Recap / Luz Clawthorne Two Worlds One Family Chapter 85

Chapter 125: The Last Stand

Art by Crash X Fusion: We'll save them. We have to.

Beel leads a search-and-rescue team into the Plant Coven to save Perry at the same time Sunny investigates if Terra's a threat. Meanwhile, Cross reaches out to Emily for help against the Goblin.

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Tropes that appear in this Chapter:

• Adults Are Useless: Adrian doesn't want Emily to face the Grim Goblin again, so when Cross comes asking for her help, Adrian has him escorted away.
• An Aesop:
  • If someone you look up to isn't who they say they are, they can be an example of whom not to be. They can even inspire you in ways you wouldn't realize at first.
  • Revenge Is Not Justice. Emily has come to see how obsessing over paying back those she hated would've made her as horrible as the Grim Goblin, and now that she no longer seeks it she only helps capture the Goblin so Teri will be spared.
• The Alliance: Prof. Cuddlebuns teams up with Eyepatch to escape from the Conformatorium after Wrath releases the prisoners.
• Alternate Self: Zoltar the Magnificent claims to have a human counterpart, but it would seem that his fellow Coven Heads (or at least Scarmadeus Keys) were skeptical of his claim.
• Armor-Piercing Question: Lilith questions Vina if, for all of her success and accomplishments in the Emperor's Coven, she was happy to have done it without having a single person in her corner. Vina doesn't answer the question and instead deflects to explaining how she'd been part of the reason Eda grew to despise the Coven System.
• Asshole Victim: The inmates are set free by Nicole threatening Wrath into releasing them, but as they enjoy their newfound freedom, Nicole transforms some of them into Heartless, possibly leaving the other prisoners at their mercy.
• Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: Before, Felicia and Beel's partnership was shown as nothing more than professional. So Felicia tearing up as Beel is killed by Terra shows she saw him as her friend.
• Bait-and-Switch: At first, it looks like Emily is about to stab the Grim Goblin with a knife and Cross is going to lose his best friend. To Cross, Hunter, and the Goblin's surprise, she sticks it in the floor next to the Goblin's head.
• Batman Gambit:
  • To save Lindsay and the Grim Goblin's other prisoners, Emily has Eve make a video saying where she, her team, and the two heads of the Emperor's Coven would be to draw him in to kidnap Eve so they could follow him to where he was keeping everyone. In reality, Emily impersonated Eve with a concealment stone and had Cross stand in as the Silver Sentry so he'd kidnap the illusionist, unaware that Hunter and Cross would track them to the abandoned factory he's holed up in thanks to the Rusty Smidge hidden in her hair.
  • Belos allowed Terra to imprison Perry in her greenhouse knowing Luz would attempt to free him, and Terra took advantage of that to await for the moment she could kill her. They both get Out-Gambitted hard thanks to Beel not being a factor in their plans.
• Berserk Button: When Cross goes to the Emperor's castle seeking Emily's help, he has to deal with Adrian turning him away. The second he mentions the Goblin, Adrian turns Papa Wolf and orders Kikimora and Pugsley to escort him out for suggesting Emily face that scourge since he won't risk losing her again.
• Big Damn Heroes:
  • Working together, Hunter, Emily, and Cross rescue all of the Goblin's hostages before defeating him, saving Teri as well.
  • Though it comes at a terrible cost, the Clawthornes and Raine do succeed in saving Perry from Terra.
• Break the Cutie: Luz cries after hearing that Belos killed the Thians family and Boris among the original rebels, and Boscha does the same as that means she's lost her brother for good.
• Broken Pedestal: Terra admits that while she respected Belos' power enough to follow him as he created the Coven System, she lost that respect due to all the rules and restrictions he set up to go along with them.
• But for Me, It Was Tuesday: Terra doesn't remember Buzzelik, much less any of the other people she killed.
