Witches Brew Part 18 (Reward Story)

Thank you so much, Natalie! Your support means the world and look, we're nearly coming to an end with the Witches Brew!

I hope everyone enjoys this touching moment between Katie and Loona

Witches Brew 18
Fire sweeps through the city, and violent winds tear across the skyline. From her vantage point on the drawbridge that connects the airport tower to the Apex, Loona waits and watches as the devastation unfolds. Smoke rises in heavy coils while the city burns in flame beneath her.

Katie gasps, “My goodness. Look at that one!” he points across the Apex’s stern at an anguish fifty feet in height.

It tears through buildings as its massive, black void of a body is lit only by nearby infernos.

“We can stop this, right?” Jimbo asks, shouting over the sound of the wind.

The drawbridge clanks down and rattles in the wind. The Apex shifts, turning and jolting as its vast frame strains against the firestorm. Heavy metal anchors groan, working overtime to hold the airship in place.

Billy and Joel race across the drawbridge, swiftly followed by Lance. Their military backgrounds clear to see. However, Jimbo, Loona, and Katie look at the devastation. It burns deep in Loona’s heart.

Even though she can’t hear the screams, she can feel them deep within herself, unable to help.

“We can do this!” Katie cheers, clenching his fist with determination. “If we take down Nezemica, surely all the anguishes under her control will disappear!?”

Jimbo puts a hand on young Katie’s head and pulls a dour expression. “What makes you so sure about that?”

“Something Gigi told me!” Katie grins, looking only at Loona.

Jimbo sighs. “You believe what that crazy cat told you? Y’know, Gigi once told me toothpaste is a form of mind control.” Jimbo lowers her head and wipes at her eyes, softly laughing. “You shouldn’t believe everything that silly cat tells you….”

“I believe you, Katie,” Loona says, making Jimbo look up and Katie smile. “I’ve touched the hearts of many of these anguishes Nezemica’s is sending to attack. They are trapped hearts, reliving their most painful memories over and over again. I think we take out the magic holding them to this world, they will disappear—finally able to rest in peace.”

“Girls!” Lance shouts from the now open entrance to the Apex! “This ain’t no time for a tea party! Come on!”

Katie pouts, “Who’s he calling a—”

“Let’s do this!” Jimbo interrupts, giving both Loona and Katie a resolute look before rushing towards the drawbridge. She looks around at Loona and laughs. “You be careful in that dress, Loona. That skirt might parachute you straight off the side!”

Loona chuckles, and then, slowly, hers and Katie’s eyes meet, and they share Jimbo’s determination. They both nod before Katie tries to board the Apex, only to be pulled back by Loona.

“Hey, oww.” Katie groans as Loona holds him back by the collar. “What are you doing?”

“Stop….” Loona pulls Katie off the drawbridge

“Loona!?”

“Katie…” Loona kneels in front of the young man and looks him in the eyes. “This is where operation rolling turd comes to an end for you.”

“W-What!?” tears well behind Katie’s eyes. “N-No! I’m coming with you! Gigi was my friend! My best friend! I want to help avenge him! I’m coming with you!!”

Their hearts connect, and Loona can feel Katie’s rage burning within, but she just slowly shakes her head and smiles wide.

“You’re a wonderful cook, Katie….” Loona explains, reaching up to touch Katie’s chin with her fingers. “We’re going to battle, kiddo. No place for someone like you.”

Katie bites his bottom lip hard, and a tear dribbles down his cheek. “I don’t care! I DO NOT care what happens to me! My family won’t care if I die, and at least that way, I get to fight alongside my friends before I do!”

Loona’s smile softens, and she can feel the determination rising within him. Yet, she just shakes her head again and touches his softly touches his cheek.

“Kiddo,” she says with a soft smile and a tear in her eye. “You’re family might not care, but I do.”

“S-Shut up!” tears stream from Katie’s eyes, and he looks away. “Just shut—”

“You might not think you matter, Katie,” Loona moves her face to look him in the eyes. “But you do. You matter greatly to me. I might not be your mother, but I love you as if you were my own son. That’s why you can’t come with us.”

