Chapter Text
Fluttering eyes met with the shimmering rays of light that seeped through the creaking window. It swayed back and forth, opening, and closing making a soft thud each time it shut. Luz looked up to the ceiling as her green eyes began to clear away the fog of slumber. She laid there staring up towards a decrepit ceiling and beams that lined all around it.
What was this? It was so familiar, yet strangely foreign to her as well. All of a sudden she could feel a surge of fear hit her all at once. This feeling bubbled up inside her. She turned away as to try and escape the horrible feeling, only to see things that only made the fear well deeper inside. From one side two giant hooks suspended by a rope from the ceiling stood still as if they weren't even touched in years. The other side showed a large locked chest.
"Wha...?"
The familiarity she felt was slowly beginning to be surpassed by the anxiety and despair she began to feel. She knew she hadn't been here before. How could she? Jolting upwards from her lying position. She quickly looked back and forth around the room. A small old table. Wooden frames, and boxes covered by sheets. Some books, and a poster of what seemed to be from a cartoon, or book of some kind, and lights strung along the ceiling beams. This wasn't where Luz remembered falling asleep at. Not at all.
Quickly pulling away from her covers, as her fear began to overtake her, She stood up as fast as possible and ran straight towards the door that lay in front of her. Stumbling over the sheets, she barely managed to grab a hold of the door. Turning the knob and pulling it open with a quick yank. The door shrieked harshly as it slammed directly into the wall making a loud bang. Then she bolted into the hall beyond.
She didn't know where she was going, but she felt like anywhere was better than here. She just had to find a way out of this decrepit place. While she was running, she noticed some stairs that lay ahead. Without a second thought, she ran as fast as her jittery legs would allow. She grabbed on to the railing and slid clumsily trying to make the turn. Rebalancing herself shortly after she ran down the stairs as fast she could, careful not to fall.
Stepping onto the floor below she thought she would feel relief from finding the door that would lead her out of here, but then a thought came to her. She wasn't afraid of this strange place. No, just like an abandoned hospital, It was never the area itself that scared anyone. Only the prospect of something else. Something That might stalk the halls in the dead of night. Someone who had made the place their home, not taking too kindly to invaders. That is where the fear originated from. Stomping around, and making such a racket trying to run. Without a doubt, if something or someone was here they would've heard all of it. As those thoughts came to her all at once she moved to try to stop herself, only to collide directly into something. She fell to the floor with a thud, hearing something on her way down.
Sitting on the floor bewildered by the sudden crash she looked up from her dazed state to find what she crashed into. Was it a pillar she didn't see? Maybe, embarrassingly, a wall? The answer turned out to be something much worse. Her gaze met with the gaze of another. Amber eyes stared back at her with an indistinguishable expression. as the form of a ghostly pale woman bared down on her.
"Luz?"
Luz froze in shock upon hearing her name spoken. The woman knew her name. How could she know? What was happening? Did she tell this woman? Once again the strange feeling of familiarity came to her like a wave of nostalgia, yet she's never seen the witch before. Wait, how did she know the woman was a witch? Luz had so many thoughts coming to her at once she couldn't keep up with them all. Luz knew who the witch was, but yet she didn't. Luz. Luz. Luz. That name. It was her name, right? Question after question flowed through her in a bout of pure despair, and confusion. Who was Luz? That was her name, right? No, It couldn't be. Luz knew this place. Luz is happy here, but she wasn't Luz. That was someone else. She was someone else. Who was she exactly?
"W-why can't I remember? what's happening to me?" She whispered desperately to herself as tears fell. She felt so lost. Her mind was jumbled together with memories she never knew. A name that was never hers. She felt so lost, and so scared.
"Luz! What are you talking about? Why are you crying?" The Witch said, concern edging into her voice.
The words of the witch slowly faded away from her ears. Only leaving a clouded ringing behind. All that now existed to her at the moment was her own cries of fear and confusion, and the desperate search for who she was.
"W-Who am I!?" She lamented. Curling herself into a ball, she thought and thought, trying to bring forth any memories of herself. Yet only those of Luz ever became clear. The names Eda, King, Amity faintly flashed into her mind before she pushed it all away. None of it was what she was looking for. No matter how hard she looked there was only Luz. She was Luz, but she was supposed to be someone else. She could feel it.