• Call-Back:
  • Remember the "Flaming Druid" incident mentioned in "So IFWOT?" when Cross made a replica of the ship during the competition? Here, it's revealed that Terra caused it as a child.
  • Beel brings up the coven heads capturing the BAT's during the Gland Prix as well as Felicia's ghosts learning about what happened to Raine, Darius, and Eberwolf following those events.
  • Odalia finally gets around to helping Lilith find out who killed Vina, a promise she made almost a week ago at her daughter's mock wedding.
  • Terra brings up Luz's deal with Belos to not break out Raine's former rebellion only to kill its members behind closed doors. She also mentions that Belos shattered Witch Rick once he petrified him.
  • The Goblin tries to break Emily with the same "Reason You Suck" Speech he gave her the last time they fought. Thanks to her Character Development however, Emily gives him a Big "SHUT UP!" and turns it back against him by describing how he's worse than her.
• Calling the Old Man Out: After the Goblin goes after Gibson, he repeatedly lashes out at him for putting his work and manipulation of Alador over finding his son and calls him a lousy father.
• Ceiling Cling: To give Kikimora and Pugsley the slip, Cross hangs from the castle ceiling using vines until they pass by.
• Continuity Cameo:
  • In the flashback of the Original Nine's initiation, younger versions of certain characters are seen including Gwendolyn and Dell, Arthur Blight and his brothers, Bump, Faust, Blanc, Scooter Crane, and Drayden Drakescale.
  • Eyepatch, Prof. Cuddlebuns, the Ex-Siders, and Judd are among the prisoners who Nicole sets free.
• Continuity Nod:
  • Luz recalls helping Megan as being her first rescue mission, and apparently Eda didn't know about it until now.
  • Luz brings up Lake Lacuda's pollution when Patrick says the Plant Coven keeps the Isles clean.
  • Cross remembers Tracy from the IFWOT after she and Jackie find him following Lindsay's capture.
  • Vina tells Lilith about Eda meeting her as a child, and Lilith correctly guesses that Eda didn't tell her the truth about Vina so she wouldn't learn her childhood hero was a fraud.
  • Luz uses her alternate ice form while sneaking through the Plant Coven.
  • A Rusty Smidge is utilized for a covert ops purpose, as are sleeping nettles.
  • Terra is shown to have dilbaleeches in her office.
  • Ultimately, it takes all three bearers of the Golden Guard mantle teaming up to take down the Grim Goblin for good.
  • Terra uses piranha plants in her battle against the Clawthornes, Raine, and Beel.
  • Once again, the Inner Demon is revealed to have influenced someone's inner self to take their real self's place.
  • Nicole refers to Wrath as "Former Warden Wrath".
• Crazy-Prepared: Beel's been preparing his revenge on Terra for years, examining the layout of her security system in the Plant Coven so he could break into her office. On top of that, he records everything that happens after the rescue team gets in so that when Terra catches them, she'll boast about all of her vile deeds and exposes herself to everybody on the Isles, destroying her image for good.
• Curb-Stomp Battle:
  • Cross and the Shystream men Vs. the Goblin: total stomping, courtesy of the Goblin. Cross is backhanded into a wall and dragged away by the gargoyle glider, Hendrick gets his leg broken, and Colt and George are taken down just from the Goblin twisting their arms and throwing them to the ground. And when Cross tries to rescue Lindsay as the Goblin takes her away, he throws a flash bomb that sends Cross free-falling to the ground, knocking him out.
  • Terra Vs. Perry's rescuers: the point would've gone to Terra had they not retreated, but it was very clear they never would've gotten close to her.
  • All three Golden Guards Vs. the Goblin: once Hunter, Emily, and Cross join forces, they bring down the Goblin and save Teri.
• A Day in the Limelight:
  • Cross ends up having to help free Teri from the Grim Goblin's control by recruiting Emily to help him after he captures Lindsay.
