Chapter Text
Luz's POV
Being a hero is not an easy job. There is a lot of risk that could happen to a hero. Two of the main ones are being injured or killed. Having little damage is something that I can get used to. But when it comes to dealing with the big guys, it's unbearable. I started my hero work at the age of thirteen. I know at that age I should be living my childhood life and focusing on school. But the thing is, I was homeschooled by the time I was heading to first grade. My mother was afraid for my safety over an incident that happened at my elementary school. It almost killed me but I was fine in the end with some injuries. Because of that, I decided to work on my skills to become a powerful hero.
I was inspired to be a hero once I started reading The Good Mage Azura at age ten. Azura was pretty much my role model in becoming a cool hero. I wanted to be like her to save people and let them know that there's no need to be afraid of anything because I would be there for them. My mom doesn't know about me being a hero. It's not that hard to convince her that I want to go walk around town when really I'm just doing hero work. I usually help people out during the day and sometimes at night. I'm glad my mother is a nurse so that way I can get my job done while she's out working for hours in the daylight. I don't intend on telling her because of the reaction she would have. Also, she might hit me with her chancla so there's no way I'm risking myself to tell her.
Now about us mages. There's fifty-five percent of people that are mages. The rest of the percentage are regular people with no power. A majority of the people who are mages aren't really strong. There's a scale that we can measure ourselves to see how high of a level we are in. It ranges from level one to ten. Level one being the weakest and level ten being the strongest and powerful. The majority of mages are between the range of level one to three. Fifteen percent of mages are in the range of level four to five. Seven percent are in level six to eight. One percent of mages are in level nine to ten. Those who are in the higher levels, use their magic for the greater good. But those who are below the level would use their magic for crimes to commit. That's where I step in.
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10 years ago
Narrator's POV
"I'm sorry to inform you Ms. Noceda that your child will be a part of the forty-five percentage of people with no powers. By the time kids turn five years old, it's up to their genetics whether or not they get magic embedded inside their body. Let me ask you something Ms. Noceda. Do you or your previous partner have magic abilities? Any of the sort?" the doctor interrogated Luz's mother.
"My ex-husband was born being able to do magic. I wasn't born with any magic," Camila answered as she placed a hand on Luz's back.
"Hm I see. Well then, your daughter got your genes instead of her father's and there's nothing wrong with that. It happens most of the time in this case. The good thing is that Luz here is healthy. She received her vaccines, her blood pressure is fine, and her heart rate is excellent."
"Thank you so much doctor. My baby will remain healthy the next time we do another check-up," the mother shook hands with the doctor.
"Anytime Ms. Noceda. I look forward to it," the doctor waves.
"Come on mija. Let's go home," Camila held her daughter's hand on the way out of the clinic.
Luz wasn't happy about the visit to the doctors. On her way over, she was excited to hear that there is a chance she'll develop magic. After finding out she would just be a normal person with no magic, Luz became upset with the results. Camila noticed but didn't want to mention it to her daughter. Both Camila and Luz went in the car and went home in silence. Luz stared out the window at the back seat while Camila focused on driving and sometimes stared at the rear-view mirror to check on Luz. They both knew it was a bad day to hear disappointing news.
Once the Nocedas arrived home, Luz went straight to her room without saying anything. Her mother closed the door behind and dropped her keys on the counter. Camila put her purse alongside her car keys and sat on the couch for a couple of minutes. She knew she needed to comfort her only child and that's exactly what she did. She got up and walked in front of Luz's bedroom.
Before Camila entered, she knocked and asked, "Can I come in dear?"
There was no response so Camila opened the door and went inside. Right away, she became saddened at the sight of her daughter. Luz was there sitting on her bed with a blanket over her head. She sniffles and rubs her eyes from crying. Luz looked at her mother's eyes with her eyes puffy and red.
"It's not fair. What did I do to not get any magic powers?" Luz snuffled.
"It's not your fault mija. It's just that you weren't born to have magic and there's nothing wrong with that. You'll always be my strong little Luz that I know and no one can change that," Camila hugged the girl close to her.
