To Search for Minds Where Minds Are Lost, Part 1
To Search for Minds Where Minds Are Lost
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King
King watched from Camila’s shoulder as Alador worked away at his desk. Darius was there as well, but he was working on something else. King was a little confused about why he needed to come, but he understood a little why Camila had to be here. The Blight dude needed her to make this thing he was working on.
“Alador?” Camila asked. “Tell me why you needed my hair again, please.”
“Your hair will stabilize the memories once we capture them,” He said, pushing back from the desk. It’s love magic- super unreliable stuff.”
“How so?” Camila asked.
“Hmph, well, love changes over time,” Alador sighed. “I supposed Mittens’s hair could’ve worked as a binding medium, but it's safer to use yours. You love Luz unconditionally.”
“Are you saying Amity no longer loves Luz?” Camila asked. King could feel the tension in the air. He knew that Alador and Camila had a hard time getting along at first. Last he heard, though, they were trying to be friends.
“Absolutely not, but… I understand that feelings change over time,” Alador said hurriedly. “Especially when it concerns my daughter. I don’t- I don’t want to presume her feelings.”
There was a tense silence while Camila stared at Alador. “Tell me how this is supposed to work then,” Camila said, leaning down over his shoulder. King poked his head up so he could see too. It was an amulet with a deep purple stone wrapped in Camila's hair and several other gems and pieces. It was all attached to a great metal chain.
“It’s essentially the magic for a dream catcher, except I’ve changed it so it captures memories instead,” Alador said, picking up the necklace and handing it to Camila.
“How does it do that?” Camila asked.
“Well, if you change some of the inner workings of one of the” Alador started, but Darius cut him off.
“Camila, just touch the amulet to the memory's physical projection, and they will be absorbed.”
“Okay,” Camila trailed off while a question came to King's mind.
“Also,” Darius started looking up from his work again. “Do not let Song touch the memories herself. Although she is missing the bulk of her soul, she does possess enough to potentially absorb memories.”
“Why is that bad?” King asked.
“Because it would be extremely jarring to her,” Darius sighed. “Like watching a scene from one of those movies without any context, but still feeling all the emotions that come with watching that scene. The emotional whiplash would be quite intense and confusing.”
“Okay, I will let Amity and…” Camia paused for a second, “and Song know not to touch the memories.”
“What about Luz’s soul?” King asked, clasping the medallions he wore around his neck.
“We are working on a device that should assist in tracking it down,” Darius responded, picking up a strange-looking device. He flipped a switch on the device, and it started screaming like crazy. Darius quickly shut it off again and placed it back on the table.
“The main issue is the fact that the device picks up on every soul in its vicinity,” Darius sighed as he fiddled with the settings on the device. Camila and Alador went back to discuss the memory stone, so King decided to take his leave. He had a different idea.
“Camila?” King said, jumping down from her shoulder.
“Yes, dear?”
“I’m going to try something else,” He told her.
“Sounds good, Mijo. Don’t be gone too long!” Camila said, giving him a pat of the skull. King waved bye as he walked left Blight Manor to find a spot for himself. After walking for a while, King found a small outcove of rocks. It was like a small cave, which was perfect for what King wanted to do. He sat down and pulled out one of the two medallions he wore on his collar. One had his initials on it. King made it with his mom a month after Belos was defeated. The second one was shaped like a star, bright blue and glowing dimly.
He squeezed it gently, just like the Collector taught him, and with a flash, the shadow of his friend appeared.
“KIIIIING! How are you?!” The Collector asked, their shadow spinning in excited circles around King.
“I’m fine, Colin,” King said happily. He liked talking to his sibling.
“I still LOVE that you gave me a NICKNAME! I LOVE NICKNAMES!!!” they said, their shadow dancing around in excitement.
“I’m glad you like it,” King sighed, spinning around to try to get a good look at Colin’s shadow.
“So whatcha need? Are there some bad guys that need stomping? Or do you wanna play a game?” they asked, their shadow splitting in half, staring at King with a smile.
“Luz is back,” King said. Colin's shadow immediately snapped together and gave King a serious look.