  • Sunny decides to investigate the Plant Coven to see if what Grimhilde said about Terra is true by questioning Patrick, and they both get a Big Damn Heroes moment by saving the rescue team.
• Deal with the Devil: Terra's the Devil in every deal she's ever made in her life. For every one she makes, she binds her recipient to her service with an everlasting oath so they can't break their word. That's how she got Jenny and Grimmhammer in her grasp.
• A Death in the Limelight: Beel plays a major role here as he helps Luz, Eda, and Raine free Perry from Terra's clutches and dies by her hand for the sake of being the one who exposes her crimes to all the Boiling Isles.
• Disappeared Dad: This is the reason Beel hates Terra: she killed his father when he was young just so she could take over his honey plant and claimed he left it to her before he passed.
• Double-Meaning Title: "The Last Stand" is one to both Issue #122 of The Amazing Spider-Man (highlighted by the final defeat of the Grim Goblin) and Beel facing his fate at Terra's hands in an act of heroic defiance and vengeance by revealing her true colors.
• Dramatic Irony: Lindsay fell for Cross thinking he was the Golden Guard who saved her from the Grim Goblin when it was actually Emily. Now, she was saved by the Silver Sentry believing it was Emily until it turned out to be Cross under the mask.
• Engineered Public Confession: While Terra gloats to Luz, Eda, Raine, Perry, and Beel, the latter recorded the whole thing on his scroll and Felicia uploads it to her blog to rat out Terra as a murderous, deal-making snake.
• Eye Scream: Cross ends up getting a black eye fighting the Goblin, who gets one from Emily in return.
• Flashback B-Plot: The chapter goes into detail as to how Terra had been evil since she was a kid and how Vina grew to become the unhappy spinster who died an uncerimonious death.
• From Bad to Worse: As if things hadn't been chaotic enough, the Goblin kidnaps Lindsay as well as Gibson, Kadabe, and Dolly forcing Cross to seek out Emily, Hunter, and the SSE to save them, while Terra captures the rescue team and was set to kill the Clawthornes until Patrick and Sunny showed up. The chapter ends with Terra having to speed up her plans now that her cover was blown, during which Nicole forces Wrath to release all of the Conformatorium's prisoners so she could corrupt them.
• Glomp: Lindsay hugs Cross and Emily after they and Hunter defeat the Goblin.
• Graceful Loser: Beel stays behind to give the rescue team an opening to escape with Perry and gets captured by Terra. When she impales him, he reveals to her that he's been recording everything since he arrived in her office; as such, Beel dies telling Terra he just exposed her for the sadistic piece of shit she is with a smile on his face, happy he avenged his father and everyone else she harmed.
• Greater-Scope Villain: The Inner Demon proves to be this again, as he created the Grim Goblin by influencing Teri's inner self and has been working with Terra to bring about the end of the Boiling Isles.
• He Knows Too Much: The reason the Goblin goes after Kadabe and Dolly is because they were trying to leave the Isles. Since they knew things about both the Tarot Guild and the Inner Demon, they're loose ends that needs to be silenced.
• History Repeats:
  • Like his father Buzzelik, Beel is murdered by Terra. However, it becomes an act of avengeance since he rats her out as a mass criminal.
  • Just like with Amity, the Inner Demon influenced someone's inner self to take over their real self's life.
• Hypocrite: Warden Wrath calls Nicole one for threatening his son when she had a child of her own.
• Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Beel dies when Terra summons thorns to pierce him In the Back.
• Internal Reveal:
  • Eda learns about Luz, Lilith, and Tres breaking into Hieron Labs to save Megan.
  • Cross, the Shystreams, Kadabe, Dolly, Hunter, and Emily learn that Teri's the Grim Goblin.
  • Cross meets Jackie for the first time and informs her and Tracy about Emily being ambushed by Nicole the day before.
  • Vina tells Lilith that she's the one who crushed Eda's interest of joining the Emperor's Coven at the IFWOT.
