Chapter 134: The Burning of the Torsa Villa
Art by Crash X Fusion: ♪ In the confusion, and the aftermath, you are my Signal Fire... ♪
The Torsa Villa is going up in flames, and Nina rushes to rescue her family and friends there before she loses them for good.
Tropes that appear in this Chapter:
- Act of True Love: Instead of falling back when ordered to (and considering his captain declares saving the Villa and its citizens a lost cause), Carter goes against orders to continue fighting the fires so he can save Jemma and her sister.
- Adaptation Deviation: Instead of raided and emptied as seen in "O Titan, Where Art Thou", the Owl House is burned down here.
- Asshole Victim:
- The Violet Dragons and the rest of the arsonists are either burned alive or arrested for their actions.
- Scelma and Marrow are the only Clawthornes to be taken into custody, and being the only unsympathetic members of the clan (besides Belos) spells out why.
- Bad Boss:
- When Firebees takes his massive fire bee form and launches a fire rain barrage, he burns some of his arsonists to death, showing that no one is truly safe from him.
- Captain Leonte continues this behavior from earlier in the day, threatening to punish Emily, Le'Belle, and Scarmeron for going against orders and heading to the Torso Villa to fight the wildfires instead of searching for the Clawthornes.
- Battle Couple: Cross and Donna become this when they face off against Firebees, using several ice spells to kill his fire bees in order to take him down.
- Big Brother Instinct: More Little Brother Instinct. Nevertheless, Cross is highly concerned as he hasn't heard from Zee since learning about what happened to Merlin Meadows, and he would rather be finding her if tracking down Luz's family wasn't a higher priority now that Belos has ordered their arrests.
- Big Damn Heroes: Besides Nina, Willow, Skara, Slasher, Emily, Le'Belle, and Scarmeron, the founding members of L.O.W.T.H., Cross, Kyle, Cain, the Lambadas, Glinda, Tito, Napoli, Meg and Grip show up to fight off the arsonists and put out the fires before they spread to the rest of the Boiling Isles.
- Birthday Hater: Given the next trope, it wouldn't be off the mark to list Emily in this category after what she goes through.
- A Birthday, Not a Break: This chapter, the last two, and the following one all occur on Emily's 18th birthday, and all she got from it was learning how much of a bastard her birth father is and her former best friend nearly killing her before said former best friend's home was ravaged along with losing half off her family. And to top it all of, she just replaced Adrian as head of the Illusion Coven, which will burden her with The Chains of Commanding.
- Blatant Lies: Emily calls bullshit on the idea that the Clawthornes would kidnap Hunter when Leonte tells B.I.G. that they've been ordered to bring the Owl family in.
- The Bus Came Back: Dale the Party Dog pops up for the first time since "Rings of Power". Just like that chapter, he and the Fire Coven show up to fight fire damage caused by Firebees.
- Butt-Monkey: The entire Clawthorne clan has vanished due to the Emperor's Coven hunting down Luz's family in order to get Hunter back...except for Scelma and Marrow, who're arrested and tased when they resist.
- Call-Back:
- Dale gives Firebees a reminder of who he is by telling him he's going to wish he was petrified.
- When Felicity slanders the Clawthornes, she brings up several of their activities against the empire;
- Calypso recovers from her vampire attack and the surgery to turn her into a vampire, which was a success.
- The Cavalry: From Emily, Le'Belle, and Scarmeron to L.O.W.T.H. to Napoli and a huge collection of scouts, all of whom unite to save the Torso Villa.
- Cheshire Cat Grin: Felicity smirks with glee right before she starts announcing the main Clawthorne family's "crimes" and declares them Public Enemy #1-5 for "kidnapping" Hunter and the orphans.
- Continuity Nod:
- Gidget brings up Steve's defection being due to Captain Leonte's unreasonable behavior.
- The loyalist coven heads are shown getting their raid injuries treated at the Healing Coven.
- Crocodile Tears: No tears are actually used, but Belos pretends to sympathize with the victims of the Torso Villa disaster so no one will suspect him of sending Firebees to cause the attack.
- A Day in the Limelight: Nina gets another one as she leads the heroes' efforts to rescue her family.
- Despair Gambit: Belos plays one by tasking Firebees with burning down the Torso Villa so the werecat population would be too upset by the tragedy to rise up against him, and it works.
