Yeah, the castle that Luz really for real believes in one hundred percent, right?" The creepy bird demon nudged the girl in the back.

"Yeah, the castle, we can totally go there." The girl nodded. Peer pressure, how annoying.

"Fine, I'll embark on this fool's errand, but only to prove that my historical knowledge is one hundred percent accurate." The raven lady grabbed one of the tasty sticks.

"Great, I can't wait to see how you make this worse." The pink boy grumbled as he grabbed the other one.

"Oooh, you're all going on a road trip! I can come! Just give me a minute to get ready!" The creepy demon began pulling himself out of the door it seemed to just live in.

"NO!" The fuzzy and pink ones shouted out as …

Centi had never, ever, in eight thousand years, ever considered herself thankful for her damaged mental state. But here she was, thanking every star and salty chip in existence that she was a lower mental lifeform. Because no living thing should be cursed with the brain capacity to process the horrors before them. "Porta Hooty! Ready for Hooty!" It screamed, somehow still alive in spite of all the guts and blood spilling out of the door.

"That's…" The raven lady winced.

"Yeah….just as gross as last time." The pink boy held his hands to his mouth.

"This is why we banned Lucci from asking Hooty to come along anymore." The trembling fuzzy one stated. "Luckily me and him are used to this … Luz, are you alright?"

The human simply stared at the horror that laid before her, before finally giving the only rational response any living and sane creature would give. "Blleeeeegggh!" The girl's insides spilled all over the floor.

"Let's give her five minutes before we head out." The pink boy winced.

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Lilith felt ridiculous for even considering to entertain Edalyn's oversize pet cat on his wild machinations, let alone be willing to fly for over half the day to an island of unspecified origin or location that the little runt claimed to be the only one capable of finding. It didn't help that her present company was… much to be desired in a lot of ways.

"Ah, breeze flowing through my feathers. It's been a while since I felt this good!" Hootsifer spoke in their frankly ridiculous state considering everything she's been through.

"Never clean, never clean, I can never clean myself again." Luz was both feeding the delusions of King because of her own delusions being shattered like the wind, along with being traumatized by recent events.

"Eh, once you see him do it about three more times, the scarring memories get buried in the back of your mind, festering and building until you're old and wrinkly, where by that point, you'll be too senile to even remember why it was traumatizing." And Lucifer continued to prove why it was a bad idea for her sister to have children. Hopefully she didn't kidnap another one, or titan forbid, procreate.

"As… enlightening… as this little trip has been.." Lilith began to say sarcastically. "Isn't it about time we call it a day… or given the time now… a night." Oh Titan, Hostifer's sense of humor was starting to infect her.

"We'll call it a day when you admit defeat!" And the delusional one of the hour shouted out at her. "We're getting there, it's really far from the Boiling Isles."

"It can't be far, there's nothing but the Boiling Isles for the next three days." She responded.

"Is the Demon realm really that small?" Luz asked with that scholarly curiosity Lilith had come to admire about the girl.

"No, it's mostly just water. There are confirmations of other bodies of fallen titans, each with their own name, but they're so far away from each other that inter island trade isn't practical." Lilith explained. "The titan where we live just so happens to have the biggest population of witches living on them, given how much of the titan's surface is available to live on and harvest for resources."

"It always fascinates and disturbs me whenever I'm reminded of the fact we live on one giant corpse." Luz shuddered. "Though Lilith has a point, we've been gone for a while. Eda's probably wondering where we are."

"We left a note, it's fine." Lucifer waved off. "Now we should be there soon, I've been getting flashes of memories. We were running from Coven Scouts, and the boiling rain wasn't helping, so we were looking for cover."

"Looking for cover over the boiling seas?" Lilith raised an eyebrow.

"Considering you were one of the people leading the charge, we didn't really have much of a choice." Lucifer countered. "Anyways, we kept going, and going for miles until we hit a really thick fog…" Mist began to rise where they were flying. "Just like that. Then we saw … well, there's the giant toe." Lucifer smirked with an annoying smile.