  • Terra lets Luz, Eda, Raine, and Beel know that Belos went back on his promise to Luz about sparing the BAT's, that she's the Producer, that she used Grimmhammer II as a figurehead, and that she brought in the vampire that attacked Calypso.
    • Beel ends up learning about Luz's deal and Raine leading the first rebellion as a result.
    • Thanks to Beel and Felicia, everyone on the Isles learns these facts and that Raine is no longer missing.
  • It's implied that Emily explained to Cross why she really left the Shystream farm and he promises Lindsay that Emily will explain herself later.
  • Kadabe, Dolly, and the Shadowy Secret Expozers learn that Hunter encountered the Inner Demon.
• Karma Houdini Warranty:
  • Terra has been responsible for injuring Calypso, outing Slasher—oh, who are we kidding? She's the cause of all the atrocities the Tarot Guild, Glandus, and Emily, have committed since the beginning of the series, right down to Bangles and Zepher mugging Amity. Now she's been exposed for running the Boiling Isles' most dangerous organization and everything connected to it, costing her the position of invincibility that came from allying with Belos.
  • Kadabe vanished after betraying her school during the Glandus War to avoid capture. While she makes peace with Emily since she's moved on from it, Kadabe finds herself surrounded by coven scouts about to arrest her and Dolly since they decided against escaping from the Isles.
  • The Grim Goblin is defeated by none other than Emily, one of his attempted victims, along with the other Golden Guards.
• Killed Off for Real: Terra kills Patrick and Beel after the former stands up to her and the latter remains behind to deliver his final verbal blow to her.
• Killed Offscreen:
  • After capturing the rescue team, Terra twists the knife further by revealing to them that Belos has double-crossed his promised to Luz and killed the last of the BAT's. Given that it's Terra, she may have been lying to break them.
  • Every scout that tries to arrest Terra after she's busted is left dismembered after the scene cuts away.
• Know When to Fold 'Em: The rescue team keep trying to take on Terra because she's too much of a threat to ignore. Luz soon realizes that it's a losing battle and they should escape, especially since they had already saved Perry by that point.
• The Last Title: Rather fitting given that things built up to the final bout against the Grim Goblin.
• Last Villain Stand: As said before, the Grim Goblin makes a huge gamble in trying to eliminate not only Lindsay, but Gibson, Dolly, and Kadabe, for good.
• Locked Out of the Loop: A case Played for Laughs. Luz never told Eda about her saving Megan from Vitimir at Hieron Labs, having assumed Lilith told her.
• Mass "Oh, Crap!":
  • Cross and the Shystreams hear alarm bells ringing when Teri mentions that he knows Cross and Lindsay saved Emily. One Evil Laugh later, and it doesn't take long for Lindsay to figure out Teri's the Goblin before he makes his move.
  • Following Terra's confession to Belos killing the BAT's, everyone is left shocked with Luz tearing up as that means with Levi and Goonla dead, Kay's now an orphan. This also occurs with everyone who was watching Felicia's broadcast of the recording Beel made of Terra's confession.
• Moment Killer: As Kadabe and Dolly share a Held Gaze, the Goblin arrives and kidnaps them.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Parodied and Played for Drama, as Terra "thanks" Raine for confirming Sunny's suspicions about her as now Terra would get to kill her as well.
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: By gloating about her crimes and Belos' actions to the rescue team, Terra set up her own PR downfall as Beel recorded everything on his scroll for Felicia to reveal the truth to the Isles.
• Off with His Head!: How Patrick is killed by Terra. He lives for a few more seconds to note how the brain remains functioning after such an accident before he bites it permanently.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: The Goblin attempts to give one to Emily about how she hasn't changed, but she tells him to stick it and gives one of her own, telling him how he's no better than her for distributing his own idea of justice on those he deems guilty.
• The Reveal:
  • Terra's demented past is revealed in full;
    • She caused the Flaming Druid incident, having set the S.S. Druid on fire and messed with the life jackets so anybody who used them fell into the Boiling Sea.