A rush of wind rattles the drawbridge, and the Apex lists heavily, causing one of the tethers to snap with a metallic sonic boom.

“Loona!” Lance shouts over the commotion from the Apex entrance. “Get in here now! We need to take off now before the entire tower crumbles!”

Loona stands. “Yes, alright!” she screams back with all the grace of a bull, before turning her attention to Joel, “Oi, Joel!”

Joel, standing at the entrance to the Apex, looks up. “Yeah!?”

Loona waves him over, “I need a favour!”

Joel rushes across the drawbridge, battered by the strong winds. He stands before Loona and salutes, “Ma’am?”

“Take Katie back to the tavern.” Loona commands.

“NO!” Katie screams and tries to fight his way onto the drawbridge, only to be stopped by Joel. “I can help you defeat her!”

Katie thrashes in Joel’s grip, his voice cracking with fury and heartbreak. “No! Please, Loona! I can fight! I can help you! Don’t send me away like this!”

Loona kneels again, steadying him with both hands. Her voice is soft but firm, rising above the howl of the wind.

“Katie… you are needed more than you know. This city doesn’t just need warriors. It needs hope. And you can bring them hope with the comfort of your food. You don’t need to be a heart witch to make someone feel at ease in hard times.”

Katie sniffles, blinking through his tears. “I can’t do that! I…I….”

Loona smiles, brushing his damp hair back from his forehead. “Food is more than just food, Katie. It’s comfort. It’s family.” Loona smiles. “This is how I help you. Your heart never needed me, Katie. Deep down, you know what you need to do to….”

His lip trembles, his small fists clenching at his sides.

Katie breaks then, sobbing as he throws his arms around her neck. Loona holds him tight, burying her face in his shoulder for just a heartbeat, allowing herself that softness before the storm.

Joel steps forward and, with gentle strength, lifts Katie into his arms. The boy struggles, reaching desperately toward Loona, but his fight is already fading into tears.

“I’ll be back,” Loona promises, standing tall again as Joel carries Katie away across the drawbridge.

Katie’s cries echo until they’re swallowed by the storm. Loona turns, steadying herself, and steps across the rattling drawbridge and onto the Apex.

Lance watches from the entrance, arms crossed, his expression unreadable until she draws near. Then, with a wry smile, he says, “You’d make a great mother, y’know. That kid really wanted to help us. He’s not going to like being sent away.”

Loona exhales, her gaze drifting to the city ablaze below. “He’s a sweet kid. It’s for the best.”

The Apex shudders, another tether snapping free with a metallic scream. The storm howls, but inside Loona’s chest, a quiet resolve takes root. Katie will fight the way Katie knows how!

“Now….” Loona wipes at the tears in her eyes in frustration. “Guys, let’s get this floating balloon going! Less emotion, more action!”

Billy, Jimbo, Lance, and Loona push through the storm-lashed corridors of the Apex until they reach the cockpit. The chamber hums with power, every panel alive with blinking lights and levers trembling from the force of the winds outside.

Lance drops into the captain’s chair, hands sliding over the controls like they belong to him. “Come on, old girl! Don’t let me down now!”

Billy plants himself at the starboard navigation console, his fingers already dancing over dials. “Starboard systems ready…. I think.”

Jimbo claims port, gripping the handles so tight her knuckles whiten. “Port ready.”

Loona hovers at the back, bracing herself against the shaking walls as she eyes the towering storm through the cockpit glass.

Lance pulls at the helm, the Apex growling as its engines roar to life. The ship lurches, straining upward, but the whole vessel jolts violently, yanked back down.

“What the….?” Loona stumbles forward. “Lance! We’re still tethered!”

Instead of cursing, Lance throws his head back and laughs, eyes gleaming with reckless intent. “Relax, sweetheart. I’ve got this.”

He flips a series of switches, and with a low, mechanical rumble, the Apex’s side-mounted cannons emerge from their housings. Their barrels swivel with precision, targeting the thick metal tethers that bind the ship to the dock.