- Disproportionate Retribution:
- Even though Ms. Hicky cooperates with Alburno and tells him that she hasn't heard from Eda and doesn't know where Ban took the orphans, Leonte still has her arrested.
- The true reason Barbara was locked up isn't for insubordination, but because she's a Clawthorne and Belos and Leonte are determined to bring every last member in.
- Downer Ending: The largest one in a long time. The Torso Villa is gone because of Firebees (who gets away) with Belos giving the order, several of its citizens have perished, including most of Nina's siblings, and the whole Clawthorne clan are now fugitives since the main Clawthorne family is protecting Hunter from Belos. It's implied that Zee has lost Aqua to Belos, Barbara has also been thrown behind bars, and as Willow, the Brookes, Cross, Donna, and Lambi discover, the Owl House has been burned down.
- Dragon Rider: As part of their plan to deal with Firebees, Donna rides on Cross' back so they can freeze the fire bee swarm and their controller.
- Driven to Suicide: Casey's mother refuses to leave their home and wants to die so she can be reunited with her son. Emily stops her from going through with it by asking if that's what Casey would've wanted before evacuating her.
- "Eureka!" Moment: To stop the giant Firebees, Donna thinks up having Cross fly up to the behemoth so they can freeze and kill his fire bees; Nina catches on, but points out the large amount of ice needed to do so which is countered by Cross bringing up his cold fire breath.
- Everyone Can See It: West and Winter know about Nina's crushing on Donna, but aren't aware that she doesn't have those feelings anymore.
- Firefighting Episode: The base plot of the chapter is everyone trying their hardest to combat Firebees' wildfires and save the Torso Villa.
- The Ghost: Alador is mentioned by Geist as he was the one who supplied him and Odalia with the airship.
- Go Out with a Smile: As Nina tries to save Banjo, the hybrid locks eyes on the werecat and smile once she hears the roof beginning to cave in.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Banjo performs one; in propping up the exit of the collapsing Fangs treehouse so Nina, Pam, the twins, and Chelsea get out, she gets buried when the roof fall on her.
- Immediate Sequel: Things pick up right after the previous chapter, where the Grunhar siblings arrive at Hexside to escort the students and faculty to St. Epiderm before Nina takes off to save her family with Willow, Skara, and Slasher right behind her.
- Innocence Lost: West and Winter fail to see why Nina and Pam refuse to save the rest of their siblings at first and have to be comforted when they figure things out.
- Internal Reveal:
- Odalia learns of what Felicity did to Felicia and has already been informed of the Draining Spell.
- Tito, Cain, and Glinda encounter Cross, and Nina lets them know about Donna dating him.
- Willow and Skara inform Donna and Cross about Felicity breaking the story on Tabrella and nearly killing Felicia.
- Nina introduces Lambi and Tito to each other.
- Jerkass Realization: Learning what's happening to the Torso Villa causes Awassi to see that she judged Nina unfairly and was inconsiderate of her feelings, apologizing for her behavior and giving her condolences to her and her family.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Alburno, Joana, and Thunder show themselves to be this as none of them are comfortable with Leonte's leadership now that he's gone off the deep end due to his strangling Donna and are disturbed when he has Ms. Hicky arrested despite helping them with their mission, and admitting he'd brand the kids from Crane's orphanage.
- Karma Houdini: Firebees causes massive death and damage, but runs away when he's defeated. Belos isn't suspected for causing the disaster, and Felicity continues getting her way by turning the public against the Clawthornes.
- Killed Off for Real: Mao, Clockwork, Banjo, Ralph, Cally, Max, Buttons, and Lynxa are among those that perished in the fire.
- Killed Offscreen: Everyone in the previous trope sans Banjo is a victim to this one. Mao, Clockwork, and the shaman, in particular, are burned by Firebees himself, with the "camera" focusing on the pleased look in his eyes as his fire bees burn them to death.
- Let's Split Up, Gang!: Uneasy from the radio silence the Clawthornes have been giving, Willow decides to go to the Owl House to check on them with Skara, Nina, Slasher, Donna, Cross, and Lambi going with her, leaving the rest of L.O.W.T.H. and Awassi to tend to the injured alongside the coven scouts.
- Locked Out of the Loop: When Scarmeron returns to the castle, he tells the rest of B.I.G. that Barbara had been injured and was sent to the Healing Coven. In reality, she was arrested and sent to the castle with Zee, likely by Osran.