    • She took over the Tarot Guild in her twenties by killing its previous leader.
    • She killed Vina by poisoning her drink and Beel's father Buzzelik Zatar so she could take over his honey plant.
  • Beel learned about Perry's disappearance from Felicia and a pixie he hired to tail the coven head, plus some news he got from Severine who got it from a drunk Adrian.
  • Teri knew about Cross' crush on Lindsay.
  • The Hammers and Saltstar families have been part of the Construction Coven since the Coven System's creation.
  • Vina's parents were healers who fell ill treating many sick witches in the junkyard they were living in.
  • The effects of love potions wear off when the affected has a child, which is why Perry broke free from Jenny's hold over him.
  • According to Terra, Belos killed the remainder of the Bards Against the Throne.
  • The Grim Goblin is actually Teri's inner self, corrupted by the Inner Demon.
  • Terra and the Inner Demon are in cahoots, so Terra knew all along why the Forest of Fear was expanding.
  • Hunter had Sioux take the substance he found in the Porter home to be examined, and it turns out to be plant matter Terra left behind.
  • Nicole has the ability to create Heartless, and uses it to corrupt all the inmates at the Conformatorium.
    • Firebees is shown among the prisoners, revealing he wasn't petrified for his crimes.
• Run or Die: It becomes clear to Luz that the rescue team doesn't stand a chance against Terra and they're likely to die if they keep attempting to fight her as they can't even get close to her. With Perry already with them, they grab Sunny as well and make for the exit, with everyone but Beel making it out.
• Sequel Hook:
  • The SSE don't get to solve the mystery of Lor Garh Chaka'kan yet due to Cross coming to them, Hunter, and Emily for help with the Goblin.
  • Kadabe has a vision that shows a chance the Inner Demon will be defeated, but how it'll happen isn't specified.
  • Gibson, desparate for a boon now that Alador's cut their partnership, is banking on a brand new invention to sell to the Emperor's Coven.
  • Now that everyone believes the BAT's are dead, how will Amity respond to the deaths of Kay's family? How will Athena and her family respond to Boris's death? How will the Brookes respond to knowing that Terra caused the attack on Calypso?
  • Belos gives orders for Terra's head after she reveals herself to be a traitor and that he double-crossed Luz.
  • Emily sets off to confront Terra, and Cross & Lindsay follow behind to keep her from getting herself killed.
  • Nicole lets loose all the inmates of the Conformatorium before turning the Ex-Siders into Heartless to instigate chaos.
  • Now that Luz knows Belos reneged on their deal, there's nothing stopping her from causing trouble/openly acting out against him anymore.
• Ship Tease: There's something implied between Dolly and Kadabe, as the latter comforts the former over her feelings toward having to stick around the Isles on the chance the Inner Demon can be defeated once and for all. As a result, Dolly blushes and the girls stare at each other before the Goblin shows up.
• Shout-Out:
  • The title of this fic is a reference to The Amazing Spider-Man #122: "The Green Goblin's Last Stand".
    • The Goblin kidnapping people (Lindsay, Dolly, Kadabe, and Gibson) is taken from the Spider-Man: The Animated Series episode, "Enter the Green Goblin".
    • Cross finding and helping Teri is meant to be inspired by Spider-Man: No Way Home, where May finds Norman in the soup kitchen. The battle in the Shystream home also indirectly hearkens to the condo fight scene.
  • During the tour, Sunny and the singing flowers sing "In The Golden Afternoon".
  • Thirty years ago, Terra sung "Poor Unfortunate Souls" to Jenny.
  • Beel exposing Terra as a sadistic monster by recording every single thing he learned about her on his scroll and uploading it for the whole Titan to see is exactly how Amity and Hunter ended up outing Belos as a human Witch Hunter in A Blight on Bonesborough's version of "Hollow Mind".