They turned, seeing a giant temple on an island … one Lilith was sure didn't exist last she checked. "How, this island doesn't exist on any previously recorded map."

"It's always here whenever I look for it." King happily answered as they drew in closer. "Now be careful with this last part. The trees are super thick, so it's not easy flying through them. Watch your heads."

"Don't worry, with Owlbert on our side, trusting him to get us through safely is-" Lucifer turned mid air, as Luz was hit with a branch hard enough to be launched right off. "Owlbert!"

"Hoot." They responded without a hint of regret.

"Scaw." Mike agreed.

"I think they're still a little sore about Luz having Centi around." Hootisfer noted. "Come on fellas, just let her give you a big kiss every once in a while, and the little gall will love you forever."

"Hoot."

"You're still salty about the cracked head, aren't you?" Lucifer questioned.

"The what now?" Lilith felt like this was a story she needed to hear the context of.

"Nothing important, we're here!" King jumped off as they made it to the front entrance of a grand temple, the one that by all means shouldn't exist.

"Hm…" Lilith reserved the right to be skeptical about the whole situation, but she would be lying if she said her curiosity hadn't peaked. "The stone integrity of the structure is ancient, and the runes in the metal.." She observed the gold plating, which had strange circular symbols engraved in them. "I've never seen markings like this before."

"Since when are you an archaeologist?" Lucifer questioned.

"It's a hobby of mine. I've always been fascinated with old artifacts forgotten to our kind …" She frowned. "Although, given the age of these structures it may not be forgotten so much as … nonexistent?" She questioned. "This may actually predate witches themselves."

"Something older than witches? What's before witches? God's? Demons? Eldritch abominations?" Luz asked as they began making their way through the large entrance. "Nice door. An entrance fit for a tyrant."

"Yes, it is amazing to behold. Here is where I devoured the hearts of all my enemies and sacrifices." King proclaimed proudly. "They were cold and bitter, but yours would probably be super sweet."

"With all the sugar I eat, it should be." Luz continued to pander the hairy child as she lit up a light glyph to get a better look at the room.

"Alright, this is obviously the castle." Lucifer muttered. "But what about the moon meeeeee-" The boy trailed off, gazing at the numerous small statues scattered about. "... Found them."

"Alters and statues to all my brave subordinates who died trying to protect me, it…it really brings a tear to my eyes." King sniffled. "Today is a day filled with tears of joy and hope."

"What do you think about this, Lulu?" Hootfisfer asked as she began looking around. The drawings of mighty creatures, one that looked suspiciously close to King, were engraved all around them.

"I..I truly don't know. The location of the temple, the unidentified runes, the markings on the walls, it's becoming more and more difficult to discredit." Combined with the fact they had no idea what the titan King actually was, the little twerp's word was becoming more and more valid.

"Oh, here's a depiction of my mighty visage!" King pointed to a picture of a giant with a skull head, similar to his. "Behold what I was like before I lost my powers!"

The image was grand in scope, showing a mighty warrior, one that looked feared with every step he took, one that both inspired and threatened all that dared to oppose them. "Impressive power." Luz noted. "Hey, who's the pink woman next to you?" She pointed next to the image, where it depicted a tall and fearsome pink skinned woman, fighting against multiple enemies of various sizes and shapes.

"Well it's difficult to decipher any of the runes but I can check…." Lilith froze, noticing something very concerning about the woman. "Lucifer, come over here, quickly." The woman demanded.

"Something wrong, or are you just shocked about being proved wrong?"

"Your shield, make it now." She left no room for debate.

"Weird time for a power demo but okay." He made it.

She looked back and forth for a moment, a strange feeling rolling in her stomach as she traced the image. "A perfectly round shield, with a rose design, three vines …" She moved her fingers to the belly. "With a pink pentagram based stone in the center of the stomach…"

The boy looked at her, then at the image. "… Nope." Lucifer dissipated the shield and began walking away. "Eda's the only mom I care about." Well that was one way to BLOW OFF A REVELATION OF THE FUCKING CENTURY!!