All those thoughts came to a stop when she felt a cold hand touch her left cheek. She jolted at the sudden sensation. The small shock she felt quickly subsiding when she realized just how familiar this felt. That cool comforting hand. It was something she treasured. looking back up expecting the amber eyes of the witch. She found herself looking into blue instead.
Blue eyes that exuded a kind and gentle aura. She couldn't see it, but she knew it. This was something she knew. This was her memory, not Luz's. She tried to see more. She wanted to see more. She wanted to see who this could be, but it still felt so far. All she saw was a shadow that reached from far away to comfort her with that soft blue gaze and that icy touch that made her feel oddly warm.
"Tsuki..."
Then she heard the voice of a man. It was as calming as everything else. Sweet and caring. She couldn't quite explain it, but it all made her feel so... happy. Then what the man said suddenly became apparent. It was her name, wasn't it? Tsuki? That was her name all along! Tsuki felt so relieved to finally remember.
"...I'm so sorry..."
The happiness Tsuki was feeling quickly fell away upon hearing this. The warmness slowly became hotter, and the calmness that was once felt crumbled into an indescribable emptiness.
Sorry? What did he mean by sorry? She thought frantically about this. The blue eye's Tsuki once saw comfort in suddenly turned dim, and sad. The shadowy figure started to fade away leaving Tsuki in a state of fear once again.
"No, wait! Please! Don't go!" Tsuki shouted in protest standing up hastily. Holding out her hand in an attempt to grab the fleeting form. Yet something held them back. Trying to run only met with an opposing force. Desperately flailing arms only met with air. Screaming and crying for the figure to not leave did nothing to help as it only grew fainter, and further. Soon all that was left was an empty black void. The darkness was the only thing that kept Tsuki company. Reaching out in a vain hope to grasp something was all that could be done.
"Wait..." Tsuki Let out one final plea before slowly dropping her arm. It hurt so much. Nothing made sense. It felt so lonely. So empty. Yet for some odd reason, that cool touch still remained. Just as gentle and calming as it has been before, but different. Tsuki reached out to touch where the cold sensation laid. Finding a hand still resting on her cheek. Then a barely audible voice echoed throughout the void before everything went silent.
Luz woke up with a start. Her brown eyes met with the sight of a familiar ceiling. Yet It wasn't quite where she expected to wake up. Sitting up, she looked around the room. She was in the main living room of the Owl House. Apparently, she slept on the couch rather than the room she's been using as her own bedroom. She could've sworn that she fell asleep there, yet here she was sitting on the couch with a single blanket draped around her legs.
"Weird..." Luz was quite perplexed. Though forgetting where she initially fell asleep seemed trivial in the end. So she just shrugged it off and threw her covers to the side. She stood up from the couch and stretched her arms above her head. Relieving any stiffness she felt on her joints and muscles.
She made herself up the stairs towards the bathroom to get ready for the day to come. Climbing up the stairs somehow began to sound eerie to her. The creaking steps seemed to reverberate throughout the house more so than she ever noticed before. Like the whole house was devoid of any other sound. That fact was odd to her. If the house was quiet does that mean everyone else was still asleep or were they simply gone?
"Hello?" Eda? King?"
There was no response. She knew that them going off somewhere wasn't exactly strange. It was the mere fact that they have never left her alone before, without telling her where they were going. It was an outlier, but she felt like it wasn't exactly out of character either. She just let the series of slight oddities slip through her mind. Regardless of the slight anxiety, she began to feel from it all. They would be back eventually and they would tell her all about it.
As she continued on her way to the bathroom, she suddenly made a quick realization. There may not be a need to wait. The weird magic door owl, Hooty, may have the answer to her question. So with that in mind, she continued to the bathroom to finish her morning routine, before making her way back to the living room, heading straight for the door.
"Hooty!" She swung the front door open to come face to face with Hooty. The strange face of a barn owl implanted into the middle of the door, like a decoration, quivered at the sudden movement, and voice.