"I wish I did have magic so everyone at school can stop being mean to me."
"What do you mean?" Camila pulled Luz back to get a good look at her.
"They say I'm weird and weak because I'm the only one in class who can't do magic," Luz clutched onto Camila's shirt.
"Don't listen to them cariño. You are way stronger than them with or without magic. Whatever they say to you, just ignore them. Don't let their words bring you down, okay?" Camila rubbed Luz's cheeks.
"Okay. I won't listen to them."
"That's the spirit! Now, why don't I get us two scoops of ice cream to eat and you can pick out a movie for us to watch. Deal?"
"Deal!" Luz ran off to the living room to pick out a movie while Camila went to the kitchen to get the tub of ice cream from the freezer.
"Can we watch The Fox and the Hound?"
"Are you trying to make me cry again with that movie?" Camila sarcastically questioned.
"It's not sad though," Luz looked over to her mother.
"It is for me. I cried twice and it's just a kids movie. But go on ahead and put it on. I need to grab spoons and we can enjoy our ice cream together."
"Okay!" Luz played the movie and sat down on the couch as her mother came in with two bowls of ice cream.
Timeskip
It was around eight-thirty at night while Camila cleaned up around the house. Luz was in her room playing with stuffed animals and coloring books as her mother finished up washing the dishes. Camila made sure to keep her daughter distracted from the fact that she couldn't do magic. Once Camila was done with the dishes, she went to check on Luz and get her ready for bed. Luz was not in bed but rather on the floor, sleeping with her crayons and paper out. Laying next to her is Luz's favorite stuffed animal which is a purple otter. The other stuffed animal beside the otter was a blue cat. Camila smiled at the view of her daughter. She gently picked her up, making sure not to wake her and placed Luz on the bed. Camila grabbed the blanket and tucked Luz into bed.
She kissed her head and said, "Goodnight mija."
She took a quick glimpse at Luz before closing the bedroom door shut.
Monday 10:20 am
Luz was already prepared to go to school. She woke up at nine to brush her hair and teeth, get dressed, and eat breakfast before she heads off to school. Her mother packed up lunch and made sure that Luz's backpack had everything that she needed to bring.
"Let's get you out of the house and head to school before you're late," Camila grabbed her car keys and had Luz walk outside to the car.
Camila followed behind and unlocked the car. The both opened the door as Camila put Luz's backpack on the passenger seat and started the car. She made sure Luz was buckled in and drove off to school. It was only three minutes away, but since Camila had to work in twenty minutes, she took the car instead. They both made it to Luz's elementary school by the time the bell rang for all the kids to start heading to class. Camila opened the door for Luz and handed her backpack over.
"Have a good day baby and don't let anybody bring you down," Camila kissed Luz goodbye.
"Bye mom!" Luz waved as she headed inside the school building.
Her classroom was a bit farther away from the school entrance but it wasn't that much of a walk for her. The only thing she liked about her class was the teacher. Luz's classmates were the one who would bully her. They would end up writing Luzer on her paper, indicating that Luz was a loser and combined her name with the word. There was one specific student who hated Luz and her name is Jessica (aka the blonde girl with a pink streak from episode 1). Jessica believed that Luz didn't belong in a school that taught magic because Luz herself didn't have any powers. She would tease Luz about it and call her names. It first started when everyone in class had magic and students found out that Luz was the only one who didn't have any. When Camila told Luz that she had a check-up appointment with the doctor, she got excited. Luz wanted to prove to everyone that she will get her powers soon. Now that she found out the truth, Luz will remain as the only girl in class who can't do magic.
Today, Luz remained her usual self and went inside of the classroom to her seat. She didn't have friends or anyone to talk to. Just only her teacher. Whenever it's lunch time, Luz would stay in class to eat by herself while the rest of the kids go outside to eat and play on the playground. While Luz eats, she would draw on a piece of paper or look around the classroom. Luz would always have a smile on her face, especially when kids bully her but on the inside, she's hurting. She knew she wouldn't have friends throughout the school year because of how powerless she is. Even though Luz can't use magic, she still had hope to become strong and help people who don't have magic just like her.
