The Lost Witch

Home, Ok, Home

I sit down on the porch of the dilapidated shack. I look beside me and notice the house arrest bracelet did, in fact, fall off. It's still beeping. Wonder why the cops haven't tracked it here or something.

I pick it up and examine it. The strap is super loose. There are a few dents in it too. Hopefully not too damaged, these things are expensive. The beeping slows down and eventually fades and the light goes out. Must have died so quickly with all the beeping it was doing.

I stuff it in my pocket, stand up, and begin wandering around the area. It's quaint and beautiful. The house doesn't take up much room so there's still plenty of forest. You can even tell what patch of trees were cut down to make the house because not too far away is a patch of trees that look a visible amount shorter and younger than the surrounding ones.

Nice to know whoever built the place remembered to replant.

It's beautiful. Not too far from the neighborhood but still feels isolated.

The neighborhood.

Mom.

I wander back down the path towards the house. As I get closer, I realize I should probably be careful. Did run away after being put on house arrest after all. When I get closer, I hear some talking. Mom.

"We really need to get going Mija!"

"C-coming mom!"

She must be listening to a recording of her and Luz. Mom made lots of videos of us for our whole lives. Whenever I ask why she just says she's super sentimental, but I feel like it might be more than that.

I turn around and head back to the shack.

Why did I leave Luz? It's not safe there. And what if she decides to stay? What if she gets hurt?

And me. The people there had pointed ears like I do. I just left my one chance of figuring out what I am. Who I am. I left a fantasy world for the world where the minute I get found, I'll get locked up. Then it won't even matter if Luz comes back.

"God I'm so stupid." I groan, sitting next to the door of the shack.

Maybe Luz will come back. But what then?

What am I supposed to do?

----

I don't know when but at some point, I drift to sleep. When I'm woken up, it's by a strange noise and a bright light. I glance over to the door and see it glowing.

The portal?

"Before I go, I know it's not the same but a king shouldn't be without a crown."

Luz? I can hear her!

"This...shall suffice. You there! Plant! You are now under my command!"

And....the rat. Of course.

"Oh, and don't forget this."

"Yeah. Thanks. Don't want to forget the whole reason I came here. Or...the pamphlet."

"Well, take care kid."

"I...I will. I have summer camp after all. Besides, Hunter is still out there. I can't just leave him."

"I mean, you could."

"Eda! He's my brother. I know if we switched places he'd do the same for me. This place is fantastic, and everything I've always dreamed of. But, the dream has to end eventually. Right?" Luz sighs.

No. She wants to stay. She's not going to come back to this crummy town just because of me. I don't care about anything but her.

I'm not going to ruin this.

I get up and step through the portal, transported back onto the boiling isles.

"I would do the same for you, but I definitely know you'd never let me live it down," I say smugly.

"Hunter!"

She practically jumps into my arms and wraps me in a hug.

"You came back."

"Of course. Look, home can wait a little longer. We're in a world of magic! Might as well live it up first before we leave, right?"

"Wait, what's going on?" Eda questions.

Luz releases me and I turn to Eda.

"I know what we said, but is there a chance we could stay here?"

"And teach us to become witches!" Luz adds.

"Okay, humans can't become witches."

"How do you know? Maybe one just hasn't tried hard enough yet." I counter.

"Yeah! Let them stay. The small one can make us snacks." the pet encourages.

"Well, having the extra hands could be helpful. Especially with this little guy. But, you have to work for me before I teach you anything. Got it?"

"Thank you thank you thank you!" Luz squeals, pulling Eda into a hug.

"Gah! What is this?"

"Yeah, Luz is a hugger. You learn to live with it after a while."

----

"I know it's not much, but it should be good for the two of you," Eda explains, opening the door to a messy spare room.

Luz sets down her messenger bag and I toss my duffle bag, which I accidentally left here before going home, into the corner. Luz rolls out a sleeping bag while I string up a hammock Eda had, Luz sets up a picture of us and mom, and I pull out my phone. Just as I do, Luz's vibrates. I peek over and see mom messaged her.

"How's summer camp?"

Luz glances at me, a pained expression on her face.

The door creaks open and the pet is standing in the doorway, holding the stuffed rabbit he took from the prison.

"You sleep cocoon look fluffy smaller human." He whispers.

Luz sits up and pats the front of her sleeping bag. He curls up at the base of it. He's kinda like a cat.

Luz looks back at me and I just give her a smile. She turns back to her phone and replies to mom.

"I think I'm gonna like it here."

A/N: And there you have it, folks! "A Lying Witch and a Warden" is all done! I hope you're enjoying this because I sure am. I'm going to follow the plot/episodes of the show like I did with this, obviously making changes to accommodate for Hunter. I won't do every episode, some of them I can't think of any ideas, don't know how to work in the changes, or I just think the episodes are filler (so no "Once Upon a Swap" unless I can think of an interesting enough direction to take it).

Also, every so often, I'll add some art/edits I made for this fic. Pretty much just screenshots from episodes but with the changes.

Once again, I hope you enjoy and can't wait to show you all that I have in store.