Work Text:
Luz Noceda walked through her front door, swinging off her backpack and tossing it haphazardly to the floor. When she didn’t see her mom in the living room, she called out, “I’m home, Mamá!”
There was no answer. She trudged into the kitchen, where she immediately saw a sticky note on the fridge in her mother’s handwriting. It read, Got called into work, Mija. Leftovers in the fridge. Te quiero! Veré más tarde esta noche!!
Luz sighed, disappointed. School had seemed even longer than normal today, and just as lonely. She was hoping to have some company when she got home.
Things had been difficult since she arrived back from camp at the end of the summer. Despite what her mom had hoped, she had made no new friends, and the other kids at school continued to only see her as a weirdo.
Forgoing her dinner of leftover pizza, for now, she made her way to her room, opened her sliding closet door, taking a moment to notice her gloomy expression on the reflective surface, and grabbed a soft, comfortable sweater, ready to get out of her school clothes. When slid the door closed once more, she froze as it was not her reflection staring back at her.
“Luz…” The strange, blond boy in her mirror said, sounding relieved to see her. She promptly screamed, threw the sweater at the stranger, though it just fell harmlessly to the ground, and fell backward, flailing until she landed on her butt on the carpet. “Luz, it’s okay!” He held both hands up placatingly.
“Who are you!” she demanded, “What are you doing in my room? In my...closet...mirror?” she continued, confused. If she wasn’t looking directly at him, she would have a hard time believing this was even happening.
The boy was dressed in dark clothes, except for a gold vest that looked more like armor. His blond hair was cropped short, and he had a very noticeable scar on his cheek. Most puzzlingly, his ears, one of which had a notch missing from it, were pointed at the tips like an elf. His eyes were a pink, almost purple color that she’d never seen before on anyone else.
“Luz...listen to me,” he spoke carefully. “My name is Hunter. I’m your friend. I’m your…” he trailed off, looking pained. “We know each other, trust me.”
Luz narrowed her eyes, “You’re lying! I’ve never seen you before. How did you get in here?”
The boy-- Hunter, looked at her peculiarly. His unusual eyes held sadness for sure, but as he gazed down at her he almost looked...fond? Or something deeper. No one had ever looked at her quite that way before, not even her mom.
Instead of answering her, he went on, “I don’t have much time.” He spared a glance down at himself, and it was only then that Luz noticed a rope tied around his middle, trailing behind him. “The portal door was destroyed, I can’t get to you from here. Philip’s brother’s diary is in the human realm, it’s our only chance of getting you back to the Boiling Isles.”
Luz stared at Hunter, perplexed. “Philip who? The Boiling Isles what? What are you talking about?”
“It’s where you’ve been for the last few months--” he started, but she cut him off.
“I’ve been at summer camp for the last few months. You have no idea what you’re talking a--”
Now it was his turn to interrupt, “Luz, Listen!” he said desperately. “You’re a witch. You’ve been living in the Owl House. You have family here-- people that miss you; People that...love you,” he finished quietly.
Despite realistically knowing that what he was saying couldn’t possibly be true, she found herself hanging on his every word.
“Please, Luz…” he said quietly, an anguished expression on his face. “Come back to me.”
Logical reasoning escaped her, and she suddenly felt the urge to run to him, wishing there was no barrier between them. Instead, she slowly got to her feet. He looked at her, hopeful.
Suddenly, he was jerked back, the rope behind him becoming taut. “Oh, Titan, not now…” he muttered to himself, panicked. “Luz, the diary,” he said urgently, “Philip Wittebane’s brother’s diary. You have to find it! You can use it to make a new portal!”
Frightened and unsure, Luz took a step closer, “H-how? Where do I look?”
“I don’t know for sure, I’m sorry--” he looked pained, placing both hands before him on the glass, as the rope pulled tighter, “It’s something to do with Gravesfield.”
That didn’t narrow it down much, her town wasn’t exactly small. She took another step towards the mirror. “How do I reach you? I mean, how can I talk to you again if I need to?”
The grief on his face made her heartsick, “You can’t…” his voice cracked and she saw tears in his eyes threatening to spill over, “This was it. Until we get another portal working…” he trailed off again, and grunted as the rope jerked him back once more.
“Wait!” she cried. Almost without meaning to, she lunged forward the rest of the way until her hands were over his, separated by thick glass, and something that she couldn’t explain. “Wait…” she said again and wasn’t surprised to find tears running down her own cheeks now.
Instead of replying, he stared intensely into her eyes, and she could do nothing else but gaze back, transfixed.
He hesitated, struggling against the rope now before saying softly, “Te amo, Luz.” The words sounded awkward on his tongue, and she had the most bizarre vision of the two of them sitting together somewhere she didn’t recognize, wrapped up in each other’s arms, laughing, talking, and her teaching him that all to familiar phrase.
And with that, the rope yanked him violently back, until he was no longer before her, no longer standing in her mirror, no longer anywhere.
“Hunter!” she cried, desperately, and slammed her hands on the glass frantically, “Wait!” The tears fell freely now, and her chest felt tight like her heart was threatening to burst out of it.
Eventually, she slid to the floor and twisted her body so that her back was resting against the cool mirror. She brought her legs up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them, lowering her head to her knees, and sobbed. “Wait...wait…” she repeated uselessly.
After several minutes, or quite possibly several hours, Luz raised her head again and wiped the drying tears from her cheeks. She breathed deeply and looked down at her hands, clenching them. “Nada funcionará a menos que lo haga funcionar,” she said decisively.
And with that, she stood and left her room, determined to find her way back to the people who loved her.