As Luz stayed seated in her chair, there were a couple of kindergartens barely coming in the classroom, last minute before the bell rang. One of them was Jessica as she sat next to Luz. Both Luz and Jessica didn't want to sit near each other but their teacher assigned seats for them. Luz pretended that the blonde girl wasn't there and focused on what the teacher was saying.
"Hey dumb head, when are you going to get your powers?" Jessica nudged Luz and whispered.
Luz continued to ignore her as Jessica was trying to get a reply from Luz. She kept her mother's advice and concentrated on what was in front of her. Jessica grew tired of being ignored and stopped talking to her neighbor. They both sat quietly as the teacher was trying to get an answer to a question that she asked. Luz would usually answer and get them correct but this time, she didn't feel like talking at all. Almost half an hour passed and it was close to lunch time. Luz wanted class to end so she can enjoy being by herself and eating lunch. She was zoned out until Jessica raised her hand and asked if she could use the restroom.
"Sweetheart, we only have ten minutes left. Can it wait?" the teacher tried to reason with Jessica.
"It's an emergency."
"Alright then. Come up and take the pass with you," Jessica got up and walked to the front of the class to retrieve the pass.
"Thank you miss," Jessica left to the bathroom that was all the way down the hallway.
"As I saying, the word-"
Luz zoned out again and blocked out the noises that were surrounding her. Two minutes in and once again, Luz was brought back to reality by the sound of the speaker.
"Hello everyone. This is Principal Hal speaking. There's been an incident outside of school with a criminal involved that the police are searching for. The criminal was around school property and set a part of the roof on fire which is spreading quickly. This is not a drill and all teachers must get their students out and safely outside away from the fire. Remain calm and do what we practiced with our fire drills. Help will be on the way."
"Miss, can we use our magic to get rid of the fire?" a student raised their hand.
"Yeah! Can we?"
Kids were starting to chatter as if this was some time of challenge to use their magic against a deadly fire.
"We are not allowed to use any magic here on school property. You must wait until you get to high school. Now everyone, line up by the door and wait until I'm ready to instruct you guys to start walking outside of the building," the kindergarten teacher went to get her clipboard with the attendance sheet and an emergency backpack.
"Alright line leader, follow me out while I count heads," Luz was last in line and she felt some heat coming from behind her.
She noticed above her were flames taking over the roof. The fire was spreading very quickly, burning the walls around the room.
"All of you, start jogging outside right away and don't look back," the teacher used a calm voice and warned everyone.
Luz did what she was told but then remembered that there was one person missing. And that was Jessica. Luz stopped for a moment and thought about whether or not Jessica heard Principal Hal speaking through the speakers and might've escaped or if she's in trouble and trapped inside the bathroom. Luz stared above as the roof was close to collapsing from behind her. The teacher was distracted with the kids going outside safely. Luz didn't have any powers to save Jessica but that didn't stop her from saving someone who was disrespectful to her. That's when Luz turned around and ran to where the bathroom was. Luz heard her teacher call out her name before a crashing sound blocked out the teacher's voice. The powerless girl looked behind to see that she was now trapped inside with flames and smoke covering her entire surroundings.
There the bathroom was and Luz hoped she didn't make a bad choice by going inside with no one there. Luckily, Jessica was there with a piece of the roof on the ground covered with fire.
"Jessica! Are you okay?!" Luz jumped over the fire to help up Jessics from the floor.
"No I'm not. I slipped on water and hurt my ankle. I tried getting up but it hurts," Jessica teared up.
"Don't worry I'll help you up," Luz put Jessica's arm around her shoulder to lift her up.
"How did you know I was still here and why are you helping me?" Jessica glanced at Luz.
"You weren't back in class and I'm helping you because I don't want you to be hurt. So we need to go now before we're goners," Luz began walking fast while Jessica was limping and trying to match Luz's speed.