"Dude, seriously?!" Luz rightfully shouted indignantly. "This is like a backstory overload!"

"Name me one thing I should legitimately care about in this situation, and I'll stare at the image for more than five seconds." He retorted.

"You're possible mom might've been friends with King in his past life?" Luz suggested.

"And now we're both friends, something I knew from the start." They waved off.

Hootsider looked back and forth at the images. "Well maybe they were lovers, and you're their kid?"

Lucifer looked at the painting, and then King back and forth for two minutes straight, before gagging. "Sorry, I …I need to go….throw up somewhere secluded."

"Aww come on, is it really that bad of an image … son-yeah no, it sounded wrong the moment I said it." King shivered. "Hooty, your mind is truly the most disturbing contraption to ever exist in the demon realm."

"Hoot hoot!"

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

Lucci finally finished emptying out his stomach. "Damn it all …" He did not need that image in his head, or anything else today. Screw his backstory, his backstory ended at Eda finding him and being his Mom. "Ahh …" He turned to the statue that stared silently at him. "You saw nothing."

"Hoot." Owlbert called him out as he sat peacefully in his head.

"I know they can't hear me, I'm just reiterating the point so I can remember to not remember this part of today." If this wasn't about helping King one up Lilith, he would've just left the temple and gone back home right now.

It was so weird walking around this place. It was like deja vu was constantly flooding his brain despite being a new location. The crumbling castles, the decaying matter, it was … offsetting. More and more images were flashing, mainly ones where he was riding around in mom's hair. "Yo, Lucci, you alright?" Luz asked, walking up to him.

"Aside from the nausea, not really." He answered honestly. "This is why I don't like looking into the past. There's always too much drama or trouble the more you dig into something."

"And yet it was my digging that managed to get LAW back together."

"The ONE exception to the rule, and that didn't happen until AFTER my brain got turned to ash." Lucci countered. "I've always been more focused on living in the moment…" Although recent events have proved to him that living that way wasn't exactly fulfilling in the long run for a criminal. "If you focus too much on figuring out the past or planning out the future, you miss the life you can live in the present."

"Oh come on, I'm not missing the present." Luz grinned. "I've got my magic, friends, and a fun life at Hexside. That's my present for the win." She walked over through the hall. "So … do you know what the heebie-jeebies are?"

"Isn't that the bug that crawls in your ear and plant's itself in your spinal cord and slowly takes control of your body?" Lucci asked. "I think mom has a potion for that if you're having problems."

"No…though I'll be sleeping with one eye open from now on." Luz shivered. "I'm talking about the feeling of being watched by something you can't see, because this place gives me that vibe ten times over."

"Being watched?" Lucci looked at the statues. "I guess paintings and art can have that effect …"

"No, it's more like … something's wrong." The girl moved down the hall, staring at one of the statues. "It's off … almost like the eyes follow your movements and track everything you do …" She poked the statue.

"Well from what I remember, the moon people were mostly quiet and still." Lucci began poking around too. "But there was one…that zombie with a drill that just came out of nowhere and started chasing me." If his powers didn't come when they did, he would've become minced meat.

"I don't see what could be a zombie." Luz muttered. "Although there is a lot of flesh on this one guy." She poked the head as it tilted … then tilted back. "... Did you see that?"

"I did and I wish I didn't." Lucci cautiously responded, slowly approaching. "Hello. We come in pea-"

SHINNNK

It raised its arm and sliced up his shirt, revealing his stomach jewel…something that made the moon thing's eye's narrow as its head twisted around in an unnatural angle.

"I FOUND THE ZOMBIE!" Luz screamed as Lucci grabbed her by the hand and took her in the other direction. "GUYS, WE NEED TO BOOK IT NOW!"

"Oh, you must have seen the horrifying monstrosity room." King nodded. "Don't worry, nothing in there can hurt you."

"That can!" Lucci made a shield as the zombie thing tried to claw at him, only to shift its arm into a drill as it broke the shield. "I really hate not being in top shape!"