- Lying to Protect Your Feelings: As Emily is still in shock from learning the Awful Truth of her past at Hexside, Le'Belle covers for her in explaining how Adrian was injured. Surprisingly, Alburno supports her cover story.
- Mass "Oh, Crap!": The heroes and the coven scouts all react in shock and horror when they see the giant fire bee swarm forming into a giant Firebees. This horrifies Tina more, as she thought Firebees was petrified.
- Murder Is the Best Solution: To Belos, it is. He kept Firebees alive this whole time knowing the pyromaniac's homicidal bloodthirst would benefit him, and it does. He lets Firebees loose on the Torso Villa ordering him to cause enough damage and death so the werecats won't revolt against him since the coven sigils don't restrain their lycan forms.
- Oh, Crap!: The reaction of Willow's group when they find out that the Owl House is no more.
- Putting the Band Back Together: After seeing the broadcast of the Torso Villa burning, Emily, Cain, Tito, and Glinda all journey there to help save Nina's family and the other civilians, the five of them reuniting for the first time since the Glandus War.
- The Reveal:
- Firebees is the one setting Torsa Villa ablaze under orders from Belos, with the help of the Violet Dragons.
- Glinda's learned healing magic during her apprenticeship, a step-up from just patching up wounds.
- Emily's the one whose birthday Nina has been getting reminders of.
- Barbara has been arrested and imprisoned alongside Zee and Gidget in the castle dungeon.
- Aqua had been taken from Zee following her arrest.
- Rousing Speech: Nina gives one to the survivors of the disaster so that they don't lose hope in being able to recover from the experience.
- Sequel Hook: Firebees is still at large, Hotep Koff may become an issue since the shaman claims he came to life and escaped, and we still don't know where the Clawthornes, Amity, Boscha, and Hunter are after their bout with Bloody Mary...which will finally be answered come the next chapter.
- Shoo Out the Clowns: With dire conditions and several characters who could lighten the mood either in hiding (the Clawthornes), incarcerated (Zee), or taking refuge at St. Epiderm, there's just no source of comedy for this chapter.
- Skewed Priorities: As the Grunhar siblings ask the students of Hexside to board their airship to be taken to St. Epiderm, Cat turns down the offer as she wants to stay and defend their school. Odalia convinces her to go as St. Epiderm is far more equipped to handle another attack from the Emperor's Coven.
- Thousand-Yard Stare: Mrs. Whiskabee has one following the disaster.
- Trash the Set:
- With Belos' approval, Firebees and the Violet Dragons burn down the Torso Villa, leaving it a charred ruin.
- To the shock of Willow's group, the Owl House has also been burned to the ground, nothing but ash remaining.
- Unexpectedly Dark Episode: While there was a warning that things would be dark in the previous chapter's notes, the sheer magnitude of it and the outcome of it was unquestionably Darker and Edgier than even the previous four chapters had been.
- The Un-Reveal:
- Was Leo among the casualties of the Torso Villa?
- Had Eda taken Ban and the orphans to wherever her family is hiding?
- Did Belos take and consume Aqua? And taking Zee's fear into account, does this mean Luz did tell her and Cross the truth about Belos?
- Used to Be a Sweet Kid: While being interrogated by a hostile Leonte, Ms. Hicky expresses disappointment in him for what he's grown into and tells him that Scooter would be too because of it.
- Villain: Exit, Stage Left: Firebees goes down thanks to Donna, Cross, Dale, and Hugh's combined efforts, but he gives them the slip once defeated, leaving behind nothing but his mask.
- We Hardly Knew Ye: Ralph Fangs, Max Fangs, Buttons Fangs, and Lynxa Milk had no proper fleshing out before their untimely deaths here.
- Wham Shot:
- As Nina runs through her burning home looking for survivors, she spots each of her dead siblings' bodies.
- Barbara is seen locked up in the castle dungeon with her cousin and Gidget, even though Osran had knocked her out before she could actually betray the empire.
- Calypso finally wakes up after a week of being unconscious and when she sees her reflection...nothing. She's a vampire now.
- Willow's group come across the Owl House, which has been burned down.
- You Are in Command Now: Abel makes Emily head of the Illusion Coven, following Adrian being put in a catatonic state.