"Wha... Who! Who! Who's there!?" Hooty's eyes darted back and forth. Obviously, he was shocked by the sudden change of scenery. He set his eyes upon Luz. His expression seemingly became even more shocked than it was before. "You. You're awake?"
"Hooty do you...?" Luz was immediately cut off by a hiss coming from the owl.
"No! You're not fooling me! I know you're not actually Luz! You can't trick me, Luz. I mean, Whoever you are!" Hooty immediately forced the door closed, a loud click following soon after. Shutting in a confused Luz. She stood there for a second looking at the shut door in awe. Did Hooty really just lock her in?
"Hey!" She grabbed at the door handle and tried pulling the door open. Yet it never budged no matter how many times she pulled and twisted at it. "Hooty what's going on?! What are you even saying?" Luz was only met with the muffled hums and vocalizations of Hooty. Like he was trying to ignore her entirely. She banged on the door over and over again calling out the owl's name all the while. "Hooty! Hooty!"
"La la la la la la! I can't hear you! La la la la la la!" The owl repeated insistently like a child. Everything Luz said to him being drowned out from the owl's hearing.
Luz let out a displeased sigh before dropping her grip on the door handle entirely. Why was Hooty acting like this? Sure he was always a strange little thing. but Luz has never seen him act this way before. It wasn't very assuring to her at all. Only really serving to exasperate her anxiety. The most confusing part was when Hooty said that she wasn't even herself. Of course,she was herself. What was Hooty even talking about?
Feeling as if she was thrust into a situation she knew nothing about she opted to just make her way back to the couch and flop lazily into the cushions. She knew Eda would be back eventually, and when she did Luz would get the simple answer she was looking for. Maybe they could even share a laugh at Hooty's ridiculous notion. In the meantime, she reached for the book she left laying on the table to keep herself occupied. 'The Good Witch Azura' was the title. A book she both admired and drew inspiration from. Hopefully, It could keep her busy. Just like it always had.
Luz couldn't really tell how long she laid there waiting. Only the handful of chapters she read clued her in, but it wasn't exactly a precise way to measure time. However, upon hearing the familiar creaking of the front door she turned her head away from the book to see a familiar pale-skinned witch walking through the front door. Eda, the owl lady, as she was also known stood idly in the doorway, brushing away dirt from her crimson dress. Though Luz didn't really see her companion King anywhere so far.
"Eda!" Luz exclaimed in joy. She closed her book, keeping a mental note of where she left off and got up to walk closer to Eda. Eda's pointed ears perked up from the unexpected sound. She pulled her head up to face Luz with a confused expression written on her face. her body seemingly tensing up.
"What? You're awake?" Eda asked like she was shocked. Luz found herself stopping in her tracks at that question.
"Of course I am. Do you think I would sleep in this late?" Why did Eda expect her to be asleep? It didn't make sense to her. Throughout this day she only ever felt like there was something missing. Seemingly insignificant things seemed to bother her more than she ever expected the more they piled up.
All of a sudden she found Eda's face in front of hers. Eda scrutinized every inch of her face. Taking particular interest in her eyes. In a few moments, the tenseness Eda was displaying faded away as a smile cracked its way onto her face.
"Oh, It's actually you Luz." Eda sighed in relief
What? There it was again. Something that was just as confusing as what Hooty said earlier. It was starting to disturb Luz just how things kept getting weirder.
"A-actually me? What are you talking about? You're sounding like Hooty. And I don't like what that's saying." Luz cringed uncomfortably. Eda recoiled at the statement. A pang of guilt echoing through her body. Standing back up to her full height she looked to Luz. Her eye's conveyed a sense of wanting to tell Luz something. Something that was very important.
"Listen, kid, There's not really an easy way to say this. So I'm just going to say it. You've been possessed." The moment Eda uttered those words Luz's mind flooded with a torrent of questions. She just stood there blank-faced, and awestruck.
She was possessed? Eda said so and Luz had no reason to doubt her. Yet Luz felt nothing off about herself. She could move on her own. Speak on her own. It was nothing like how she thought of possessions being like.