"King, you're the ruler of this place, don't you know how to stop it!?" Hooty asked.

"As your ruler, I command-!" The little guy shouted … only for fleshy tendrils to round themselves, pulling him over to the zombie as the moon man still continued to jump at him. 

"Why is it going after just me!?" Lucci shouted as a blade cut through his hair, taking a few curls of it with him.

Lilith pressed on a few ice glyphs and throw some daggers that pierced the terror into a wall. "Well given that you share the gemstone with the woman on the wall and the great possibility she is related to you somehow, I think that's enough context to say it considers her, and therefore you, a natural enemy!"

"Lucky for you, it's sword time!" Luz swung her blade at the creature, cutting it clean in half. "Haha, how do you like that!?" The flesh began stitching itself up, the head turning around like an owl. "You like it very much … King, get it to stop!"

"I command-" The tentacles grabbed onto King, pulling him to the statue.

"This is why we don't mess with the past! It's better to keep it buried!" Lucci summoned enough strength to throw one of his disks at its head, cutting it clear off. "Aha! That's for haunting my nightmares!" The head began rolling back towards its body. "Why did I forget decapitation was a non lethal attack?"

Luz grabbed onto King. "Let's run, now!" Lucci stood up, grabbing onto Owlbert as he flew over to the two of them.

"Running's not much of an option when it can crawl on the walls!" Lilith pointed up, where the moon zombie was, scaling it like a large oversized spider. "Lucifer, you encountered this before, how did you defeat it!?"

"We didn't! Back then it was about to slice me and King and half until mom…"

"Unil mama showed up and saved your hides!" They turned to the entrance, where mom appeared tossing several potions she had strapped to her body toward the zombie, where pieces of its flesh were blown off, slowing it down. "Keep running to the exit, the thing can't leave the temple!"

"Thank you magical lockdown rules!" Luz shouted as they made it closer and closer, eventually flying through the door.

"Non stale air, how I missed you!" Lucci shouted. "The past is painful, the future is annoying, but the present…oooh the present is such a gift."

"I..I don't understand why it was attacking." King mulled the situation over, pacing back and forth to assess the situation. "I'm the king of this place and I wanted you guys here. It shouldn't attack you guys."

"Well, there's the chance you might… not…." Luz slowly began to say. "..You know…."

"No … no!" The little guy shouted. "Eda, set them straight! Tell them I'm King!"

The woman stared at him, before sighing. "King … It's time I tell you the real story." She leaned down, sitting on the ground. "Like I said before, me and Lucci found this island while looking for cover from the boiling rain. In hindsight, looking for cover above the boiling sea wasn't exactly the smartest move."

"Called it." Lilith scoffed.

"We ended up finding this place inadvertently. We wandered around for a while until we bumped into you. We thought you were a stray dog at first and Lucci wanted to bring you home." That did sound like something Lucci would do. "I relented of course, but that was mostly due to that crazy thing trying to chop him in half. We managed to escape, but not before it fired off an arrow.." Mom took out something from her pocket… revealing a chipped off horn.

King stared at the object. "... No." King backed away. "No, no no, keep that away, it's messing with my head …" He whimpered. "It can't be … it can't be a lie …"

"Not to ruin this moment." Oh, like that wasn't on purpose Lilith. "But you mentioned it can fire off an arrow?"

"Yeah, real good aim to boot."

"Then why hasn't it fired one now?" … They all slowly turned to the entrance, where the zombie thing had multiple arrows loaded and aimed at the group.

"DUCK FOR COVER!" Luz shouted as everyone scattered.

"Wait, King, don't go off on your own!" Lucci shouted when he realized that King was running into the thick forest.

"Just leave me alone! I have emotions and flashbacks to repress!"

"Well, he definitely inherited the Clawthorne motto." Lilith muttered.

"You shut it!" Mom shouted. "We're in this mess to begin with because of you, now come on and help me prepare for the flight home."

"Wait, how did you even get here, we took both palisman." Luz asked.