Parts of the roof were falling down and walls were collapsing as Luz tried avoiding and dodging the area. Both of the girls were coughing since smoke was enclosing in on Jessica and Luz. Their eyes were getting watery and their body temperature was rising from the scorching fire.
"It's hard to see. I'm not even sure where the exit is at," Luz started to panic.
"Maybe we should just keep going until we can see any light coming from outside," Jessica suggested.
"I got an idea. We can punch through the walls so that way we can escape," Luz turned her head over to Jessica to reveal that she was no longer awake.
"Hey Jessica, stay awake! We'll make it out alive!"
Luz hoped that the blonde girl only passed out and didn't die. She went with her plan to punch down the walls. Jessica was placed on Luz's back as Luz prepared herself to knock down the walls. She had shortness of breath and felt exhausted from the smoke. This was the one chance she could make everyone proud by saving someone without powers.
"Hah!" Luz used her right fist to take the first swing at the wall in front of her.
"Hah!" again she hit the wall with little damage to it.
Her fist was starting to hurt and bleed as she kept punching the wall quickly. Luz grew tired using her small hands up against the wall. The ceiling above her was a minute away from falling on top of her and Jessica. Luz did her best not to give up.
"Come on! If only I had magic so I could save Jessica! I'm useless!" Luz got angry and felt a burst of energy run through her veins.
"I'm not going to die like this! I want to make mom proud of me! HAAAH!" Luz's eyes glowed as she took a single punch on the wall, making a huge dent.
She was surprised but kept going until there was a hole where she could see light coming from outside. Instead of using her fist, Luz kicked the wall down revealing the back of the school. The ceiling came down and was close to landing on top of Luz and Jessica before Luz ran outside and fell down from exhaustion. Her vision became blurry while she coughed violently on the ground. Luz did her best to get up from the ground and make sure Jessica was still breathing. Her stomach rose up and down indicating she is still alive. Both of their clothing were covered in gray and black marks from the smoke. Luz's hands were bloodied and her knuckles were definitely broken. Luz managed to bring Jessica up and find help. Firefighters and ambulances were surrounding the entire school building. There was someone who worked as an EMT that caught their attention towards the two girls. Luz couldn't make out what the man was saying but his co-workers came running behind him to help heal the injured kids. A woman took Jessica to an ambulance while a man carried Luz away from the fire and sat her down at the back of the ambulance van. Two people were healing Luz and offered her a bottle of water to drink. They checked her oxygen level and blood pressure to make sure she wasn't in any danger. The EMTs bandaged Luz's hands and looked to see if she suffered from any burn which luckily she didn't.
"Excuse me! Have you seen two ki-" Principal Hal stopped when he saw Luz getting healed by the EMT team.
"Luz! Thank goodness you're okay! Have you seen Jessica?"
"She's getting healed in the other car," Luz pointed to the ambulance in front of her.
"Your teacher told me you left the line and the roof collapsed before she could stop you. What were you thinking? You could've died missy," Mr. Hal lashed out.
"I'm sorry Principal Hal. I went to the bathroom because Jessica was there when the fire started. She couldn't leave the bathroom because her ankle was hurting whenever she tried to walk. So I helped Jessica get out of the fire by smashing down the wall," Luz explained herself.
"How did you manage to break down the wall?" Hal looked at Luz's face then down to her bandage hands.
Luz had the biggest smile on her face when Principal Hal was determined to know how Luz was able to take down a wall.
"I have magic now! I felt stronger when I was beating up the wall. I went like bam and pow! Not only that but I saved someone!" Luz happily swung around her arms.
Hal smiled at the girl to see her happiness glow from the idea that she was able to use magic.
"I'm glad to hear that Luz. Your mother will be proud that you were able to save someone's life and developed powers. Also she'll freak out once she sees the condition you are in. But at least you, Jessica, and everybody else are safe. That's what matters to me the most. As much as I want to chat, I need to go check on Jessica to see her condition. I'll make sure to let your teacher know that both of her students are okay. See you later hero," Hal tilted his head down to Luz and went over to the other ambulance.
"A hero!" Luz's face lit up at the fact that her principal called her a hero.
"I am a hero."