"I don't feel possessed," Luz said looking over herself trying to find this sign of something trying to take her body. Eda seemed just as curious about the circumstances as Luz. Prodding at her arms with her fingers.
"This is very strange. Usually, you wouldn't be able to regain control of your body unless an exorcism was performed. I know for a fact you weren't yourself this morning." Luz's interest peaked almost immediately.
" What happened this morning?" Luz's question made Eda let out a half-hearted chuckle before she responded.
"You weren't exactly acting like your normal happy go lucky self. That's really all." Eda plainly stated. It wasn't exactly the answer Luz was looking for though. If she wasn't acting right maybe she was just sleepwalking. She knows that she never actually slept walked before, but there was always a first for everything right?
"If that's it then, what made you think I was possessed in the first place?" Luz questioned just how Eda knew from just 'acting a little different'
"It was your eyes. When someone is possessed their eyes change to whoever possessed them. That's how I knew for sure." Eda couldn't understand how Luz seemed to return to normal. It made no sense to her. "The thing is you're still you. It should be impossible, but yet...hmmm." Eda turned back towards the still open door, irritation falling on her face. "King! What's taking so long? bring that dang rock in already!" Eda shouted impatiently.
"I'm... ngh...trying!" The voice of King seemed strained and labored. "It's a giant rock! How fast do you expect me to move it!" Eda let out an exasperated sigh as she ran her hand down her face.
"Ok fine! I'll help! Jeesh, what does it take to get good help around here?" Eda turned back to Luz for a moment. "I'll be right back. Just stay here." She took off back outside to help King with whatever it was. Luz was left alone in the house again, Though she could still hear the voices of Eda and King struggling outside.
Today suddenly became quite an ordeal compared to the more mundane events of the time she woke. This strange world really did offer up more excitement than she ever felt at home. she met many strange creatures. Started attending a school of magic, and even fought off a monster here and there.
Now apparently A spirit or something was trying to take her own body from her. However, Luz felt nothing. She felt the same as always. Nothing tried to pull her movement away from her. Nothing spoke for her. She was just normal. She felt just fine.
Except for a sudden twinge of sadness appearing from nowhere. It was faint, but she knew it was there. A mysterious sorrow that wasn't her own. Her cheeks grew damp the more she paid attention to the strange feeling. Tears began welling up in her eyes blurring her vision. She tried to wipe them away, all the while completely baffled by the stream of tears that refused to let up.
Why am I crying? She thought. The faint feeling suddenly swelling exponentially. She never experienced something like this before. she could feel so many things. Fear, Confusion, Sadness, Loneliness. It all welled up inside her out of control. yet none of those feelings were her own.
She clutched her head as sudden pain shot through her head. She grunted from the unexpected pain and squatted down to the floor. It was unbearable. Something was trying to come out, but what? That’s when it happened. An unfamiliar voice echoed throughout her head at the peak of the pain.
"...I'm so sorry..."
Then It was quiet. It just stopped all at once. Like it never happened in the first place.
"What... was that?" Luz exhaled as she tried to catch her breath. It was so raw and intense. almost like a vision or something. The experience was so surreal and straight-up insane. Nothing she thought of explained to her what just happened. until she remembered what Eda said earlier. She was possessed.
Was that what it was? She used to think possession was always something born of malicious intent, but the feelings she felt Held no such malice. It was just sadness that left her with lingering tears. Even the voice she heard was very apologetic, even regretful.
She began to question just what she found herself possessed by, or rather who? She began to stand back up as she wiped away the remaining tears. She almost didn't realize Eda and King started to come back through the door.
A large faintly glowing mint green rock about half a foot taller than King who only stod about to the top of Eda's knee. His black fur was matted and dirtied by dirt. Quickly after pushing the rock through the door he collapsed to the floor exhausted.
"Feh!... I can't... push... anymore." King wheezed taking large breaths between the pauses. He just laid there sprawled out on the floor face down his little claws gripping at his horns. "Can bones hurt? Aah! My horns are killing me." King complained. Eda just looked at him disappointed.
"Maybe you shouldn't have tried to headbutt it in the first place then." Eda lectured.