"I have an emergency escape craft buried in the apocalypse bunker." Mom answered, pointing to a tub with a fan attached to the bottom.

"You have an apocalypse bunker?" Lilith asked.

"Who doesn't?" Lucci answered right back.

"Off topic, come on Lucci, we need to find King." Right, he was probably more broken up than anyone at the moment.

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

Luz moved through the forest with Lucci right behind her, eventually finding a lone log by the beach. On it sat a familiar fuzzy little guy, staring at the ocean. "I should have known … Eda lies about everything …" He muttered.

"Come one, it's not… everything." Lucci tried to placate.

"Don't try to patronize me Lucci, everything about our lives is a lie. She lied about the curse, she lied about you, everything important about our lives she's never been fully honest about." It was tough to argue when Luz completely agreed. "Next thing we know, she's gonna lie about Hooty being bought at a bargain bin during the night market."

"I mean… would you be surprised if he was?" Luz tried to laugh it off. "Something has to explain how…. Hooty… he is."

"Nothing is ever going to explain Hooty." Lucci deadpanned. "But lying isn't bad King … I prefer mom's lies over the truth any day."

"Yeah, because even if it's a lie, it's a lie where you still get to have a happy family, a lie where you still get everything you want!" King yelled, pointing angrily at Lucci. "I don't have that Lucci! I believed I was something great, something amazing my whole life, and now I know it was all just some joke for everyone to laugh at! Everyone coddles and mocks me because of how stupid I sounded and looked! That's not good for me in the slightest!"

"Oh, so you're saying all the years of fun we had together was a lie?" Lucci countered back with a scowl. "You're saying that all the good feelings we had, all the laughs we shared, all the stuff we stole together, the games we played, the food we ate and threw up, the nest cuddles, none of that was real?"

"I …" King winced. "It was … it was real …"

"Oh come on, so what if you're not the King of Demons." Luz rubbed the guy's back. "You have a much important monarchy down pat … the King of our hearts."

The little guy sniffed, nuzzling his head close to her chest. "Heh….that's so cheesy…..why do humans make my heart feel so full?"

"I dunno about that. I'm a weirdo to my species, and Lucci is a witch rock hybrid." Luz grinned as she gave him a squeeze.

"That's true, you do have a knack for getting along with devils." Lucci chuckled. "Now come on, let's head home. I'll make sure to give you your own army, and make you the first King of Demons on the Boiling Isles when you grow up."

"Heh… that does sound nice…" King looked up at the temple in the distance. "I just… It's just so hard to know what's real and what's fake anymore. I remember falling from the shaft, thinking it was just me shrinking down, and a roar calling out to me."

Luz raised an eyebrow at that, looking back at the tower. "... Hey Lucci?"

"What?" He asked.

"Do you remember any stairs?" She asked, trying to recall the layout.

"Hm… no stairs… but I recall a hole in the middle of the ceiling in the chambers, but it was blocked by rubble." Rubble?

"That makes even less sense." She muttered, drawing along the sand. "If it was a hole in the ceiling, and no stairs, that would indicate either extending limbs, or flying powers…"

"Or something big enough to reach the whole just by standing." Lucci added on. "Or… something to climb up… like the… moon zombie…" Luz and him shared a similar look.

"Lucci? Luz?" King snapped his fingers.

"That thing was targeting Lucci because of his belly rock… what if it was attacking… to protect YOU from him." Luz pointed to King.

"It grabbed you." Lucci noted. "It didn't slice or shoot at you like everyone else, it specifically grabbed you with flat, unharmful, tendrils."

"I…Yeah, that's a good point…" The little guy questioned. "Which means that whatever I am… there has to be answers up in that shaft!"

Luz paused for a moment, and considered her meddling nature. "... You want these answers … right?"

"I do, more than anything." King immediately said with fierce determination.

"Then it's time for a plan." Lucci grinned. "And I've got a perfect, flawless, strategy."