  • Nicole turning the Ex-Siders into Heartless brings the Enforcers becoming demon henchmen to mind.
• Shut Up, Hannibal!: Emily's response to the Goblin taunting her again.
  Goblin: We both know the truth. You're still just a little girl playing pretend, crying for her parents who abandoned you, which made you taking it out on-
  Emily: Oh, shut up! [...] Oh, I'm sorry. Did I interrupt your big 'reason you suck speech'? You probably think that you're something real special, but you're just another condescending dumbass! [...] In fact, you're no better than me, obsessed with a false idea of 'justice' that you think you were denied and being stuck on the idea that others should get what they 'deserve' when sometimes you just have to let go and move on instead of being hyper focused on if someone was left off easy or not. But you can't accept that, can you? You can't accept that sometimes it's better to not be fixated on karma. You can't let go!
• Sixth Ranger: Scarmeron serves as one for the Shadowy Secret Expozers as he assists them with their investigation into Hatesew's death.
• Slipping a Mickey: Terra killed Vina by slipping poison into her booze flask; Vina never even noticed it had been moved, which is why she hadn't suspected Terra of being her killer.
• Stalker with a Crush: The Goblin loses his mind after seeing that he captured Emily disguised as Eve and fumes about her taking his Eve from him. Emily calls him a creep for claiming Teri's friend like that.
• Strong Family Resemblance: In the flashback to when Belos first appointed the Original Nine Coven Heads, Drayden is shown watching the event from afar and he's said to look just like Cross as a young man.
• Suddenly Speaking: After making a cameo in "Rings of Power", Judd speaks during the prison break caused by Nicole.
• Tragic Keepsake: All the things that Flora gave to Lilith after her office was cleared out included a few things Vina owned. Among them was the old puzzle box she received from her parents, the last thing she ever got from them.
• Trauma Button: When Lilith and Odalia start trying to help Vina remember her death, they find an old puzzle box she received from her parents the day they became severely ill. The memory has such an impact on Vina, she leaves the room to sulk until Lilith convinces her to press on.
• The Un-Reveal:
  • What kind of Tarot Guild secrets do Kadabe and Dolly know about?
  • Was Terra being honest about Belos killing the remaining rebels since Witch Rick? Or was she being an Unreliable Narrator?
• Villainous Breakdown: Because of Beel exposing her as a drug-dealing, mass-murdering criminal who's now at risk of arrest, Terra goes ballistic and kills the first batch of coven scouts who burst into her office to take her in.
• Wham Episode:
  • Luz, Eda, and Raine save Perry from Terra thanks to Beel, who sacrifices himself to tell Terra that he just exposed her crimes to the Isles.
  • Cross, Hunter, and Emily capture the Grim Goblin which leads to Teri being taken into custody, with Emily opting against killing Teri because she's proven herself a better person than the Goblin.
  • Lilith and Odalia learn the identity of Vina's killer: Terra, who poisoned her when Vina had underestimated her.
  • Terra (who's in an alliance with the Inner Demon) barricades herself in the Plant Coven knowing Belos will want her head as Emily rushes there to claim her revenge with Cross and Lindsay aiming to stop her.
  • Nicole has Wrath release all of the Conformatorium's inmates, then turns the Ex-Siders into Heartless as the rest of the prisoners are left fearing for their lives.
• Why Didn't I Think of That?: It had never occurred to Lilith or Vina that Terra would've killed the latter, even when she had been the most obvious choice.
• Womanchild: Lilith and Odalia waste no time calling out Vina for being less immature than the latter's children since she keeps insulting them.
• Would Hurt a Child: Not only does Terra attempt to kill Luz again, she impales Beel for the fun of it. This backfires on her since he had planned on it.
• You're Insane!: Eda calls Terra despicable after hearing how depraved she truly is.
• You Remind Me of X: Vina did see a lot of herself in Lilith, and making her apprentice be like her was a response to not wanting Lilith to experience the emotional pain she felt once.

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