“That’s not funny, King,” they said, crossing their shadowy arms.
“I’m not joking. Luz is back, but she’s been split into three parts,” King told them.
“Whaaaat? Like that stupid story?” Colin laughed, the shadow floating backward. They then split into three parts. A brain, a body, and a small round orb.
“Three to Be, Three to See. Mind from Sky, Body of Rye. Stars and Titans, Soul ever brightens,”
The three separate shadows formed together into a person-shaped shadow, which floated around before forming back into Colin's shadow.
“If you mean that Luz, well, Song is in three pieces,” King shrugged.
“Huh? You’re serious?” Colin asked, their shadow standing in front of King.
“Yeah, Alador says that Song doesn’t have a soul or memories,” King started pacing around Colin’s shadow. “That she’s Luz's body.”
“Well, if all that wackiness is true, then why don'tcha pop her soul right back in her?” they shrugged, their shadow floating to the ceiling.
“Colin, come on!” King snapped, “I can’t just do that! I don’t even know where her soul is!”
“Sure you do, King!” they laughed, “It’s right where we buried her! I put it there myself!”
King's mouth fell open. He never thought much about the lamp they’d put at the base of Luz’s grave. He thought it was one of the many lights that his big sister had burst into when she… when she died.
“You knew?!” King yelled, “And you didn’t say anything!?”
“What do you mean? I thought that all of you left your souls behind after you… died,” Colin said, stuttering the last word. King remembered explaining death to The Collector after Luz died. It was one of the hardest conversations he’d ever had trying to help his friend understand what it meant to die. Obviously, he needed to clarify with Colin that-
“People don’t usually leave their souls lying around!” King told his friend. “At least, they don’t normally do.”
“Oh,” The Collector said, “I didn’t know that. I’m sorry.”
King sighed and grabbed the Collector's shadow hand. “It’s okay. I didn’t explain.”
Colin's shadow hugged King, which was not exactly a pleasant experience, but King accepted it anyways.
“How do I put Song’s soul back into her body?” King asked. As soon as the question left his mouth, he knew its answer. All he had to do was drop it into Song’s eyes, but the same part of him knew that there was something missing.
“Dunno, King. All I know is that it would take some special chains made from stars to keep the soul from leaving again!” they said cheerfully.
“I don’t think I can make chains like that,” King told them.
“It’s so easy, though! You just grab a star and stretch it!” Colin said, making shadow puppets of stars.
“But Colin, I can’t do that!” King yelled. They looked surprised before their shadow started zipping around the cave, murmuring to themself.
“King! I’m coming back to the Isles!” Colin yelled after several minutes of them just flying around.
“What? Why?”
“I wanna help!” They said excitedly. “Luz was nice to me. If I can help her, then I will!”
“But-” King started but was interrupted by the shadow placing its cold finger on his skull.
“I’m coming back, King! Once we help Luz, we can play all sorts of games!” Colin laughed before zipping to the back of the cave.
“I’ll see you soon, King! BYYYYYE!”
With that, the shadow was gone. King took a second to snap out of his daze before he realized what he’d done.
He knew where Luz’s soul was.
To Search for Minds Where Minds Are Lost
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Eda
Eda picked at her teeth with her hook hand, her hair waving in the wind as they rushed back to her house. She looked at Amity and Song at the helm, just talking. She couldn’t help but smile a little, letting the memories of Luz flood her mind. She couldn’t do magic anymore, but she knew if they managed to collect all three parts of her daughter, she was never going to be the same.
Broken things, even when they get fixed, aren’t really the same thing before they got broken.
“Edalyn?” Lilith said, bringing Eda out of her thoughts.
“Yea, Lily?”
“What did you think of that limerick?”
“That you and Raine said was a creation myth; it was pretty dumb,” Eda joked before becoming serious.
“So you’re saying,” Eda swallowed and towards Lilith. “We need Archivist magic to bring Luz back?”
“The story suggests that Archivists and Titans worked together to bind souls to bodies. I researched alternatives, but there simply aren’t any,” Lilith said.