“Always wanted to do this,” Lance grins, slamming his fist onto the firing controls. “Fire!”

The guns thunder, spitting bursts of blazing light. One by one, the anchors shatter, snapping free in showers of sparks and twisted steel. Each explosion shakes the cockpit, the recoil vibrating through the ship’s bones.

The last tether gives way with a metallic scream, and suddenly the Apex lurches skyward. The entire frame shudders, tilting hard as it claws into the open air.

Loona loses her balance completely, hitting the floor with a heavy thud. “Ow! Damn it, Lance!”

Billy and Jimbo hang on for dear life, gripping their consoles with everything they have as alarms screech and lights flare across their panels.

But Lance is laughing like a maniac, hauling the Apex’s nose up toward the roiling clouds. “Now that’s how you take off!”

The Apex surges forward, its massive frame slicing through the smoke-filled skies. Wind lashes the glass, firelight dances over the cockpit, and in the distance, Nezemica’s castle awaits

However, as the Apex rises across the city with countless Angushes rampaging, Lance throws Loona a toothy grin.

“Let’s buy the city some time!” He shouts, smacking down on a button on his console. “Time for my Apex to show what she can really do!”

The Apex groans as Lance unlocks a hidden sequence on his console. Deep within the ship, something shifts. Heavy mechanisms grind and clatter, the sound echoing through the hull. The entire cockpit vibrates as if the airship itself is bracing for what comes next.

Loona steadies herself against the wall. “L-Lance….?”

Lance smirks without looking back. “Experimental vanquish weapon. Untested. Probably unstable. But better late than never!”

The floor trembles, a deep metallic thud reverberates upward, and then a low hum grows, resonating through the Apex’s frame. It feels like the airship has sprouted a second heart, one that beats with raw power.

Billy glances around, nervous. “Loona, your boyfriends gone crazy…..”

Loona blushes before stumbling forwards as Lance makes the Apex turn sharply towards the same fifty-foot Angush, tearing its way to the heart of the city.

“You ain’t getting anywhere near my family, monster!” Lance cries in rage, slamming his fist down in one swift motion.

The cockpit rattles as the weapon beneath them charges. The air prickles, every hair on their arms rising. Static electricity crawls along the windows as the hum builds into a piercing whine. Then, with a sudden release, a torrent of green lightning erupts from below the Apex.

The sky lights up emerald. The blast spears downward, striking the fifty-foot anguish rampaging through the city. The creature convulses as the energy rips into its void-black body, shoving it backward until it crashes into a row of crumbling buildings.

The shockwave rocks the Apex, causing Loona to stumble into the window. She presses her hand against the glass, staring wide-eyed at the glowing devastation below.

“Whoa,” she says, breathless. A grin spreads across her face. “Awesome! Wish we had weapons that cool looking back in the day.”

Jimbo tightens her grip on the port console, shaking her head. “Cool now, deadly later. That thing feels like it’s gonna tear the ship apart!”

Lance just laughs, hauling the Apex higher through the smoke. “She’ll hold!”

The Apex claws its way higher through the storm, its frame trembling with the aftershock of the vanquish weapon’s strike.

But for Loona, the chaos begins to fall away into the background.

Her breath slows. The roar of engines dulls to nothing. Lance’s laughter, Billy’s curses, Jimbo’s shouts, they all melt into silence.

Her hand lingers on the cockpit window, but beyond it, there is no skyline, no storm, no city. Only darkness.

And within that darkness, a faint heartbeat and the connection to another

It’s a connection that feels all too familiar, yet feels weak, detached, and like it’s fading away into the void.

Loona's eyes dart, but there is nothing to see. Only the pull of that faint rhythm, tugging at her heart. She closes her eyes, reaching inward, letting her heart connect.

“W-Who are you?” she asks the silence.

The heartbeat falters, fading like a candle in the wind. Then a whisper stirs against Loona’s soul, so faint she almost thinks she imagines it.

“Loona… save me…”