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

"Flawless my foot!" King shouted, trying to catch his breath. "How is any of this perfect!? It's just chasing us around in a circle!" 

"Well it hates it when I'm near you, so we need to give the other's enough time to blow the rubble out of the way … darn it, super stamina isn't there anymore." Lucci painfully breathed in and out as he ducked underneath an ax hand from the zombie thing.

"Eat invisible lightning creep!" Luz shouted, swinging her blade at the thing. "Haha, electricity messes with the nerves on the body! Hail the master of Glyphs, with a B+ in science!" She called out, kicking the severed limbs away from each other. "And who runs for her life with no longer weak nerd legs!"

"How are we doing with blowing up that hole!!?" Lucci shouted to the two older witches, using their palisman to fly up close and plant explosive potions within the cracks.

"Just a minute, champ, we got to do it as thoroughly as possible for it all to come out!" Eda shouted out as she and Lilith shoved more into the rock.

"And if we just shove them all it, we could cause this whole temple to fall down and come down on us." Lilith added on. "Alright, one here … one there …"

Lucci glanced over as the parts began to come back together. "Nope!" He shot forth multiple bubbles to lock away the body parts. "Some people say being a bubble master is a useless power, but they just don't have the creativity to use them!" He grabbed the bubbled limbs and threw them out of the entrance. "Yes, your limbs don't work outside the temple, what are you going to do about it!?"

The creature laid limp for a second, before beginning to regenerate the missing body parts like nothing had happened. "Oh that is just bull hockey!" Luz shouted, tapping ice glyphs onto the bubbles and freezing them over. "Come on guys, we need an explosion ten seconds ago!"

"Almost there and done!" Eda shouted as she and Lilith came in to swoop the rest of them up in the air. "And thanks to glyphs, I can still do my signature SPICEY TOSS!" An x-shaped blast of fire expelled from her hands and was shot in the middle of the ceiling.

Kaboooom

The rocks cleared out and opened up to a long, long entrance upwards. "Okay people, fly up!" King shouted. "Because zombie man is coming back for round three!"

"This somehow manages to be somewhat more annoying to deal with than the veggie Lucci's!" Lucci called out as they flew upwards. "At least I'm able to eat them if all else fails!"

"Can't you drop something on him and force him to fall to the ground?!" Lilith shouted. "Like a giant block of ice, or a spiky shield!?"

"We're running out of Glyphs and the past few weeks have been a little taxing on Lucci's powers!" Luz shouted as they made it up to a room….a room full of nothing. "NO! I refused to risk my life this much today without getting some proper backstory explanation!"

"There's a door!" Eda called out, running to it, but it refused to budge. "Lucci, think you can break it open?!"

"Only one way to find out!" The boy rushed towards it..

Kapasssszzzzt!

A green energy covered the door and repelled the kid back. "That….was a…no…"

"Lucci!" Eda rushed over, checking on the boy's condition. "It's gonna be alright, we can-" There was a cracking and scrapping noise, the zombie was getting closer. "Door has a force field we can't pry open. Our best bet is to go invisible and sneak back down."

No…after all this time, after all the heartache and setbacks….he couldn't go back to his life without figuring out SOMETHING today. "No, we were so close, we were so CLOSE!" King shouted as he pressed on the door…which glowed white and opened. "Huh… is this what Luz means by deus ex Machina?"

"I'll accept it, I don't wanna die!" The girl shouted as she made a wall of wood. "Everyone inside!"

They dragged Lucci in, watching as the thing began tearing apart the wooden wall. "Close the door!" Lilith shouted, grabbing the walls and pushing. 

"Good idea, because for a second I was thinking about letting it in and killing us all!" Eda sarcastically responded as they slammed the door shut as hard as they could. "Ugh… please tell me we're done running around today."

"Maybe, depends on what we find in this room." King answered. They looked around … and saw more unreadable writing on the walls. One side displayed an army of people that looked just like him. The other displayed a rainbow of jewels, with four diamonds prominently displayed. And in the center … what looked like some sort of fusion between a moon and a sun, covered in orbiting stars.