"But it was so heavy!" King whined trying to defend his actions, but it only made Eda even more exasperated as she pinched the bridge of her nose.
"I'm not letting you do this alone again." Eda declared closing the door behind her. She reached beside the door for a staff with a wooden owl perched on top and picked it up from the wall it was leaning on. "Alright then. here we go." She walked in front of the glowing rock and grabbed onto the staff with both of her hands. she placed the end of the staff into a small crevice of the rock that jutted out with a jagged point. She applied just a little bit of pressure into the spot before quickly pulling the staff out and smashing the end right back into the crevice. She repeatedly bashed into the crevice. Each time loosening a shard of the rock with each slam. Until finally, a shard broke off cleanly from the rock. The glowing now becoming more of a slow pulse. Eda reached down to grab the shard from off the floor. A small smile of satisfaction appeared on her face as she clenched the shard, like it was the most important thing to her at the moment.
"What are you doing?" Luz interjected. Somewhat boggled by what she just saw take place. Eda looked towards Luz, the smile not leaving her face.
"It's the main ingredient for an exorcism potion," Eda answered. "It'll only take a minute kid." Eda walked past Luz giving an affectionate pat to her head before Eda headed directly into the kitchen. Luz stood there watching Eda grab a variety of ingredients and a cone-like vial from some of the cupboards. It definitely looked like she was going to make something.
Luz was happy that Eda would do something like this for her. She looked behind her to the rock. Both Eda and King had gone out and came back only with the glowing rock. From what she gathered they left for so long to find it, and only it. The main ingredient to an exorcism potion. She appreciated it a lot. Especially considering how large it was, and how difficult It must have been to move it in the first place. The fact that they would go to such lengths to help her was a good feeling.
But she started to have doubts about this whole exorcism thing. She couldn't get that whole experience out of her head. The feelings she felt, and the voice she heard. They were worrying to her. It was like whoever possessed her may not be bad at all. Just scared and confused. Like they themselves have no idea what's happening to them. She felt like she had to do something. She felt like she had to help.
Eda was holding a grayish liquid inside the vial feeling satisfied with her work.
"Alright, now for the last step." Eda grabbed the shard off the counter and held it above the gray liquid. Ever so slightly she lowered the shard until the very tip of the shard made contact with the gray liquid. Almost immediately the pulsing glow started to illuminate brilliantly. The shard shined more brilliantly than it did before. The glow then began to drain away like it was being poured out from a tube. The gray liquid quickly gained the green glow of the now brown shard. The shard now looked like any regular rock you would see laying anywhere. Eda looked very satisfied with the brew. Lazily tossing the used shard away as she made her way back to Luz.
She stretched her hand out to Luz offering her the finished potion.
"Here, this should do it. just drink the whole thing, and it should all be history." Eda explained. Luz stared at the vial of glowing mint green liquid before grabbing it in her right hand. She only stood there hesitating, unable to bring herself to drink it. "Don't worry it doesn't taste bad. It doesn't taste good either but whatever." Eda joked.
"I...I don't... want to." Luz admitted. Eda's smile began to falter as she began to pick up on Luz's discomfort.
"Don't worry Luz. It's not gonna hurt or anything. I promise." Luz cringed, a bit of guilt showing at her comment. She slowly walked over to the table in front of the couch, loosening her grip of the vial a bit before speaking.
"No I mean...-" Luz gently lowered the vial and placed it on the table. Leaving Eda confused as to why she put the potion down. "-I don't... want to get rid of them." Eda's smile faltered completely, replaced with surprise and shock.
"What?"
-MEANWHILE-
A mysterious figure stood atop a hill looking over the view in the distance. The city known as Bonesburrow lay in front of his eyes. It's exactly where he was told to go. He grinned knowing that his goal was nearby. He could feel himself getting giddy with excitement. There were so many things he thought of, he could never just pick one. It bothered him just how limiting the body could be sometimes. But that wasn't really important, to begin with.
"So this is it huh?"
The figure turned his gaze back to a piece of parchment in his hands.
"Don't you worry. I'll find the human. Just like I always do."
And with that, the figure took off past the hill making their way to their destination.