“So we’re gonna need Colin’s help, huh,” Eda said, tapping the medallion they made for her.
“I still don’t understand why they chose that nickname, but yes,” Lilith sighed. “We’re going to need the child's help, not just to rebind Luz’s soul, but also reinsert Luz’s memories.”
Eda snorted.
The Collector said that they wanted to explore the stars, but they did stay in the boiling Isles for about a year. That was some hectic parenting, but Eda thought she’d done an okay job. Eda and King even worked out a nickname for him, though it was just a straight-up name.
“We’re getting close to the Owl House!” Amity yelled from the helm. Eda sighed and put her arm on Lilith's shoulder.
“I can talk to King. He has a way of talking to The Collector, and we can ask if they want to help,” Eda told her.
Lilith nodded and walked to the helm, leaving Eda alone. Soon after, the airship started descending. Eda looked over the side of the boat, watching the approaching ground. She fidgeted with her hook hand as they landed, the airship shuddering as it hit solid ground.
“Eda! Amity, did you find it?” said the voice of Camila as she rushed up to the side of the ship.
“Yea, we did, Mom! We did!” Amity yelled, rushing off the airship. The kid shot past Eda, pulling Song along. Eda watched as Amity gave Camila a huge hug and couldn’t help but grin a bit. Eda followed after them, coughing to catch their attention.
“Did Al get you set with the memory-catching thing?” Eda asked Camila.
“Yes, he did. I have it right here,” She responded, pulling out a deep purple and black amulet.
“Good,” Amity said, pulling out the small vial of titan's blood. They all looked at the makeshift portal that they had built yesterday.
“Let's get started.”
To Search for Minds Where Minds Are Lost
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Amity
Amity tapped her foot as she watched Hunter draw some blood from the small vial and drop it into the power slot. She then watched as Song attached another door to the whole system.
The plan was simple. Well, as simple as it could be. Open the portal to the inbetween. Send four people in again. That was going to be Camila, Eda, Amity, and Song. They were going to use a special memory-catching stone to collect Luz’s memories, and then they were going to get the hell out of there.
Amity squeezed the amulet and looked up at the door. Hunter was attaching several nodes to the door while Lilith prepared to turn on the machine. Amity and the other three stood in front of the door, quiet but tense.
“Mija, Song,” Camila said, standing in front of them.
“Yea?” Amity answered.
“Darius warned me not to let you,” She pointed at Song, “touch the memories. You may absorb them by accident.”
“Oh,” Song murmured. “That would be bad.” She growled. Both Camila and Amity winced, but Camila recovered first.
“He said that absorbing a memory might cause severe emotional whiplash that could be confusing to you, so let's be careful, si?” Camila told her.
“Si Camila,” Song nodded.. Amity reached up to pat her shoulder, doing her best to assure Song that they wouldn’t let her absorb any of Luz’s memories. Yet.
“Kiddo, what will Luz’s memories look like?” Eda asked Song while tying her tether to her waist.
“It may look like a mindscape,” Song said.
“Huh, why?” Camila asked
Song shrugged her shoulders, and Eda scoffed.
“If I hadn’t seen you part the sea like that guy from that human book,” Eda sighed. “Then I wouldn’t believe you.”
“Part the sea?” Camila asked, looking between Song and Eda.
“Yep, with the wave of her staff,” Eda sighed.
“I don’t really know how I did it,” Song laughed nervously. “Just how I know that it's going to look like a mindscape in there, but I don’t know why.”
Camila just nodded. Amity grabbed Song's claws and squeezed them.
“You still don’t need to come,” Amity whispered to her. “Now that we know…” Amity was just trying to be considerate and tried forcing all the sincerity into her voice that she could. Amity knew that her heart betrayed her, though. She really did want Song to walk the void with her.
“I promised,” Song said.
“Ready?” Lilith yelled from behind.
“As we’ll ever be,” Amity responded, giving thumbs up.
Lilith nodded, and Hunter plugged the machine in. The door shuddered for a second before it made a loud popping sound. It vanished for a second and then reappeared, broken and lopsided. Amity stepped forwards, opened the door, and placed a foot in.