"Whoa, so pretty and sparkly." Luz said in awe. "Lilith, can you get a read on any of it?"

"Nothing specific." Lilith answered, feeling up the walls. "The sun and moon image seemed to be some kind of deity… this room, this whole temple… it could be centuries, if not, thousands of years old."

"It kind of feels like a nursery." Eda stated. "The branches, the natural lighting …" She looked down. "Even the egg shells."

"Egg shells?" King asked, noticing something in the middle of the room. Egg shells on top of a golden plate with one of those runes in the middle. He picked it up… and something… instinctual inside of him seemed to come out. "I… I think this is my egg… this was my room."

"You were born here …" Lucci looked at the room. "Abandoned like me …"

"Like you …" Luz let out a gasp. "Wait a moment, maybe Hooty was onto something!"

"Don't bring that theory up again, I don't have any more food to throw up." King agreed with that sentiment one hundred percent.

"No, listen." She shook her hands. "Maybe they were lovers, but what if that wasn't King!" She asked. "What if the guy on the wall… was King's Dad?!"

"My… dad…" The roar he remembered from his faint memories….. something about it felt familiar.

"Yeah! Two of you, abandoned in strange locations, with the only real connection to this world being a simple painting in a strange temple …" She gasped again. "What if you're actual brothers!?"

"That's banking on a lot of coincidence to occur." Lilith stated as the banging on the doors got louder. "Also doesn't explain why that creature is so keen on killing Lucifer."

"If this is a nursery …" Lucci looked at the pedestal. "And King was there …" His eyes widened. "Oh titan, it's not a guard, it's a nanny. And we kidnapped its kid."

"Dang it, now those rumors are never going to die off!" Eda groaned as the door burst open. "King, if this place is yours, then you have to do something!"

King winched, not sure even if he could do something about it…but with his family in danger, then he only had one option. "I order you to stop!" He shouted at the top of his lungs.

The thing instantly stopped, falling onto one knee like a loyal servant. "... This entire thing could have been avoided if King just finished his earlier command of telling it to not hurt us." Luz muttered. "Ugh, the past is painful."

"Yeah, it is." King nodded, looking to Eda. "I… I think I want my horn back. It might jog something up."

"You sure?" Eda presented the piece to him.

"Positive." He nodded. "Lucci, I could use your healing touch."

"Oh, sure." The boy nodded, licking the horn as it began to sparkle. "At least one of my powers still works." He said as he tapped it onto King's head.

The moment he felt the horns touch, everything came flooding back as it began reconnecting. "I…I remember being in that egg faintly…..there was a lot of shaking…..and a roar of someone calling out….to me….a roar…that meant….son…" King felt himself getting weak in the legs. "Sometime later…I hatched…and the guardian was waiting for me. He took me down the shaft….where I stayed until you two found me."

"So I was definitely right." Luz nodded. "King, you may not be a King … but you might be the prince of demons!"

"Yeah….maybe…" For some reason, that news didn't seem as important as the other revelation. "I have a dad…..there's someone out there just like me." He turned to Luz and Lucci. "I'm not that old, my dad could still be out there! I need to find him!"

"We will, little guy, we won't rest until we get the answers you need." Lucci patted him on the head. "Just remember no matter what you find, you're always going to have a family with me and the rest of us."

"Yeah …" He turned to the boy. "Lucci … even if Luz is probably wrong and most likely completely off base with all of her theories…"

"Right here!"

"I …" He hugged the half human. "I want you to be my brother."

The boy simply smiled and hugged him right back. "We already are."

They stayed like that for a moment. "... Can we keep him?" King gestured to his newest servant.

" No." Everyone said at the same time.

"Come on, he's limp outside the temple, he can be the perfect help for Francois, isn't that right, Jean Luc?" The guardian nodded. "He's perfectly trained …" He saw an opportunity. "What do you think Lilith?"

"Hmm?" The woman was taken out of her notes. "Sure, whatever." In a pinch, Lilith was useful for something.