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“Lily, you’ll be fine, I promise! I’ll only be gone for a couple of days.” Eda was about to head for the door before Lilith stopped her. The older sister had never been in charge of the Owl House before, and she wasn’t too excited about starting now.
“Luz and King just take care of themselves, so you don’t have to worry about them, okay?”
“But what if Luz needs you?—“
“She’ll be fine, it’s been a while since anything has happened. Besides, she’s a smart kid, she’ll pull through!”
Lilith folded her arms in uncertainty as she stood by the door. Even though it was supposedly a common event, she really didn’t like the idea of Eda leaving for a long period of time. Anything could happen within a couple of days, and what if Lilith couldn’t handle it? Eda was the one that always took care of everything, what was she going to do while her sister was gone?
“Any other concerns?… can I leave now?”
Lilith sighed in defeat.
“…have fun.”
Eda gave a cocky smile as she threw finger guns, closing the door behind her as she left. Once the door closed with a click, Luz walked from the kitchen out into the living room with King on her shoulder.
“Did Eda already leave?”
Lilith nodded, unsure of what to do next. Eda was right, Luz is actually a very smart kid, there was no doubt about that. Lilith just couldn’t help but worry about her anyway. Just an instinct of some sort.
“Ah, well King and I were gonna heat up some leftovers for dinner if you wanted to join us.” Luz shrugged.
“That would be nice.”
—
The rest of the evening went much better than Lilith had expected. No one had caught on fire, no bones had been broken, and most importantly, no one died. Lilith could feel some worry lift from her head, knowing that it was another day closer to Eda being back home, and things going back to normal.
The night had soon fallen upon the Isles, and Lilith wasn’t the slightest bit tired. After everyone else was asleep, she decided to head upstairs and take a short stroll around the halls, looking at all of Eda’s relics and pictures hung up on the wall out of curiosity. Soon enough, she came across a room with a door that was left halfway open. Lilith had practically memorized the layout of this house, so it was pretty easy to know who’s room this was.
It was Luz’s room.
“Hmm…” Lilith hummed to herself, slowly walking over to close the door. But just before she could reach the knob, she suddenly heard small whimpering coming from inside.
Luz.
Lilith came up with various conclusions to what might have been happening, and she almost hesitated to walk inside. What if Luz was hurt? What if she was scared? What if Lilith walking in would scare the girl even more?
“Fuck it.” Lilith whispered to herself as she pushed the door open, seeing Luz fast asleep in her sleeping bag. She was curled into the tightest fetal position, and she kept wiggling around and whimpering.
It was a nightmare.
Of course it wasn’t this easy. Of course it just had to be the night when Eda wasn’t here to help her. Luz hadn’t had a dream this bad in about a month, why did it have to happen on this specific night when the only adult that was home to help was part of the reason for the girl’s nightmares in the first place?
Lilith didn’t want to scare Luz if she woke her up, but she wasn’t about to leave the girl to deal with the nightmare on her own. That might even make things worse, and deep down, Lilith knew that this moment would haunt her for the rest of her life if she didn’t help. She knew Luz would do the same for her.
The older woman sat down beside Luz’s wiggling body, lightly shaking her arm.
“Luz… hey, sweetheart. You need to wake up, okay?…”
No answer. Lilith tried again.
“Luz, you’re okay… it’s just a dream… you need to wake up—“
And just then, Luz’s eyes shot open as her entire body jolted in surprise. Lilith held both of her hands up to show that she meant no harm.
“Hey, hey, it’s okay, it’s just Lily… it’s just Lily, you’re okay…”
Luz desperately tried to grab ahold of her bearings, just barely recognizing Lilith in the dim moonlight coming through the window. The older woman helped her to sit up in her sleeping bag, thinking of how uncomfortable that might be. Luz’s hair was matted to her forehead with sweat. It must have been a bad one, Lilith thought.
“…I… I-I can’t… I…” Luz panted, leaning forward in exhaustion. Lilith could only sit there and rub the girl’s back to help her calm down. She took a deep breath of encouragement, hoping Luz would do the same. The younger girl started to shake and whimper again, fiddling with her hands. Lilith caught on to what was happening, leaning into Luz’s range of vision.
“Is it a panic attack?” Lilith asked softly.
“I, um… I think so…” Luz muttered, nervously rubbing her hands up and down her legs. Maybe they should move to a better location, it was pretty stuffy up here.
“Hey, hey, let’s get you downstairs, alright? We’ll get you some water.” Luz nodded with a whimper. Lilith slowly helped her up as they began to make their way out of Luz’s room. It took a bit for them to get downstairs since the younger girl was hesitant on moving, but Lilith understood how bad panic attacks could be, and she was very patient. Once they successfully made it down to the living room, Lilith brought Luz over to the couch, gently sitting her down as she started to violently shake again.
“Honey, I’m gonna get you some water, okay? I’ll be right back, I promise.” Luz nodded, resuming back to running her hands up and down her legs. Lilith got up and speed-walked towards the kitchen while the girl began to rock back and forth. She soon noticed how dry her throat actually was as she tried her best to swallow. Luz looked up and saw Lilith coming back from the kitchen with a small glass of water, handing it to Luz as she took her place next to the trembling girl on the couch, and began to rub her back in comfort once more.
“I-I’m sorry… I just…”
“Oh, sweetheart, there’s nothing to be sorry about. It’s not your fault…” Lilith reassured as she began to move Luz’s matted hair away from her sweat-covered forehead. The two sat in silence for quite some time before Luz calmed down enough to speak a little more. It had been a while since things had been this bad, and Lilith could see that Luz was about to cry. Something deep down inside the bitter woman’s heart wanted to reach out her arms and hold this sweet kid as tight as possible and never let go, but she resisted. It was only when Luz squeaked out the words she did in a small and brittle voice that Lilith’s heart shattered to pieces.
“…could you hold me?…” Luz asked as tears quickly filled her eyes. Lilith nodded, leaning forward and gently wrapping her arms around this small child. She placed the girl’s head in the crook of her neck, running her fingers through her short hair as she felt her shaking from a series of quiet and frustrated sobs.
“Hey, it’s okay, darling… you’re okay, I’ve got you…” Lilith gently reassured as she began to rock them both back and forth.
“I thought I was doing so well…” Luz whimpered as Lilith cupped her cheek, wiping her tears away with her thumb.
“You are, though! You’re still doing so well…you did amazing throughout this whole thing!” Lilith praised as Luz gave a defeated shrug.
“Luz… you need to give yourself some credit. You truly are a strong kid! You’re so incredibly brave, and smart, and I am so proud of you… we all are.” Luz took the words in, sniffling with a weak smile as she adjusted her position in Lilith’s embrace.
“I can hear your heartbeat…” Luz croaked. Lilith couldn’t help but give a warm chuckle as she looked down at the small girl in her arms.
“That’s good… that means I’m here, and I’m here with you…” Lilith smiled, continuing to hold Luz until she was ready to let go.
Somewhere in the night, Luz eventually fell asleep on Lilith’s chest. The poor girl must have been so exhausted after all of that. Lilith gently took Luz in her arms, repositioning her sleeping body and laying the girl’s head on her lap. She noticed a nearby blanket draped across the back of the couch, gently tucking Luz in and leaning over to give her a gentle kiss on the forehead. Lilith began to hum a sleepy melody as she stroked Luz’s hair, drifting off to sleep.
This was nice.